Baseball Grinds Out Sunday Sweep of Anderson (S.C.), Clinches Opening Conference Series

HARTSVILLE, S.C - The Coker University Baseball team swept Anderson (S.C.) on Sunday (Feb. 28), clinching the opening conference series by scores of 5-4 and 11-4. 

Game One: 

In the first, Coker started out strong defensively as Brendan Mullins would strike out Anderson in order in his first appearance for Coker.

The Trojans would get on the board in the second off a Brayden Owens RBI single to left. 

Coker would strike back in the bottom of the second when Cory Listing sent a two-run moonshot to left-center to score shortstop Phil Griffor who had reached earlier on an infield single, making it 2-1 in favor of the Cobras headed into the third.  

Coker would plate two more runs in the third, first from Griffor's RBI groundout to shortstop, scoring Cam Murray and advancing Brian Castillo to third, bringing up first baseman Nick Leonard whose sac fly to center would score Castillo to give Coker the 4-1 lead. 

In the top of the fourth, Anderson's designated hitter Davis Goodyear would score off of a throwing error to bring the Trojans to 4-2.

Anderson would get within one in the sixth from Justin Fox's RBI triple down the right-field line, scoring Trevor Weisner to make it 4-3. The Trojans would strand their game-tying runner when Brendan Mullins would get the swinging strikeout to end the top of the sixth. 

The Trojans would plate the tying run in the seventh from a Nick Vella RBI single down the left line, scoring left fielder Jackson Van Ness to make it 4-4 headed into the eighth. 

In the top of the eighth, Griffor would make the fielding play of the game when he would jump up to snag Anderson shortstop Justin Fox's hard-hit line drive to strand the game-winning base runner on third. 

Griffin Hollifield would get back-to-back strikeouts to end the top of the ninth, leaving the go-ahead run for Anderson stranded on third. 

In the bottom of the ninth with Lake Lybrand, who was placed on second due to international tiebreaker rules, would advance to third from pinch hitter Evan Pawlowski's sacrifice bunt, bringing up Reilly Hall. Hall would get the RBI walk-off suicide squeeze play, scoring Lybrand. Coker would win game one 5-4. 

Mullins pitched well in his first Coker appearance, striking out four over 5.0 innings of work. 

Hollifield, who earned the win, pitched solid in relief striking out four over 3.1 innings of work. 

Game Two: 

The Cobras would strike in the first when second baseman Murray would score off a throwing error by Anderson pitcher Elijah Boles, advancing catcher Castillo to third and bringing up shortstop Griffor who's RBI groundout would score Castillo to put the Cobras on top 2-0 going into the second. 

Coker would plate two more runs in the second from left-fielder Hall's two-RBI single down the right-field line, scoring Lybrand and designated hitter Kristofer Blanco to give Coker the 4-0 lead over the Trojans. 

Anderson would plate a game-tying four runs in the top of the fourth to make it 4-4 headed into the bottom of the fourth where they wouldn't score again. 

Coker's offense would quickly come back in the fifth, scoring three runs. Griffor would reach on an Anderson fielding error that would score Castillo and Hall to make it 6-4. Griffor would come around and score on a Trojan wild pitch to give Coker the three-run lead headed into the sixth.

Coker's bats would stay hot in the sixth, plating four more runs over four hits.

Harvey would triple to right-center scoring Lybrand who reached earlier from a walk. Murray would score on Harvey's triple from his RBI single to left (9-4), bringing up Castillo who would score Murray with a RBI double to right-center (10-4). Nick Leonard would record an RBI single to left, scoring Castillo to bring the final game score to 11-4. 

Reid Watkins (1-0) would earn the win in game two, allowing zero runs and striking out two over 3.0 innings of work for the Cobras.

McDonald's Player of the Game: Reilly Hall

The Cobras are back in action Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at home, playing host to Newberry in a non-conference weekday matchup. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m. with video and live stats at www.cokercobras.com.