PULASKI, Tenn. – The William Carey Baseball Team out slugged UT-Southern, defeating the Fire Hawks 19-8 in eight innings Friday night.
After a scoreless first inning, the offense showed up with Carey going first with a four run second inning. Three straight hits to start the inning led to the first run being scored with a defensive miscue allowing two runs to cross the plate and
Eli Collins plated the final run with a double.
The Crusaders followed the four run second with a four run third.
Preston Ratliff started the inning with a double and
Tyler Ducksworth followed, launching a two-run shot down the left field line. Later in the inning, Carey added a run on a wild pitch with
Rigoberto Hernandez scoring
Josh Alexander on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-0 with an error plating the final run.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Fire Hawks got in on the action with four runs on four hits and in the fourth, added two more runs to make it a two-run game. However, Carey pushed the lead to six in the fifth with their third four run inning.
With the bases loaded, Collins drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to center with a passed ball making it 10-6. Later in the inning, Ratliff added two more RBIs to his total with a single to center field for the final runs of the frame.
UTS got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning, but the Crusaders pushed their lead back to six in the top of sixth on solo home runs by Alexander and Hernandez. Things settled down a bit for an inning and a half but in the eighth, Carey finished things with five runs on four hits.
A double, single, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases to start the inning. After a quick out,
DeeJay Booth scored
Bridley Thomas and Hernandez with a single to right. Ratliff capped his stellar day at the plate with a two-run homer to left for the run rule victory.
Luke Lycette picked up the win in relief, going 4.2 innings allowing three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts.
Carey is back in action Saturday, March 1, as they wrap up the series against UT-Southern with a double header beginning at 12:00 pm.
