Box Score by Benny Benton
PEMBROKE, N.C. – The Barton College baseball team gave UNC Pembroke help the nationally-ranked Braves did not need Wednesday, surrendering six unearned runs in an 11-1 non-conference road loss at Sammy Cox Field.
Three of those unearned runs came in a seven-run fourth inning for UNC Pembroke (8-2) on Drew Cole's second home run of the season after the Bulldogs had prolonged the inning with an error.
Barton (3-4) had three errors in the contest, and also issued six walks, three wild pitches and a passed ball. The Braves also kept themselves in scoring position by stealing four bases.
The Bulldog offense consisted of six different players collecting one hit each off UNCP starter Jordan DeLoatch (1-0) and two relievers. When Barton did get runners on base, it wiped most of them out by hitting into three double plays.
DeLoatch scattered four hits and walked one over five innings of work to earn the pitching win. Third baseman Jordan Edgerton, a 2013 All-American, went 3-for-5 with an RBI and first baseman Brett Huffman went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI to lead the offense for the Braves, ranked No. 15 this week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
The complexion of the game looked much different at the beginning for Barton, both offensively and on the mound.
The Bulldogs kicked off the contest with consecutive singles by Dillon Rudio and Andrew Webster. However, both runners were eliminated on a double-play ball, and UNCP got another groundout to end the inning with no harm.
Barton pitcher Duncan Everett started well, allowing just one hit through the first three innings and taking a shutout into the fourth. However, things came unraveled for the Bulldogs at that point. Edgerton led off the frame with a single and stole second, then scored on a double down the left field line by Dalton Knight.
One out later, Ben Schmucker produced an RBI single to right-center to score Knight, then stole second to reach scoring position. Everett got a groundout to third for the second out of the inning and induced a grounder to short that would have ended the inning with UNCP having scored just twice.
However, an error on the play left the inning alive and runners at the corner. Chad Whitehead then singled home a run, Daniel Fraga singled in another run, and Cole cleaned the bases with his three-run homer to right-center.
Barton opened a promising fifth inning with a single by Jacob Willis, a walk to Spiers Miller and an error by DeLoatch on Calvin Hawkes' sacrifice that loaded the bases with no one out. A double-play grounder by Tyler Garrett scored Willis with the Bulldogs' only run of the game, but the twin-killing helped UNCP escape with only minimal damage.
A one-out error and a walk in the bottom of the fifth set up a two-run double by Hoffman that increased UNC Pembroke's lead to 9-1. The Braves added a run in the sixth without a hit, getting three walks and a pair of wild pitches from Barton reliever Benjamin Brann. It tacked on a final run in the seventh on an RBI single by Edgerton.
After several cancellations due to inclement weather, Barton hopes to finally make its home debut on Saturday when it will host Seton Hill University in a noon doubleheader at Nixon Field. The Griffins are ranked No. 20 in the latest NCBWA poll.
