PEMBROKE, N.C. – The Barton baseball team (10-30, 7-24) suffered a 23-4 loss to UNC Pembroke (30-16, 19-12) Friday evening in the opening game of a Conference Carolinas weekend series at Sammy Cox Field.
The Braves' Landon Lucas (Blythewood, S.C.) hit a pair of solo home runs in addition to a two-run triple while Tyler Steele (Charlotte, N.C.) added a two-run home run and drove in three runs to lead UNC Pembroke to the victory.
Barton did open the game with four runs in the top of the first inning but the advantage was short-live as UNC Pembroke quickly took control and used a pair of nine-run innings – the fifth and eight frames – to break the contest open.
Barton junior outfielder
Cameron Greenway (Greenville, N.C.) finished with a pair of hits and two runs batted in but senior
Layton Dupree (Tarboro, N.C.) (0-5) took the loss.
UNC Pembroke's Rhett Burley (Atlanta, Ga.) (3-1) pitched four scoreless innings in relief to earn the win as did Sean Smith (Wilmington, N.C.), who notched his first save of the year.
The two teams will wrap up the weekend league series with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m.
