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Baseball Sports Information Office

Falcons Outslug ECSU For 10th Consecutive Baseball Win

Box Score CARY, N.C. – Saint Augustine's University tied a season-high with 21 hits in a 16-7 CIAA baseball victory over Elizabeth City State University at USA Baseball Complex on Sunday, March 17, 2013. The win was the 10th straight for the Falcons, who are 21-8 overall and atop the CIAA standings at 9-0.

The victory completed a three-game sweep of ECSU over the weekend. The hard-hitting Falcons combined for 42 hits in the series.

“We're hot offensively,” St. Aug Head Coach Chuck Whitaker said. “Hopefully, it will stay that way.”

Daveed Todd (Sr./Chicago, Ill.) spurred the hitting attack for the Falcons on Sunday. He tallied five of the team's 14 RBIs on 3-for-5 hitting including two doubles. In the three-game series, Todd led the Falcons with eight hits and 10 RBIs. He batted .615 against the Vikings.

The trio of Ariel Polanco (Sr./Harlem, N.Y.), Clarence Peace (Creedmoor, N.C.) and Ricky Martin (Jr./Raleigh, N.C.) each added two RBIs on Sunday with Polanco batting 3-for-4 and Peace batting 4-for-5. All three players each hit a double. Bobby Delly (Fr./Sumter, S.C.) was 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI and Jason Baytop (Fr./Manchester, Md.) was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Eight players each scored two runs for the Falcons, who batted .442 against the Vikings in three games.

“We are playing good baseball,” Whitaker said. “Guys are hitting with runners on second and third, and they are bunting runners to the next base.”

The Falcons spotted the Vikings (6-8 overall, 3-6 CIAA) four runs early, but they quickly caught up. They tied the game 4-4 in the second inning on an RBI double by Peace, an RBI sacrifice fly by Baytop, an RBI single by Delly and a stolen base for a run by Delly, who was 7-for-8 against the Vikings for an .875 batting average in the series. Todd's sacrifice fly for an RBI in the fourth put the Falcons ahead for the first time at 5-4.

The Vikings tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning, but the Falcons pulled away for good in the same inning. Polanco hit an RBI single and Todd added a two-run double for an 8-5 lead. Todd later scored on a wild pitch to extend the Falcons' lead to four.

The Falcons scored seven runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach. Todd started the rally with an RBI double and Peace added an RBI single. Martin smacked a two-run double and Sterling James (So./New Castle, Del.) got an RBI groundout. Polanco hit an RBI double and Todd capped the rally with an RBI single for a 16-5 lead. The Vikings added two runs in the ninth inning for the final score.

The runs were more than enough support for winning pitcher Stephen Hamilton (Sr./Chicago, Ill.), who scattered seven hits in five innings. John Hailey (Sr./Rockingham, N.C.) and Alex Edwards (Jr./Chicago, Ill.) combined on the last four innings to finish off the Vikings, who had 11 hits.

Lenoir-Rhyne College is next on the Falcons' schedule. Both teams meet for a doubleheader in Hickory, N.C., on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, starting at 4 p.m.



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