Sandifer, Rivera Combine For 25 Strikeouts In Split Against VSU

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ETTRICK, Va. – Jeremy Sandifer (Jr./Virginia Beach, VA) and Bryan Rivera (Cida, Puerto Rico) combined for 25 strikeouts as Saint Augustine's University split a baseball doubleheader with Virginia State University, which ended late Monday night (March 31) at Colbert Field.

Sandifer recorded 13 strikeouts and allowed only three hits in eight innings, but Virginia State scored a run in the ninth inning to win 3-2 in the first game. The Falcons bounced back in a big way in the second game, blanking the Trojans 9-0 behind 12 strikeouts from Rivera in seven innings. Rivera tossed a five-hit shutout for the pitching win.

The Falcons combined for 21 hits including 14 in the second game to win easily. Darien Hardaway (Sr./Atlanta, GA) led the team with three RBIs in both games combined. The trio of Darryl Washington-Hardy (Sr./River Grove, IL), Jason Baytop (Soph./Manchester, MD) and William Thomas (Soph./Yorktown, VA) each had two RBIs combined.

Clarence Peace (Sr./Creedmoor, NC) was the Falcons' top hitter as he went 4-for-8 with an RBI and two runs scored in both games combined. Jordan Wright (Soph./Hampton, VA) was 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.

The Falcons came back from a 2-0 first-inning deficit to send the first game into extra innings. Hardaway drove in Thomas with a single in the second inning and Baytop singled in Peace in the sixth inning. Thomas and Peace each hit a single to reach base.

After a tough first-game loss, the Falcons regrouped for a satisfying win in the second contest. They broke a scoreless tie in the third inning when Thomas smacked a two-run single which scored Peace and Wright. Peace reached base on a single and Wright was walked.

The Falcons scored every inning from that point on. Washington-Hardy drilled a two-run single to score Carey Cheek (Soph./Baltimore, MD) and Baytop for a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning. Both Cheek and Baytop singled to reach base.

Wright scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Baytop in the fifth inning and Wright later drilled an RBI single in the sixth inning to score Darren Burks (Sr./Matteson, IL). Wright and Burks both reached base on a single. In the same sixth inning, Peace drilled an RBI single to score Joshua Easter (Sr./Chicago, IL), who reached base on a single. That made the score 7-0 in favor of the Falcons.

Hardaway finished off the Trojans with a two-run homer in the seventh inning to score Cheek, who reached base on an error. The shutout was the third this season for the Falcons, and the second involving Rivera.

With the split, the Falcons are 4-6 in the CIAA and 12-20 overall. Virginia State is 11-6 in the CIAA and 18-11 overall.

Both teams play again Tuesday, April 1, in another doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Colbert Field. The second game is slated to start at 3 p.m.

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