ATLANTA, Ga. - Clark Atlanta baseball took a pair of extra-inning games versus Voorhees College on Sunday to finish the weekend 2-2 after being swept by Fairmont State on Friday night.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:Friday Game 1 Score: Fairmont State 19; Clark Atlanta 1
Friday Game 2 Score: Fairmont State 7; Clark Atlanta 0
Sunday Game 1 Score: Clark Atlanta 3; Voorhees 2
Sunday Game 2 Score: Clark Atlanta 4; Voorhees 3
Record: Clark Atlanta (4-11)
Date: Feb. 19 & 21, 2016
HOW IT HAPPENED (FRIDAY GAME 1):Clark Atlanta fell behind by allowing 16 unanswered runs through four innings before
Ryan Betts lifted a pitched to center field to score
Jason Howell from third base on the sacrifice fly.
Fairmont State scored three runs in the fifth inning before each team was shut down in order in the sixth and seventh innings.
HOW IT HAPPENED (FRIDAY GAME 2):Betts pitched the complete game in the seven inning loss. Fairmont State scored one run in the first inning.
The game would proceed without runs crossing until FSU added two in the fourth and four in the fifth inning.
HOW IT HAPPENED (SUNDAY GAME 1):Voorhees struck first with a pair of two-out runs - both unearned - scoring on a defensive miscue.
Howell scored in the fourth on a single from
Jordan Johnson past the second baseman.
Betts added a sacrifice to bring in
Malcolm Seabrooks from third in the seventh inning to tie the game.
After advancing to extra innings,
Joseph Holmes II reached after getting hit by a pitch with one out. Holmes moved up 90 feet after a passed ball against the Voorhees catcher. Howell singled into right field - ending a 4-for-4 game - to bring in Holmes for the game winner.
DJ Taylor started on the mound tossing 6.1 innings with five hits and two runs allowed while striking out five. Johnson moved from shortstop to the mound in relief to pick up the win with 1.2 innings pitched and two strikeouts.
Howell had four of the seven hits for the Panthers with the others coming from
Randy Rudulph, Johnson, and Seabrooks.
HOW IT HAPPENED (SUNDAY GAME 2):The ending game of the weekend saw CAU strike first in the second inning on the RBI-single from
Ceontae Brandon to
Jezreel Moore from third - Moore got his first start of the season in the field behind the plate.
CAU added two more runs in the fifth inning with Seabrooks crossing home on a balk in front of Johnson scoring on a groundout by Betts.
Voorhees struck back to tie the game with one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
The game advanced to extra innings before CAU capitalized in the bottom of the 10th inning. Betts led off with a single to left before going to second base on a passed ball. Rudulph moved Betts up with a single to center and later stole second base.
Nicolas Mitchell stepped to the plate and hit a ball to the shortstop that was not fielded cleanly and allowed Betts to score the game-winning run.
Holmes, Betts, and
Cedric Garrett had two-hit games.
Holmes pitched the first six innings giving up just four hits and one run before giving way to Johnson. Johnson (3-1) allowed the game-tying runs to score in relief but stayed in the game to pick up his second win of the day and third of the season with four innings pitched and five strikeouts.
THE NUMBERS:Friday Game 1: 1 run, 5 hits, 4 errors
Friday Game 2: 0 runs, 4 hits, 2 errors
Sunday Game 1: 3 runs, 7 hits, 1 error
Sunday Game 2: 4 runs, 9 hits, 1 error
UP NEXT:Clark Atlanta will play at Point University on Feb. 23 before hosting Bluefield State on Feb. 27 in a doubleheader.
