COLUMBIA, S.C. –
Reinaldo Santiago drove in four runs with a two-run homer and a two-run single to help lift the Benedict College baseball team to an 11-2 victory and salvage a split against Florida Memorial University on Thursday afternoon at Tiger Field.
Florida Memorial won the first contest 7-4 by scoring two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game, then pushing across three unearned runs in the top of the eighth inning.
Santiago had a solo home run in the first game and finished the day with two home runs and six RBI.
Andrew McCoy also blasted a solo homer in the first game.
Benedict took a 3-1 lead in the third inning of the second game on Santiago's two-run blast. The FMU Lions cut the lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning. The Tigers made it 4-2 on McCoy's solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Tigers exploded with five runs in the fifth inning.
David White Jr. hit a stinger down the left field line to bring home two runs.
Daniel Young hit a sharp grounder up the middle to bring home two more runs.
Skyler Sabado singled to right field to score
Jerome Holmes from third.
Joe Lucas was thrown out at the plate for the third out of the inning trying to score from second base.
Benedict added two more runs in the sixth inning. A walk by
John Holleran, a single by White and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Santiago hit a single down the left field line to score the final two runs of the game.
Starter
Devon Lemon picked up the win on the mound, going five innings and allowing one earned run.
In the first game, Santiago had an RBI single in the first inning and McCoy had a solo homer in the second. Holmes added an RBI single in fourth to give Benedict a 3-1 lead. Florida Memorial added a run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 3-2. Santiago's solo homer in the bottom of the fifth made it 4-2.
The Lions tied the game in the sixth inning on a two-out, two-run double by Cesar Temes.
Benedict left two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth and stranded another runner in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, the Lions loaded the bases with an error and back-to-back singles. Temes was hit by a pitch to bring home the go-ahead run. With two outs, a Benedict error allowed two more runs to score.
The Tigers used six pitchers in the first contest, and they combined for 10 walks.
Murrell Martin, the sixth pitcher of the day, took the loss.
Benedict and Florida Memorial will face off again at noon on Friday.
