AUGUSTA, Ga. – Augusta State (5-4) swept #26 Armstrong Atlantic (6-2) 9-2 and 5-4 Sunday afternoon in a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader at Lake Olmstead Stadium.
ASU had a season-high 16 hits in the 9-2 win over the Pirates, with junior left-hander Kip Custer (3-0) going all 9.0 innings to allow eight hits for two runs and striking out three.
Junior JD Sabo, who went 3-for-5 with two runs, set the pace when he singled to left field on the first pitch he saw. Junior Nate Crown scored Sabo on a sacrifice fly to left field for a 1-0 ASU lead in the first inning.
AASU tied it in the fourth inning off a single up the middle from freshman Nathan Ward to right that plated senior Chris Fritts.
The Jags responded in their half of the fourth, scoring two runs on three hits. Senior Seth Foster doubled with two outs and senior Jeff Rice and freshman Lance Mangrum kept it going with an RBI-single and RBI-double for a 3-2 ASU lead. The Jags blew it open in the eighth, with five runs off six back-to-back hits. Rice went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Foster, freshman Justin Mee, and Mangrum all had two hits, with Mangrum adding two RBIs.
Dylan Morrow (2-1) took the loss in 4.2 innings of work, giving up seven hits for four runs. Three Pirate relievers compiled nine allowed hits for five runs.
ASU took a 3-0 lead in game one, capitalizing on three early errors from the AASU infield. The Pirates got two back in the fifth, but the Jags added one in the seventh when freshman Hunter Boose hit a sac fly to center to score Sabo.
ASU junior Clint Echols (0-1) went 7.2 innings and held the Pirates scoreless until the fifth. He struck out four and gave up five hits for two earned runs.
Armstrong forced extra innings in the ninth when freshman Cody Sherlin singled to center for an RBI. Tied 4-4 in the eleventh, a pinch-hit double from freshman Logan South put the winning run on base and Foster's RBI-double over the center fielder's head ended the game in extra innings.
Freshman David Bermudez (2-0) got the win in 2.0 innings work, retiring the side in the eleventh. Boose went 2-for-5 with an RBI in game two and Mee went 2-for-5.
Pirates senior Chris Base went 6.1 innings – with six strikeouts and five hits for four runs. Freshman Caleb Woods (0-1) took the loss in 4.1 innings of work, allowing five hits and one run.
ASU wraps up the weekend series at LOS against AASU for a single game on Monday at 2:00 p.m.