Due West, SC – The 15th ranked Flying Fleet scored four runs in the bottom of the first and held on for an 8-3 victory over Augusta State Tuesday afternoon at Grier Field in non conference baseball action.
Senior Casey Winckowski (Oregon, OH) would lead off the bottom of the first with a single for Erskine and he would later advance to third when John Bolding (Pickens, SC, Pickens HS) doubled to left centerfield. Drew Willingham (Hodges, SC, Greenwood HS) and Brian Laznik (Chardon, OH, Lakeland CC) would draw back to back walks to put the Fleet up 1-0. Zach McCarthy (Spartanburg, SC, Byrnes HS) would then single to right field, scoring Bolding and Willingham. McCarthy would then get caught in a rundown allowing Laznik to score from third base to give the Fleet a 4-0 lead.
Leading 6-0 in the top of the sixth, Jeff Rice would lead off with a home run for the Jaguars to cut the Erskine lead to five. The Fleet would answer in the bottom half of the inning when Zach Smith led off with a double and later score on a wild pitch. Willingham would give the Fleet their final run with a solo home run to right center field. In the top of the eighth, pinch hitter Colby Adeeb would drop a two out single into center field to score two, but that would be all the Jaguars would get as the Erskine bullpen closed the game out.
Smith led the Fleet at the plate going2-4 with a double and one run driven in, while Winckowski was 2-3 with two runs scored. McCarthy and Willingham each had a hit and drove in two for Erskine. Sophomore Heath Gray (Byrnes, SC, Byrnes HS) picked up his first win of the season allowing just one run on three hits and striking out eight in seven innings of work.
Rice led the Jaguars at the plate going 2-4 with a home run and one RBI, while Caleb Saggus was 2-5 and Jake Sutton added a hit. Stephen Ramsey (0-1) took the loss allowing four earned runs on six hits and struck out four in four innings of work.
The Fleet improves to 10-0 on the season and will host Newberry tomorrow starting at 2:00, while Augusta State falls to 6-7 on the year and will host Flagler in a three game Peach Belt series this weekend.
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