Jaguar baseball sweeps Lander in PBC play, win finale at USC Aiken

By Shelbie Summerlin | Sports writer

The Augusta University baseball team swept Lander in their home series March 31-April 2.

In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader (March 31), Mason Bernard got the win for the Jaguars after going seven and a third innings and only allowing four hits and four runs in an 8-5 AU win. Jasper Dubberly closed the game for the save.

Augusta was ahead 3-2 but pulled away for good after a Kyle LaRoche home run in the fifth inning brought in Harrison Aulds and LaRoche, and Kyle Lodise hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to bring around J. Ben Haynes, Koby Ayala and Lodise.

Ayala led with two hits. Lodise led with three RBIs.

Turner Sircy helped get the Jaguars their second win of the day. He pitched three and two-thirds innings while only allowing one run and four hits.

Aedan Cates earned the save after tossing the last three innings. He only allowed two hits and struck out two.

Augusta was down 7-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but an Aulds bomb brought around Ayala, Lodise and Pat Galvin to make the score 7-6. LaRoche sent one out in the same inning to tie the game at 7-7.

A big sixth inning for the Jaguars brought the score to 11-7.

Parker Ingram topped off the scoring for Augusta after hitting a solo homer in the eighth to bring the final score of game two to 12-7.

Lodise led game two with three hits, and Aulds had six RBIs.

The third game was moved to Sunday because of rainy, cold and windy conditions on Saturday.

The Jaguars were down 8-0 going into the bottom of the fourth when they started to chip away little by little to tie the game 8-8 after a four-run sixth inning.

Galvin’s double in the eighth inning scored Rushton Bowels to put Augusta up 9-8.

Lander answered in the top of the ninth with two runs to make the score 10-9 going into the last half inning of the game.

Jordan Wilkie led the inning off with a double to the left field warning track then LaRoche’s single sent Wilkie home. Bowles hit a single down the right field line that pushed the go-ahead Galvin run across home to win the game 11-10.

Update: The Jaguars lost 8-3 at Francis Marion on April 4. The bright spot for AU was Mike Morrison’s two-run homer … Augusta took the finale of a three-game set at USC Aiken 6-3 after losing the first two in the series. The visiting Jaguars (11-13, 18-18) built a 5-0 lead in the finale. They scored four in the top of the third inning, as Harrison Aulds had an RBI sacrifice fly, Morrison and Parker Ingram each drove in a run with a single, and another run scored on a passed ball. They scored the fifth run in the top of the fifth inning on a walk to Koby Ayala. Left-hander Britt Kelly went six and two-thirds innings to get the win. Kelly allowed four hits and struck out three. AU will play at Erskine on April 11.

 Contact Shelbie Summerlin at ssummerlin@augusta.edu.

Mason Bernard gave up four hits and struck out four in seven and a third innings of work to get the win over Lander in the series opener. At the top of the page, Parker Ingram had three hits in the series, including a solo homer. (photos by Shelbie Summerlin)