Dolberry GASTONIA — The fourth-seeded UNC Pembroke baseball team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but then found themselves down 4-3 before tying the game in the seventh and walking it off in the ninth to beat fifth-seeded Emmanuel 5-4 in its Conference Carolinas Tournament opener Thursday afternoon at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia.
Michael Dolberry II doubled in the ninth into the left-center field gap, moved to third on a groundout, and would sprint home on an Emmanuel wild pitch to send the Braves into the winner’s bracket.
Freshman Jacob Smith got the start and turned in a career-high seven innings, allowing just three earned runs while striking out seven.
The Braves (39-12) moved to 6-3 all-time against Emmanuel (30-21), as the two squads have now alternated wins in the last seven matchups.
The Braves will be back in action Friday as they square off against eighth-seeded Erskine. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at CaroMont Health Park.
Blake Hinson worked a leadoff walk for UNCP and would come around to score on Joey Rezek’s RBI groundout, while Kody O’Connor launched his 16th homer of the season to dead center to put the Braves up 3-0.
Jesus Cruz reached on a third-inning single for the Lions, while Thomas Collins would reach via a walk. Cruz and Collins would move up 90 feet on a ground out, before coming around to score on Brody Campbell’s two-RBI single.
In the fifth, Emmanuel’s Nick Dietsch got aboard with a two-out error and would eventually score to tie the game on a Ryan Muniz RBI single.
Van Gupton Jr. led off the seventh frame with a two-strike homer to left to give the Lions a 4-3 lead.
In the bottom half, Dolberry would reach on an error, steal second, and advance to third on another Emmanuel error. O’Connor provided his third RBI of the day with a single to score Dolberry and tie the game at 4-4; Dolberry would also win the game with his run two innings later.
O’Connor had two hits and two walks with three RBIs for UNCP and Dolberry had a double and two steals with three runs. Jake Inman (5-1) pitched two hitless, scoreless innings in relief to earn the win.
Simon Boggie (1-2) took the loss for Emmanuel.
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