The Benedict College Tigers played their home baseball opener on Tuesday, and won a pair of one-run games against Morris College.
The Tigers jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first game and held on for an 8-7 victory. In the second game, Francisco Martinez hit a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Tigers a 7-6 victory.
Benedict improves to 3-3 on the season. Morris falls to 3-10.
After Morris opened the first game with a run in the first inning, Benedict tied the game in the second inning when TreVohn Jeffrey walked, stole second, third and then home. The Tigers took the lead in the third when Ryan Chesney brought home Myquerris McGrier on a sacrifice fly. Benedict added two more runs in the fourth on a two-run double by Martinez.
Morris cut the lead to 4-3 with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. A two-run homer to left field by Chesney in the bottom of the fifth gave Benedict a 6-3 lead. Benedict pushed the lead to 8-3 in the sixth inning when Bradon O’Connor hit an RBI double, then later scored on a wild pitch.
Morris hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 8-7, but Christian Moore got the final two outs on a strikeout and a line drive.
In the second game, Benedict struck first in the third inning, scoring a pair of runs on a throwing error. Morris cut the lead to 2-1 with a run in the fourth. O’Connor reached on a bunt single in the fifth, then stole second, third and home for a 3-1 lead.
After Morris tied the game at 3-3 with two runs in the sixth, the Tigers bounced back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Conard Heath walked and later scored by stealing home. A Morris throwing error allowed two more Benedict runs to score.
Morris rallied to tie the game in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs on one hit. Three walks loaded the bases, and a groundout and a two-run single tied the game at 6-6.
The Tigers opened the bottom of the seventh with a double by Anthony Johnson, then Martinez hit a one-out single to score the winning run.