DII/SIAC/Baseball
Claflin Sports Information
Orangeburg, S.C.–The Claflin University Panthers used clutch hitting and strong pitching en route to defeating the Morehouse Maroons Tigers, 5-4 in extra innings and 2-1, in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) doubleheader Saturday at Historic Mirmow Field.
Wendell Ferguson Had The Game-One Winning Hit
The win assured Claflin of its third straight SIAC series win. The victories improve the Panthers to 10-18 overall, but more importantly, 7-1 in conference play.
Morehouse fell to 8-13 overall and 1-7 in the league.
In Game One, Wendell Ferguson’s ninth-inning single drove home Jesse Minter for the game-winning run. Ferguson hit came with two outs. He was also the offensive leader on the day with three hits on the day.
Claflin led 4-1 after four innings, only to see Morehouse rally for three unearned runs in the top of the seventh, tying the contest at 4-4.
Other offensive performers for the Panthers, which pounded out eight hits, were Rashad Bivens with a two-run double and Jalen Thompson with an RBI single.
Anthony Ford, 2-2, picked the win. The Panthers pitching trio of Ford, Keamond Eison and starter Justin Vreeland held the Morehouse batters to five hits.
Morehouse was led by Elijah Sudduth with three hits and Daron Bowling took the loss for the Maroons Tigers in Game One.
The Panthers pushed across an unearned in the bottom half of the seventh to secure the Game Two win.
Xavier Floyd had a RBI single to score Jared Maner in the top of the first to give Morehouse their only run of the game. Claflin tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Bivens which scored Jalen Thompson to knot the game at 1-1 heading into the final inning.
Darius Boykins, 4-2, who pitched a complete game, had nine strikeouts and allowed the Maroon Tigers just.
Justin Stephens, Jr. had two hits for Morehouse while Anthony Dodd was the losing pitcher for Maroon Tigers.
The time for the third game of the series has been changed to 11 a.m. tomorrow, Sunday, March 22 at Historic Mirmow Field.