MEMPHIS, Tenn. – UWF baseball (15-8, 7-2 GSC) picked up its 10th straight win Monday at Christian Brothers, downing the Bucs (5-15, 1-8 GSC) by a final of 13-3. Starter Kirk Maddox (2-2) picked up his second win of the season with five strong innings. Nic Strasser and Brandon Harmon combined for six hits, five RBIs and four runs scored to power the offense.
Maddox went five frames, scattering four hits and allowing just one run (one earned). He struck out two and walked one. He loaded the bases in the first before escaping the jam unscathed. He loaded the bases again in the second before getting a strikeout and a double play to hold the Bucs scoreless.
Maddox allowed a solo homer to Bucs shortstop Taylor Angley-Holman to begin the third but proceeded to retire nine straight to complete his day.
"I thought it was a solid start for him," said UWF head coach Mike Jeffcoat. "The first inning or two there, he had to pitch himself out of a jam a little bit. They got some base hits, we turned a big double play with the bases loaded to end the inning in the second, and then he settled down and pitched nicely."
Strasser and Harmon paced the UWF offense all day. Harmon helped the Argos expand a 1-0 lead in the third with an RBI single and then came in later in the inning along with Strasser on an error by the Bucs defense that followed a base hit by Nick Kerkmann. The Argos finished with five runs on five hits and two errors in the third.
"He's done a great job of really just doing his job in the two-hole, which is either bunting runners over or just putting the ball in play," Jeffcoat said about Harmon, who has now reached base in 17 of the last 18 games. "BJ has tried to use more of the whole field, and stay in the middle of the field and even to the left center field side, and I think that's helped his overall average."
Harmon would score again the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Kerkmann. Strasser highlighted another five-run scoring attack in the sixth with his second home run in as many days, a three-run shot that gave UWF a 12-1 lead. The blast was the fifth of the season for the leadoff man.
"I think the best decision assistant coach Kyle Brown and I came up with was to move him to the leadoff spot," said Jeffcoat of Strasser. "Getting him those extra at-bats is certainly paying benefits for our team."
The Argos have now won ten straight. During the win streak, the team has outscored opponents 107-25 and outhit opponents 140-71. The Argos scored 28 of the final 31 runs in the series at CBU to notch their fourth straight series sweep and their first series win and sweep on the road this season.
The Argos will next travel to Mississippi College (15-3, 7-2 GSC). The Argos and Choctaws are currently tied for second in the GSC.
"We've just got to make sure the guys know that Mississippi College is going to be a very tough opponent, especially playing them on the road at their place," said Jeffcoat. "They've been having a good year so far… This is going to be a next step, next level challenge for this team. What we've done to this point has been great, but you can throw it all out the window when we get over there next weekend."
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