PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF baseball team exploded for a 9-run victory in game one and then got a great pitching effort in the nightcap to sweep a doubleheader from Shorter at Jim Spooner Field on Saturday. The Argos won the series between the Gulf South Conference's first-place teams with a 2-1 margin.
UWF (6-5, 5-1 GSC) got offensive production from 10 different batters, stole six bases and didn't commit an error behind four pitchers across the two games.
Dilan Lawson earned a save in each game, becoming the second UWF hurler to pick up two in the same weekend in 2022.
The Argonauts had a season-high 13 runs on 12 hits for a 13-4 win in game one before striking out Hawks six in a 4-2 win in the series clincher.
Chris Johnson had two hits, four RBI and scored twice, while
Trent Jeffcoat had three base knocks, three RBI and scored twice as well.
Shorter (10-5, 4-2) dropped its first series of the season and was held to its second- and fourth-lowest run totals of the year.
"That's a real quality Shorter team and we are happy to get the (series) win," UWF head coach
Mike Jeffcoat said. "Swinging the bats the way we did in the first game compared to (Friday) was big for us. Just being able to come out here for eight hours with our backs against the wall from losing the first game and being able to hold it together there in the second game. That's big for this team."
GAME ONE
UWF trailed Shorter 2-0 after the first inning before scoring three in the third, a season-high seven in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take control.
In the 7-run inning,
Jadon Fryman, Johnson and
Josh Prizina all had 2-run singles with two outs as the Argos sent 12 men to the plate.
While the offense was doing its thing,
Salvatore Ferro (2-0) worked six innings for the win. Lawson followed with three frames of 1-hit action and three more strikeouts for the save.
GAME TWO
In the second game, UWF pushed two runs across in the second before adding one in the fifth and an insurance run in the sixth. With hits and base runners at a premium going against the reigning GSC Pitcher of the Year in Jonathan Pintaro, UWF was able to work deep into some counts early and push two across in the second.
Alden Davis scored on an infield error off the bat of Johnson and then
Kyle D'Amour grounded out with the bases loaded to score Fryman.
The Hawks cut the lead in half with a Cory Mason solo home run in the fourth. But the Argos got the run back in the fifth when Cullen O'Shea scored from second on Johnson's 2-out single.
Mason brought Shorter back within a run in the sixth with an RBI single into center.
UWF pushed a fourth run across in the bottom of the sixth when Jeffcoat singled, stole second and scored on O'Shea's 2-out, 2-strike single to right.
Lawson came on and got his second save of the day with an inning of scoreless work.
Tyler Dowdy (2-1) picked up his second win of the year as he struck out five and allowed two runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.
Pintaro (3-1) suffered his first loss after throwing 107 pitches in five innings where he fanned seven and allowed three runs.
UWF will be on the road for the next two weekends, traveling to Memphis next weekend to face Christian Brothers (3-7, 1-2) and then to West Alabama a week later. The Argos will host Southern Indiana in a midweek 2-game set March 8-9.
