University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
5-2
Eastern Kentucky
4-4
Baseball Downs Eastern Kentucky, 9-5, for Second Straight Series Win
02.26.2023 | Baseball
The nine-run outburst by Asheville had several contributors. Every hitter in the Bulldog lineup reached base at least once. The top three hitters in the batting order, Ty Kaufman, Robbie Burnett, and Dylan Bacot, all had two hits on Sunday. Tylan Reece also recorded his first multi-hit game of 2023 going 2-for-4, while Brock Mercado drove in a pair of runs and reached base twice.
On the mound, Justin Honeycutt made the start on Sunday for Asheville. He worked the first 5.2 innings, allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits to go with six strikeouts. Chris Sabo notched his first career win as a Bulldog after tossing a scoreless inning of relief. Dawson Salter tossed the final two innings for his second save of the weekend.
Asheville wasted little time jumping on the Colonels on Sunday. Kaufman led the game off with a triple and he scored later that inning on a double from Bacot. The Bulldogs added another run later that inning to make the score 2-0 Asheville before EKU came to the plate.
Like the Bulldogs in the top half, the Colonels got the offense going early. Eastern Kentucky hit a pair of home runs in the bottom half of the first with one of those long balls occurring with a runner on base. After one inning, Eastern Kentucky led Asheville 3-2.
The Bulldogs bounced back in the third. Asheville picked up three singles and worked a pair of bases loaded walks to regain the lead, 4-3. EKU again answered back in the next two frames as it tied the game at four with an RBI groundout in the third before regaining the lead on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
The rest of the scoring on Sunday came from the Bulldogs. Burnett had a pair of big hits in Asheville's rally. Burnett hit a solo home run in the sixth to tie the score at 5-5.
Honeycutt took the game into the sixth inning but ran into trouble and the Bulldogs turned the ball over to Blake Little. After walking the first man he faced, Little forced a pop out to get Asheville out of a bases-loaded jam with the score still tied at five.
Burnett then hit a two-run triple in the eighth to chase home Kohl Abrams and Kaufman to put the Bulldogs in front, 7-5.
ROBBBIE!!!! Burnett drives in Abrams & Kaufman with a two-run triple & Asheville takes the lead 7-5! #ALLinAVL #TTS pic.twitter.com/eIeENenubT
— Asheville Baseball (@UNCAvlBaseball) February 26, 2023
Asheville added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning thanks to run-producing hits from Drew Bristow and Mercado. With a four-run cushion to work with, Salter, who came in the eighth inning, finished out the game and clinched another series win for the Bulldogs.
Asheville will return to action on Tuesday when it visits Charlotte in another non-conference matchup. First pitch between the Bulldogs and 49ers is set for 6 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sabo, Chris (2-0)
L: CLANCY, Joe (0-1)
S: Salter, Dawson (2)
Batting:
2B: Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Bristow , Drew 1 ; Mercado, Brock 1
3B: Kaufman, Ty 1 ; Burnett, Robbie 1
HR: Burnett, Robbie 1
RBI: Burnett, Robbie 3 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 1 ; Bristow , Drew 1 ; Mercado, Brock 2 ; Abrams, Kohl 1
SH: Mercado, Brock 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kaufman, Ty 2 ; Burnett, Robbie 1 ; Bacot, Dylan 1 ; Johnson, Cameron 1 ; Groves, Michael 2 ; Bristow , Drew 1 ; Abrams, Kohl 1
HBP: Burnett, Robbie 1
Batting:
2B: DAVIS, Conner 1 ; LARREAL, Miguel 1
HR: THOMASON, Logan 1 ; LUDWICK, Charles 1
RBI: THOMASON, Logan 2 ; LUDWICK, Charles 2 ; JONES, Jalen 1
SF: JONES, Jalen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SULLIVAN, DJ 1 ; THOMASON, Logan 1 ; CRISS, Roderick 1 ; LUDWICK, Charles 1 ; LARREAL, Miguel 1
PO: THOMASON, Logan 1
