ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Charleston Southern split their final two games of series against UNC Asheville on Sunday. With the win, the Buccaneers clinched the weekend and moved to 9-9 in Big South play and sit in a tie for fourth with two series remaining in the spring.
 
SATURDAY/SUNDAY – GAME TWO OF SERIES
The second game of the series began on Saturday and after a rain delay early in the contest, another wave of rain came through forcing them to halt the game until the next morning.
 
Charleston Southern had an early 1-0 lead in the game off a Nathan Martinez RBI groundout in the second. UNC Asheville battled back in the bottom half of the inning scoring on a pair of RBI hits to take a 2-1 edge.
 
The Buccaneers responded mightily with six runs in the third to jump ahead 7-2. The action began with a throwing error by the catcher on a sacrifice bunt which was followed by RBI singles from Tyler Wright and Alex Marot. Lucas Pringle walked when the bases were loaded to score while Martinez grounded into a double play but scored another. The scoring in the inning for the Bucs came to an end in the with Ethan Reader getting an RBI triple.
 
In the Bulldogs' half of the inning, they drew the game level once again, scoring five runs in the frame to knot it at 7-7. UNC Asheville went on to take the lead in the fifth off a solo homer followed by an RBI double. After the inning, they went into the weather delay until the next morning with the Bulldogs leading 9-7 after five.
 
On Sunday morning, the ballgame got rolling again, and UNC Asheville did not skip a beat, tallying four unanswered in the bottom of the sixth. The Bucs' Marot had an RBI single in the top of the ninth to bring the final score to 13-8.
 
Marot led the team at the plate with three hits on the day with the team totaling 11 as Wright and Blake Edgmon each had two. Marot had the team-high in RBIs with two.
 
Aydan Smith started for the Bucs and threw the first 2.0 innings followed by Zach Stichweh and Kayden Althoff sharing the third. Hayden Henry had the two frames leading into the delay while Brady Bickett threw the three following the delay allowing just one earned run.
 
SUNDAY – GAME THREE OF THE SERIES
Charleston Southern was all over the baseball at the start of the game, scoring six runs in the top of the first for the quick lead. In the inning, Marot had an RBI off a fielder's choice followed by a Lucas Pringle RBI off a hit by pitch then a Chandler Tuupo two RBI single. Nathan Martinez brought another in as he grounded into a double play. Blake Edgmon capped off the frame with an RBI double to left center. UNC Asheville scored three in their half of the opening frame to cut halfway into their deficit.
 
The Bulldogs slowly chipped into their deficit with an RBI single in the second, an RBI double in the fourth, and an RBI groundout in the fifth. This brought the score even at six apiece.
 
The Buccaneers' offense scored two runs in the sixth off a Blake Edgmon double to regain the lead. This time the advantage was short lived as the Bulldogs' scored four runs in their half of the inning to take a 10-8 edge. UNC Asheville continued to pour it on in the seventh with an RBI single and a three-run homer to now claim a 14-8 lead.
 
Charleston Southern battled back once again, with this time coming in the eighth, tallying eight runs in the frame to tie the game and eventually take the lead. Mason Reising had a two RBI double to get the action started, which was followed by a wild pitch to score Michael Rogers. Tyler Wright entered as a pinch hitter and had a two RBI single up the middle followed by a pinch-hitting Ethan Reader who had an RBI single to center to tie the game. With the bases loaded, Kain Collins singled to center to bring home another pair and put the Bucs ahead at 16-14.
 
UNC Asheville battled back to tie the game once again with a two-run homer in the eighth bringing the score to 16 apiece.
 
The game went on to go into extra innings as neither team scored in the ninth. Charleston Southern immediately loaded the bases in the tenth and John Emendorfer drew a walk to bring home the first run of the frame. After this Barile had a sacrifice fly to score the next and Pringle had one of his own to tally the team's 19^th of the day.
 
As a team, Charleston Southern finished with 14 hits as Collins led them with three on the day with Edgmon being the lone other player with multiple as he finished with two. Edgmon led the team in RBIs with three as Collins, Reising, Pringle, Tuupo and Wright each had two.
 
Matt Gallant started on the mound for Charleston Southern and threw the first 4.0 innings allowing six runs to score. Drew Dawson was the first out of the bullpen throwing 2.0 allowing three earned runs to score. Corbin Payne worked the next 0.1 followed by Kayden Atholff for a frame. Jack Bunnell earned the win, throwing 2.2 without allowing an earned runs and giving up just one hit across his nine batters faced.
 
UP NEXT
 
Charleston Southern is back in action on Tuesday as they will travel to Statesboro, Georgia to face Georgia Southern. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and it will mark the last game for the Buccaneers before a 10-day break from games for the squad to take their finals.