Bethune-Cookman baseball advances to MEAC championship against rival Florida A&M

SALISBURY, Maryland – Bethune-Cookman used solid outings from starting pitchers Alex Seibold and German Hernandez on Friday, helping the Wildcats defeat Norfolk State (12-1) and Delaware State (13-0) in a pair of elimination games to advance to the title series of the MEAC Championships at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. This year’s championships are being hosted by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

B-CU 12, NORFOLK STATE 1 (RECAP)
Junior pitcher Alex Seibold tossed six innings on Friday morning, allowing just a single run on three hits to help push the Wildcats past the Norfolk State Spartans in the first of two elimination games at the MEAC Baseball Championships. Bethune-Cookman took down the Spartans, 12-1, advancing to the afternoon’s second elimination semifinal contest.

With Bethune-Cookman (18-39) holding tonto a 4-1 lead heading into the eighth inning, the Wildcats demonstrated one of their best offensive outputs of the season with an eight-run eighth inning to enforce the run-rule decision.

The bases were loaded with just one out when senior centerfielder Jake Welch was hit by a pitch to drive in the inning’s first run. That was followed by catcher Clay Middleton’s two-run single past the glove of Norfolk State (27-16) shortstop Alex Mauricio, driving in Brandon Amendolare and Jameel Edney for the 7-1 Wildcats advantage.

Having won 12 consecutive games to claim the top seed out of the Northern Division, NSU went to the bullpen for the second time in the inning as Jeff Di Fulgo toed the rubber.

Bryant Munoz pushed across a run with a RBI single to center that scored Welch, followed by a sac fly from Nathan Bond that drove across redshirt freshman shortstop Demetrius Sims.

That allowed B-CU a 9-1 lead.

Redshirt senior right fielder Jordan Robinson and third baseman Jameel Edney registered back-to-back RBI singles, advancing the lead at 11-1. Robinson later produced the final 12-1 margin when he scored on an error charged to the Spartans infield.

The Wildcats plated the first run of the game in the fourth as Munoz began the inning with a double to left, later coming across to score on a throwing error charged to the NSU outfield.

The Cats got three additional runs in the seventh, using a Sims sac fly to plate Rakeem Quinn. However, the highlight of the frame was designated hitter Austin Garcia’s solo shot to straight-away center field – officially logged at 419 feet, putting the Wildcats ahead 4-0 heading into the bottom of the inning.

Seibold worked six complete innings on the hill, striking out a season-best 10 batters on the day. He scattered three hits, allowing just a single run to earn the win. He evened his record at 5-5 on the year.

The loss went to Norfolk State’s Stephen Butt who fell to 5-2. He was tagged for four runs (three earned) on three hits and walked three with two strikeouts.

Bethune-Cookman was led offensively by Munoz with a 3-for-5 game, scoring twice and driving in a pair. Robinson finished 2-for-4 with two runs and a RBI, while teammate and catcher Clay Middleton was 2-for-2 with two RBI and a run scored.

With the win, Bethune-Cookman advances to face Delaware State in the final elimination game of the day, in what is essentially a semifinal contest at 2 p.m.

B-CU 13, DELAWARE STATE 0 (RECAP)
Bethune-Cookman junior German Hernandez pitched five scoreless innings, combining with freshman Alexis Herrera’s two scoreless frames to help the Wildcats to a 13-0 decision over Delaware State in the semifinal contest of the MEAC Baseball Championships on Friday afternoon at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury, Maryland.

Having fallen in the opening game of the 2015 MEAC Baseball Championships to the Delaware State Hornets on Wednesday, Bethune-Cookman (19-39) wasted little time avoiding a repeat of that performance.

With the bases loaded and one out in the first inning, Jameel Edney recorded a fielder’s choice RBI that scored shortstop Demetrius Sims for the game’s opening run. Austin Garcia followed with a RBI single to right, scoring Nathan Bond for the 2-0 lead.

Garcia was back to action in the third, driving in Edney from first with a double to left center. The LaBelle, Florida sophomore would come in to score himself off a wild pitch from Delaware State (16-29) starting pitcher Darrien Ragins, allowing the Wildcats a 4-0 lead after three innings in the books.

After scoring two more runs in the fourth, Bethune-Cookman put the run-rule into place in the fifth, plating seven runs in the frame.

Brandon Amendolare and Jake Welch scored off the bat of Sims, while Bryant Munoz scored Sims with a RBI single to center field.

That stretched the B-CU lead out to 7-0.

Bond drove across Munoz with a single through the left side, followed by Garcia’s bases loaded single through the left side off DSU reliever Tyler Cullen. When Amendolare tallied a sacrifice fly to left that allowed Jordan Robinson to score from third, the Wildcats lead stood at 12-0.

The final run of the game came off the bat of Welch, as he singled to left bringing in Edney for the final 13-0 decision in favor of the Maroon and Gold.

In his first career start on the mound, Hernandez worked five innings, picking up his best outing of the campaign in allowing just a single hit and fanning four batters against just two walks. With the win, he upped his record to 1-2 for the year. Herrera worked the final two innings out of the bullpen, giving up four hits and striking out two batters.

Bethune-Cookman was led offensively by the play of Bond who finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and a RBI. Sims ended the game 3-for-5 with two runs and a RBI, with teammate Garcia turning in a 3-for-4 effort with three RBI and scoring a single run. Robinson and Edney each gathered multi-hit games as well.

Bethune-Cookman will now advance to face rival Florida A&M for the MEAC title. B-CU would need to defeat FAMU twice in order to claim the championship for the second time in as many years, and advance to the ninth NCAA Regional in the past 10 seasons.

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BOX SCORE BCU VS. NSU

BOX SCORE BCU VS. DSU

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