FLORENCE – The University of North Alabama baseball team recorded its second double-header sweep in two days as the Lions downed Stillman 17-2 and 12-1 at Mike Lane Field Sunday.
With the sweep, the Lions improve to 4-0 overall.
UNA rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the opener, scoring 16 runs over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to roll to the win. The Lions pitchers allowed just two runs on nine hits. In the second game, UNA scored eight runs in the second inning and cruised to the 12-1 win as the Lion pitchers gave up just one run on three hits.
Left fielder
Kevin Hall again led the way for the Lions as he went six-for-eight with five runs scored and six runs batted in. Through the first four games of the season, the senior from Collierville, Tenn., is batting .786 (11-of-14) with eight runs scored, eight RBI, four doubles and four stolen bases.
Austin Carpenter got the win for UNA in the opener, allowing two runs on nine hits over four and two thirds innings. He walked one and struckout seven.
Devan Traglia then pitched the final two and one-third innings with two walks and one strikeout.
Stillman jumped on top with two runs in the first inning but UNA answered with one in the bottom of the frame. The Lions then scored eight runs in the fourth inning as UNA sent 12 batters to the plate and got seven hits.
Taylor Hayes,
Conner Kiser,
Jess Smith,
Chris Blakey,
Kyle Hubbuch and Hall all drove in runs in the inning.
UNA added five more runs in the fifth with four hits and four walks. The Lions then pushed the advantage to 17-2 with three more runs in the sixth. Hall was four-for-four in the game with three runs scored and four RBI. Kiser, Hubbuch, Blakey and
Kyle Crabtree added two hits each.
In the nightcap, UNA starter
Riley Sanderson struckout 10 batters in just five and a third innings and allowed just one unearned run, three hits and one walk.
Shawn Smirnoff then pitched two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief and
Blake Talley pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the game.
UNA sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning, scoring eight runs on four hits, two walks and an error. The big blows were a two-run single from Crabtree and a two-run home run by Hubbuch.
After Stillman scored a run in the fourth, UNA got it back in the bottom of the fourth to make it 9-1 on an RBI-double by
Dylan Calhoun.
The Lions closed the game with three runs in the firth to make it 12-1. Hall's two-run single closed out the scoring for the day for UNA.
The Lions travel to Mobile, Ala., to face Spring Hill on Feb. 13-14.