Robert Klawitter–The Corsair
The PJC Pirates baseball team heated up this past weekend, despite Pensacola seeing snow for the first time in years. The Pirates swept a four game series, which included doubleheaders on Feb. 6 and 7, from Pearl River Community College.
PJC won the first game 6-3, behind “very competitive,” pitching from sophomore Paul Davis, Head Coach Bill Hamilton said. Davis pitched seven strong innings, totaling 11 strikeouts, while giving up a single run in the second, fifth, and sixth innings.
“I was happy with my performance, but wish I could have finished stronger,” Davis said.
Paul Davis leads in pitching for PJC against Pearl River
Davis’ teammates made it easier on him, scoring three early runs in the first inning. Sophomore Tyson Workman scored on a wild pitch after reaching base on a walk then stealing second. Freshman Shawn McDorman and sophomore Steven Groves both reached base with singles, and were driven in by freshman Josh Doyle’s two-out double.
In the third inning McDorman and sophomore Saxon Butler hit back-to-back solo homeruns to power the Pirates to a 5-1 lead.
Pearl River answered back with a run in both the fifth and sixth, but was shut down by Davis in the seventh, the final inning in the scheduled seven-inning doubleheaders over the weekend.
The Pirates took the second game 14-4, but despite winning in the sixth by the 10 run rule, the game provided some early challenges for the Pirates. Starting pitcher, freshman JJ McClaughlin was pulled in the first inning after giving up five consecutive hits which included a two-run homer before recording a single out.
Sophomore pitcher Wes Winters took over in the first inning, inheriting the bases loaded with Pearl River Wildcats. Winters got a strikeout from the first hitter he faced, and limited the damage by only allowing one more run to score on a sacrifice fly.
PJC chipped away by scoring two runs off shaky pitching, reaching base on walks four times in the bottom of the first.
Pearl River added a solo homerun off Winters in the second, but it wasn’t enough as freshman Blake Brown blasted a two-run and a three-run homer to power PJC past Pearl River.
“I just ran into two of them out there,” Brown said. “The wind helped me out too.”
Winters, “a one to two inning thrower,” Assistant Head Coach Keith Little said, would finish the game pitching four consecutive scoreless innings, totaling five strikeouts on just over 60 pitches.
“We didn’t expect him to go the distance,” Little Said. “His performance was big for the bullpen.”
PJC won the second doubleheader 5-2 and 4-0, finishing the weekend series sweep behind freshman Josh Tankski’s complete game shutout in the final game of the series on Sunday.
