BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College baseball team (19-15, 8-9 USA South) earned an emphatic 14-1 victory to close out a three-game sweep over the Berea College Mountaineers (4-30, 1-14 USAS) on Sunday afternoon at Gil Coan Field.
The Tornados honored its senior class - Jack Atkinson, Christian Ezzell, Jason Jucker, and Matthew Scavotto - in a special pre-game ceremony prior to first pitch.
After Berea scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning, Brevard took complete command, scoring 14 unanswered runs to earn the win via run rule in seven innings.
Four Tornados had multi-hit performances, while the Brevard pitching staff hurled a combined one-hitter to stifle the Mountaineer bats. Frankie Vasquez led all hitters with a perfect 3-for-3 performance with three RBIs, one double, and a run scored.
All three starting outfielders - Atkinson, Zach Allison, and Logan Clark - totaled two hits each, with all three recording doubles. Atkinson, the senior center fielder from Piedmont, South Carolina, hit a double to the warning track and had two RBIs and a pair of runs scored in addition to his 18th stolen base of 2022. Blake Burchett scored a pair of runs and stole a bag, while Cale Oehler drove in three runs.
Trenten Anderson appeared in his first contest of the 2022 season, throwing a pair of innings with no earned runs and three strikeouts. Cameron Cook (4-2) earned the victory, going four innings of hitless work with three strikeouts. Making his collegiate debut, Jordan Douglas put together a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to close the contest out.
Berea scored first, using a balk with runners on first and third to take the early lead 1-0. Brevard was able to answer back fast, after six runs and an error turned into a seven-run frame for the Tornados in the bottom half of the inning.
With runners on second and third and one out, Oehler hit a sacrifice fly to score Allison. Vasquez then totaled an RBI single before a bases-loaded walk, passed ball, two-RBI double, and RBI single gave Brevard a commanding early lead.
After Anderson turned in a 1-2-3 frame in the top of the second, Brevard once again took advantage of a Berea mistake, cashing in a leadoff error to extend its lead to a seven-run margin, 8-1.
Burchett swiped his 35th bag of the season in the bottom of the third before Clark punched a two-out two-RBI double to plate Burchett and Ezzell, making it a 10-1 affair.
Both sides went down quietly in the fourth inning, but Brevard struck again in the bottom of the fifth as Oehler came through with runners on the corners and two outs with a two-RBI double. Vasquez followed suit with an RBI single that pushed the score up to a 13-1 margin.
Ryan Leiman drew a two-out bases loaded walk that scored Jordan Ingram in the bottom of the sixth, while Douglas got the Mountaineers 1-2-3 as Brevard claimed the Senior Day win, 14-1.
The Tornados are scheduled to return to action on Tuesday, April 26 vs. Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. On their bye week from USA South play, Brevard will await its postseason fate. To check the latest USA South Conference standings, please visit www.usasouth.net.
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-BC-