WILMINGTON, N.C. ? Sophomore Kyle Lewis tossed five innings of 5-hit relief and senior Daniel Hargrave finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as No. 29 UNC Wilmington trimmed The Citadel, 16-6, in non-conference baseball action Tuesday at Brooks Field.
The Seahawks, who are ranked 29th in the USAToday/ESPN Coaches Poll, extended their winning streak to four games with the win and raised their record to 27-7-1. The Bulldogs, who fell to 0-5 all-time in Wilmington against the Seahawks, saw their record dip to 22-14.
Lewis won his third straight decision to remain perfect at 3-0. The southpaw allowed one run, unearned, and struck out two in setting a career-high with those five innings. In two appearances against The Citadel, Lewis has allowed just two runs, one earned, in 9 1/3 innings.
Hargrave, who finished 4-for-6, homered in the first and doubled in the fourth before adding singles in the third and fifth innings and finished with three runs batted in.
Senior Mark Carver, Nate Hall and Shane French each had three hits on the evening as UNCW pounded out 18 hits, two short of their season-high of 20. French tied his career-high with five runs batted in.
Sophomore Matt Reifsnider had three hits for the Bulldogs and drove in two runs. Junior Sonny Meade and sophomore Richard Jones both added two hits.
Hargrave, who tied his career-best with four hits, gave the Seahawks an early lead with an opposite field homer to right with one out off losing freshman pitcher Matt Talley (1-3) , who surrendered eight runs on seven hits and two walks in 2 1/3 innings.
A 9-run bottom of the third gave the Seahawks a 10-0 lead. A 3-run double by French and a 2-run double off the bat of sophomore Bobby Leeper highlighted an inning that saw 14 batters make their way to the plate.
The Citadel fought back in the top of the fourth with four runs to move to within 10-4. Jones doubled in the first run and sophomore Chris McGuiness singled through the right side to knock in Meade, who singled earlier in the frame. Reifsnider singled off Lewis, who relieved freshman starter Justin Bradley, to score the third run and Jordan completed the scoring with a RBI ground out.
French singled in his fourth run of the game in the fourth and UNCW added three more in the fifth to take a 14-4 lead.
Carver launched his 12th homer of the season in a 2-run seventh inning. Freshman pinch hitter Tyler Stott drove in the other run with a sacrifice fly to center.
The Citadel completed the scoring with single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Senior Chris Suager singled in the first run and Reifsnider added a RBI single in the ninth.
The Seahawks return to action on Friday when they open a Colonial Athletic Association series at Delaware with a 3 p.m. start.
Notes: The Seahawks now own a 7-4 lead in the all-time series ... UNCW is also now 16-2 at Brooks Field this season ... The 9-run second inning was the second most run scored by the Seahawks in an inning this season (10 vs William & Mary, Mar. 22) ... UNCW raised its batting average five points to .315 ... Daniel Hargrave is now tied with former Seahawk standouts Jonathan Batts ('04-'07) and Matt Poulk ('02-'06) with 31 career home runs ... Citadel freshman reliever Drew Mahaffey fanned all five Seahawks he faced ... Freshman Alex Hill made his first collegiate pitching appearance for the Seahawks.
