April 30, 2011

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Photo Gallery

By Dan Ryan
B-CUathletics.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Saturday's sweep of Florida A&M could be viewed as a testament for staking the early lead, but Bethune-Cookman's 11-3 and 5-4 victories had just as much to do with two-out hitting.

Yes, the Wildcats scored 10 of their 16 Saturday runs in the opening inning of each game. Here's the cool part: all ten of those runs came with two outs, and B-CU plated three more runs in similar fashion to continue their dominance of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division.

B-CU (24-23 overall, 8-0 MEAC) can clinch the division outright Sunday if it can sweep FAMU (22-23,5-3) in the final game of the series at 12 noon.

Head Coach Chris Cochran was primarily pleased with her team's energy and effort, but also appreciated the two-out stat as well.

"It's certainly better than leaving runners on  base," Cochran said. "Offense is all about opportunity, and we had great at-bats in the first game and the start of the second." 

Catcher Sabrina Ferguson drove in two runs in each game's first inning, notching a two-run triple in the first game and a clutch single in the second.

"I was just focusing on making contact with the ball," Ferguson said. 

Michelle Banuelos-Smith and Brianna Leverett each had an RBI single, and Simone Ceasar scored on a wild pitch as B-CU took a 6-0 lead.

Ashton Hinds and Aurelia Gamch drove in runs in the third to make it an 8-2 game, then a three-run fourth helped B-CU end the opener via run-rule. The Wildcats turned a pair of double plays in the opener.

Michelle Banuelos-Smith went 3-3 in the first game, then in the second game followed Ferguson with another two-run single that gave the Wildcats a 4-1 advantage entering the second inning of the nightcap.

After B-CU went up 5-1 in the second inning on an Allisom Garcia RBI single, FAMU reliever Jen Lindsey retired ten straight B-CU batters as the Rattlers closed to 5-2 in the fifth and 5-4 in the sixth.