SANFORD, Fla. - Junior outfielder Andrey Martinez single-handedly outscored Mississippi Valley State as the Wildcats dominated the Delta Devils in a doubleheader sweep, Saturday at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium.

The Wildcats improve to a perfect 3-0 in Sanford this season after wins of 6-5 and 15-5, respectively in the pair of games Saturday afternoon. 



GAME ONE - B-CU 6, MVSU 5

Mississippi Valley State (9-13, 4-8 SWAC) jumped on B-CU starter Joel Core in the first for two runs on three hits with help from a wild pitch.

Bethune-Cookman (17-15, 10-2 SWAC) cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame as Andrey Martinez sent his third homer in as many games to left center to make it a 2-1 game. 

The Delta Devils took that run back with one swing as Benny Hernandez sent the first pitch of the second over the left field wall to go up, 3-1. 

Again, B-CU matched with two in the second as they quickly loaded the bases and scored on a Michael Rodriguez hit by pitch. Jayme Villafane tied it one batter later on a fielders choice that allowed Armani Newton to score from third.

The Delta Devils grabbed the lead again in the third as the leadoff man reached on an error and scored on a Hernandez RBI double to make it 4-3.

The Cats answered a third time in the third, again via a solo shot as Jesus Vanegas sent his sixth out to center to tie things at 4. 

The back-and-forth continued into the fourth as MVSU opened the inning with a walk and an double before moving in front 5-4 on an RBI single to right. The Delta Devils loaded the bases with one out, but could do any further damage.

After back-to-back 1-2-3 frames, the Wildcats tied things again in the fifth as a Jorge Rodriguez sacrifice fly allowed Darryl Lee to score.

B-CU managed just two hits and MVSU only one as the teams headed to the bottom of the ninth still locked at five. After a quiet start to the inning, Andrey Martinez stepped to the plate with two out and no one on.

He sent the second pitch he saw deep over the left field wall to walk off the Delta Devils, 6-5, on his second homer of the day.

Joel Core made the start, working six innings in which he allowed five runs - four earned, on 10 hits with a walk and five strikeouts. With his fourth strikeout of the day, Core reached the 100 strikeout mark for his collegiate career.

Jean Carlos Zambrano was credited with his third win of the year after three innings in which only one runner reached base via a hit batter. He struck out three.


GAME TWO - B-CU 15, MVSU 5

After MVSU stranded two to open the first, Lee got the Wildcats started with a leadoff triple, coming around to score on Andrey Martinez's second homer in as many at-bats and third of the day as the Cats took an early 2-0 lead.

A Delta Devils double-play cut off a second inning threat before B-CU made it 3-0 on another Martinez RBI, this time scoring Reinaldo Plascencia from third and forcing an MVSU call to the bullpen. 

Mississippi Valley got on the board in the fourth with four straight base hits to open the top half of the inning and trimming the deficit to 3-2.

B-CU broke things open in the bottom of the inning as Sergio Rivera sent a solo shot to left for the fourth run for the Wildcats. After a walk and an error, Andrey Martinez homered yet again - his second of the game, fourth of the day, and third straight at-bat with an RBI - to make it 7-2. 

The Wildcats poured it on in the fifth after another MVSU pitching change, loading the bases with no one out for a Villafane sacrifice fly. Lee singled in the ninth run of the game, while a double steal one batter later put the Cats in double-figures. Martinez came through for the fourth straight at-bat with an RBI, plating Lee to make it 11-2. 

B-CU turned to the bullpen in the sixth as All-SWAC reliever Pablo Torres made his season debut, striking out two in the top of the inning.

The Wildcats got into run-rule range in the bottom of the sixth without recording a hit as the Delta Devils relief core hit four batters with a walk to put B-CU up, 13-2. 

Down to potentially their final three outs, the Delta devils rallied in the seventh for three runs on three hits with help from two B-CU errors to prolong the contest as they pulled back under the 10-run threshold at 13-5. 

Bethune-Cookman used another sacrifice fly to push the lead back up to 14-5 in the bottom of the seventh, but a flyout stranded the potential game-ending run at third. 

The Wildcats ended things early in the eighth after a leadoff hit batter, Daniel Figueroa double, and an RBI fielder's choice by Andrey Martinez to close things out at 15-5. 

Edwin Sanchez got his fourth win of the year after five innings of two-run ball in which he scattered seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Torres and Yoansell Diaz finished out the rest of the game, with Diaz working two scoreless innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts. 

• On the weekend, Andrey Martinez finished 8-13 at the plate with six runs scored, five homers, and 13 RBI. 11 of those 13 RBI came in Saturday's doubleheader, with nine coming in the nightcap. 
• With 10 homers on the season and plenty of regular season left, Martinez becomes the first Wildcat in double-digits for homers since Danny Rodriguez finished the 2017 season with 11.
• With 13 RBI on the weekend, Martinez matched the run total scored by MVSU as a team on the weekend. 
• Martinez climbs to third on the SWAC leaderboard in homers. His six homers this week alone woudl put him tied for eighth in the league in long balls. 
• B-CU retakes the SWAC lead in team homers with 39, three more than the next closest conference opponent. 

The Wildcats will get set to head south to take on the Miami Hurricanes - a team B-CU defeated, 6-4, a season ago in Miami - on Wednesday April 9 at 6 p.m. 


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--#HailWildcats--