The Briar Cliff baseball team completed its first weekend of play with two wins against Culver-Stockton Monday in Goddard, Kansas. The Monday victories complete a 4-0 series sweep for the Chargers over the Wildcats. 
 
"This is a great way to start the season," said head coach Corby McGlauflin. "There are a lot of things we saw that we would like to clean up next week but thrilled to start 4-0."
 
A big fourth inning in game one propelled the Chargers as BC knocked in six runs on its way to a 9-2 win. Mike Anthony got the runs going as he hit a two-run double to score Jake Hubbard and Jared Sitzmann. Jake Federico, Harrison Jestel and Connor Lange also had RBIs in the inning. 
 
The Cliff added two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth for the 9-2 win. 
 
Dalen Blair threw all seven innings for Briar Cliff. He allowed four hits and two runs (one earned) with seven strikeouts in his first start of 2021. Anthony led the Charger offense with two hits and Federico had three RBIs. 
 
Culver-Stockton's AJ Seward takes the loss, allowing six runs on three hits in 3.2 innings. 
 
Game two ended 9-6 in favor of Briar Cliff. The defense for both sides stayed busy as the Chargers collected seven hits and the Wildcats had four. 
 
Culver-Stockton took the lead in the second inning, but the Chargers evened things up in the top of the third. Cyler Melvin homered in the fourth and BC led 6-5 after four. The Chargers extended their led in the fifth with three more run. The Wildcats got one back in the seventh but could not make a comeback. 
 
Houston Hawkins went five innings on the mound for Briar Cliff, allowing five runs on two hits while striking out eight. Ryan Pearson and Alex Kremer entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief. 
 
Melvin went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead Briar Cliff. 
 
Eli Park took the loss for Culver-Stockton. He allowed five hits and six runs over four innings, striking out five and walking one.
 
The Chargers start the season 4-0 and now look ahead to three weekend games against Dakota State. The location for those games is to be determined due to weather.