The Charger baseball team opened its four-game series with a 5-3 victory over New College of Florida on Wednesday at IMG Academy.
The Cliff used timely hitting and a pair of home runs from Nico Sall to secure the win.
Sall wasted little time getting Briar Cliff on the board, leading off the top of the first inning with a solo home run. The Chargers added another run in the second on an RBI single by Greyson Kay to take a 2-0 lead.
New College answered with single runs in the third and fourth innings to even the score at 2-2.
Briar Cliff regained control in the sixth. The Chargers manufactured two runs in the frame, highlighted by a sacrifice groundout from Damon Schmid that brought home a run and put Briar Cliff back in front. After New College trimmed the deficit to one in the seventh, Sall delivered again in the eighth with his second solo homer of the game to provide an insurance run.
The Chargers finished with 12 hits on the afternoon. In addition to Sall's two home runs, Briar Cliff received doubles from Cade Marquardt, Grant Devecsery and Schmid as part of a balanced offensive effort.
On the mound, Briar Cliff pitching limited New College to three runs while working through traffic in multiple innings. The Chargers closed out the game late to secure the season-opening win. Brendan Ward got the start on the mound, tossing 4.2 innings and allowed two runs scattered across four hits while recording two strikeouts. Brett Sitzmann tossed 2.1 innings and allowed just one hit while recording one strikeout.
Briar Cliff and New College of Florida will continue their series tomorrow, as they play game two of the four-game stretch at 12 p.m. EST at IMG Academy.
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