ROME, Ga. – Barry University’s baseball team swept a pair of games against Shorter University Saturday afternoon, 7-2 and 1-0.
Strong pitching and timely hitting propelled the Buccaneers to their fifth consecutive win to start the season.
Game One
Barry (5-0) continued their hot hitting and a solid performance on the mound from senior Kevin Youst resulted in the Buccaneers fourth straight victory.
In the second inning the Bucs opened up a three run lead that was capped off by a two-out RBI single off the bat of Luis Arrizurieta.
Three runs was more than enough support as Youst continued to fill-up the strike zone, getting ahead of hitters all afternoon. Youst (1-0) ran into a bit of trouble in the eighth inning after a leadoff single, a double and a free pass. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Youst regained his composure and retired three consecutive to escape the jam.
Barry added a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth innings to put the game out of reach.
Youst threw eight innings and allowed just two runs, one earned, and finished with 4 K’s as he cruised to his first victory of the season.
Arrizurieta led the Buccaneer offense with a 3-for-5 performance including a double and three RBI.
Adrian English continued to swing a hot bat. English, Tim Blackmon and J.C. Cardenas each added a pair of hits in the Buccaneer victory.
Russell Crosby (0-3) allowed five runs in four innings in the loss.
Adrian Benitez pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the win.
Game Two
The Buccaneers found themselves in a pitchers’ duel in the second game and with hard-throwing right-hander Calvin Rayburn on the mound the Bucs liked their chances.
Both pitchers were aggressive, throwing plenty of strikes and keeping hitters off balance. The Hawks countered Rayburn with left-hander Cameron Rich, a senior from Peachtree, Ga.
Rich (0-2) tossed seven innings, allowed just three hits, and struck out six.
Barry was held to just one hit in the first six innings of the game which came off the bat of Adrian English in the second inning.
Rayburn got off to a shaky start and ran into some trouble in the second inning when he hit two batters, with a single in between, to load the bases. Rayburn was able to induce the inning-ending double play to escape the jam. After settling in, Rayburn retired 10 of the next 12 batters.
Shorter threatened in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff single. After a Bucs’ defensive miscue, Rayburn faced runners on second and third with no outs and momentum began to shift in the Hawks’ direction.
After a visit from pitching coach Alex Gonzalez and with the infield drawn in, Rayburn answered the call as he retired three consecutive batters to end the threat.
Sheehan Planas-Arteaga kept things going with a line drive up the middle to lead off the seventh inning. English doubled down the right field line advancing Planas to third and setting the stage for Tyler Kellmann.
Kellmann battled through a long at-bat and came up clutch with a sacrifice fly to center field to break the scoreless tie.
With a one run lead, Rayburn (2-0) struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to finish the complete game shutout with eight K’s.
English finished with two of the team’s three hits in the second game and had four hits in all on the day.