FLORENCE, Ala. -- Having condensed a three-game weekend series into a less than 23 hour period, the University of North Alabama baseball team completed its sweep of the Miami Redhawks by taking both games of Sunday's double-header 14-9 and 10-9 at Mike Lane Field.
The double-header was a seven and a half hour marathon that went from 1 p.m. Sunday until after 8:30 p.m. The two schools had played the first game of the weekend series beginning at 9:42 Saturday night and ending just before 1 a.m. Sunday with a 12-7 UNA win.
With the sweep, North Alabama is now 4-3 overall, while Miami falls to 0-7.
The 36 runs scored in the weekend series was the most by a UNA baseball team on the Division I level and the most by any Lion team since 2013.
In game one of the double-header, UNA trailed 3-0 early but scored two runs in the second and five in the third for a 7-2 lead. The Redhawks countered with two runs in the fourth but UNA hit back with a five-run fourth inning to make it 12-5. Miami added three more runs and UNA got two in the bottom of the sixth in the seven inning game.
The Lions out-hit the Redhawks 12 to eight, led by three hits from
Jackson Ferrigno. All nine batters in the UNA lineup scored at least one run.
Andrew Knight and
Ethan Walker drove in three each.
Reliever
Will Morris (1-0) got the win in relief after starter
Brycen Parrish exited the game in the first inning due to injury. Morris pitched three innings and allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
In the nightcap, the UNA and Miami pitchers combined to walk 25 batters, with just 15 hits in the game.
Miami led for the majority of the game, scoring a run in the first inning, two in the second and one in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. UNA got three runs back in the sixth inning and then exploded for seven more in the seventh, highlighted by a
Dominick McIntyre grand slam. The Redhawks scored five runs of their own in the eight to cut UNA's lead to 10-9.
Reliever
Will Shepherd walked two batters in the ninth before finally ending the threat to earn his first save.
UNA starter
Jacob James pitched five complete innings before giving way to
Raleigh Claunch (1-0) who earned his first collegiate win. Claunch's brothers Brantley and Bryant previously pitched, making him the third Claunch brother to have won a game as a Lion pitcher. He pitched two complete inning, allowing no runs on one hit with one walk and four strikeouts.
Drew Hudson was 4-for-5 in the game with two runs scored and an RBI.