May 20—NEWBERRY, S.C. — The 26th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team broke open an otherwise close game with five runs in the bottom of sixth inning, and the seventh-seeded Braves lived to see another day at the NCAA Southeast Regional with a 12-3 victory over sixth-seeded Columbus State on Friday evening at Newberry College's Smith Road Complex.

The triumph snapped a three-game skid for the Braves (39-16) who move into another elimination contest on Saturday against the loser of Friday evening's tilt between second-seeded Newberry and third-seeded Belmont Abbey; the result of that game was unavailable at press time. Friday's setback snapped a four-game series win streak for the Cougars (36-17) who had not dropped a game to the Black & Gold since May 1, 2021 in Pembroke.

Friday's result also pushed the Braves to 39 victories on the campaign — the third-most wins in school history, and the most triumphs for the club since a 41-win campaign in 2017.

Southpaw Chase Jernigan (3-1) struck out one Cougar and allowed just one hit in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of work to grab his third victory of the season for the Black & Gold. Newcomer Spencer Ledford struck out three and surrendered just in his first start in the Black & Gold, but was not awarded a decision.

CSU's Isaac Bouton drew a seven-pitch walk to lead off the fifth and eventually moved all the way around the diamond before scoring on a wild pitch to draw CSU to within a lone score. A 1-out RBI single from Win Johns later in the frame knotted the score up at three runs apiece.

The Braves strung together four hits and scored five times in the home half of the sixth to put the game out of reach. Jake Bradley hit a go-ahead RBI single with one out in the inning, and Spencer Faulkner followed with a RBI single himself to make it a 5-3 contest. Christian Jayne's 3-run homer three pitches later finished off the big scoring frame.

Jayne had two hits and four RBIs in total to lead the Braves; Carlos Amezquita had three hits and scored twice, Will Hood had three hits, and RBI and a run and Kody O'Connor had a home run and two RBIs.

Win Johns had two hits and two RBIs for the Cougars. Noah Windhorst (7-3) was the losing pitcher.

Newberry routs Braves in tournament opener

Second-seeded and 8th-ranked Newberry rallied for multiple runs in three different frames, including a momentum-swinging 5-run fourth inning, to turn back UNCP, 12-3, in the NCAA Southeast Regional opener for both teams on Thursday evening/Friday morning.

Newberry sent 10 batters to the plate in a four-hit, fivee-run frame that gave it the lead for good. Donovan Ford gave the hosts their first baserunner of the contest via a leadoff triple, and the Wolves took the lead for good two batters later on a RBI triple from Braylin Marine.

Michael Kocen, Christian Jayne and Spencer Faulkner each had two hits for UNCP, with Jayne scoring a run; Carlos Amezquita had a hit and a run. Jonathon Jacobs (8-4) took the loss.

Rhett Jolly had two hits and four RBIs for the Wolves, Braylin Marine had two hits, an RBI and two runs, Donovan Ford had two hits and a run and Jonathan Velez had a hit and three runs. Bennett Roemer (9-0) earned the win.