PEMBROKE — Three newcomers guided The University of North Carolina at Pembroke baseball team to a season-opening 10-4 victory at home over Shepherd on Friday.
Behind six scoreless innings from starting pitcher Nile Ball and the bats of Zach Ghelfi and Brennen Hogan, the Braves (1-0) built an early lead and cruised to the win over the Rams (0-1)
“Once he burned off some of the nervous energy, he started to settle in and throw his change-up for strikes, throw his slider for strikes,” UNCP coach Paul O’Neil said of Ball. “He started making some pretty easy work. He did have one stress inning and he got a ground ball to get out of it.”
Ball started the first game of the season after serving in the closer roll at Missouri last season. The righty allowed three hits and struck out five, while surrendering no walks in his six innings on the hill.
“He’s been very receptive to the move. He’s a great teammate and is willing to do whatever we ask of him,” O’Neil said.
With its starter cruising, UNCP put up early run support with six combined runs coming in the second and third innings.
During that stretch, Hogan had two singles and two RBIs. For the game, the second baseman finished with a team-high three hits.
Ghelfi, who started at third base, went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, with two coming on a homer in the sixth inning.
“They’re good players. Just because they are new to the program doesn’t mean they don’t have talent,” O’Neil said. “We brought them here because they have talent. They went out and had a good night.”
Shepherd scored all four of its runs in the top of the ninth inning, starting with a solo homer from Syeed Mahdi.
Luke Jackson and Ethan Baucom both had two RBIs each for the Braves in the win.
The teams will play game two of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.
