After scoring 19 runs the night before over a total of 22 hits, the offense came back to earth a bit for UNC Wilmington as the Seahawks defeated Quinnipiac 6-3.

Zack Canada had 3 RBI’s on the afternoon, including a long home run to left field in the bottom of the third to give UNCW a 3-0 lead.

“I was actually thinking about bunting (in that at-bat),” said Canada. “I saw the third baseman was playing in and I was like you know what, I’m just going to try and get one in the air.”

In the top of the fourth inning, Quinnipiac (8-8) had four of its seven hits in the game as the Bobcats were able to even the game at three. Liam Scafariello had a two-run double and Ben Gibson had an RBI single.

At this point, UNCW pitcher Zarion Sharpe was removed from the game and was replaced by Austin Easter. Sharpe’s afternoon was completed after four and a third innings for the Seahawks (13-6).

“He just had some tenderness in his shoulder and it is something this early in the season we don’t want to take any chances,” said UNCW coach Mark Scalf.

With a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Seahawks were looking to add a bit of insurance. After three straight singles from Noah Liles, Cole Weiss and Doug Angeli and two outs in the inning, Greg Jones came to plate with the bases loaded.

Jones hit a ground ball to first that was fielded clean but the throw to the pitcher covering was high. This gave enough time for Jones to beat the throw to first and allow Liles and Weiss to score.

Stat of the Afternoon: Easter, Austin Warren and Clark Cota managed to pitch four and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball out of the Seahawk bullpen. Cota also picked up his sixth save of the year.

Quote of the Afternoon: “I think that each guy in the bullpen believes in themselves and believes in their stuff. We are able to go out and execute pitches and continue to throw up zeroes and that helps our offense get motivation to come back in and score some runs.” – Austin Easter