For the second consecutive game, the UNC Wilmington baseball team fell behind early, giving up multiple runs in the top of the first and digging themselves into a hole.

Unlike the previous game, however, the Seahawks were able to bounce back on Sunday. Behind some timely two-out hitting and solid bullpen relief, UNCW defeated West Virginia, 13-10, in the rubber match on Sunday. The win gives the Seahawks their first series win of the season.

“I thought today was a great example of teammates picking up teammates,” UNCW head coach Mark Scalf said. “Offensively today, our guys had a lot of quality at bats- just a tremendous job.”

Corey Dick, who has produced quality at bats all season along, bounced back from a rough Saturday, in which he went 0-4, and ended his 16-game hit streak.

One day later, Dick went 3-4 and tied a career high with five RBIs. His two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth gave UNCW an 11-10 lead and proved to be the deciding hit.

“Lately, me and [assistant coach Robbie] Monday have just been working aggressive, kind of cheating on hitters counts. I’m trying to get the pitch that I want, and I got a lot of those today,” Dick said.

Along with Dick, seniors Ryan LaGrange and Luke Dunlap provided the offensive spark for the Seahawk victory. The three combined to go 8-11, score six runs and drive in 10.

The Seahawks also set season highs in runs scored (13) and hits (16). Their offensive performance on Sunday has always been what they’ve come to expect, despite starting the season off slowly.

“Offensively, that’s how we should play every day,” Dick said. “We’re too good to not put that many runs up there and for us it’s just a huge confidence boost.”

UNCW fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first, but recovered quickly and led 9-3 at the end of the third inning. West Virginia eventually came back and led 10-9 before Dick hit his third home run of the year.

After UNCW regained the lead, it was up to the bullpen to close the door. Relievers Will Shepley and Kelly Secrest combined to pitch the final four innings. Shepley (1-0) earned his first victory of the year and Secrest was able to record his first save of the season.

Senior utility man Josh Abshire filled in at catcher for the injured Drew Farber, who got hurt during a play at the plate during Saturday’s loss. West Virginia averages over two steals per game, but failed to swipe a bag in Sunday’s contest. Abshire threw three Mountaineer runners out at second base attempting to steal. 

“Josh throws well from there, he gets rid of the baseball,” Scalf said. “It’s nice to have somebody that’s certainly flexible defensively. You got to have that third guy, somebody that’s going to step in there and handle the pitching staff and I think Josh did that today.”

Coming up for UNCW is a five-game week that includes their first conference series and two midweek regional rivalries against East Carolina and NC State. As the college baseball season continues to heat up, the Seahawks will have more opportunities to prove themselves against the best competition.

“We’re always excited to play these guys,” LaGrange said. “That’s how we kind of measure ourselves every year, playing these quality programs. We will have a lot of fans, a lot of excitement, and it’ll be great for us to pick up a couple of wins going into conference.”