Darrien Chapman Wins A.I.I. Hitter of the Week
GWINNETT, Ga. – After a strong offensive showing in his collegiate debut, freshman Darrien Chapman was announced as the Association of Independent Institutions’ Hitter of the Week.
Chapman had four hits in six at-bats while batting 0.667 with four runs scored in the season-opening doubleheader sweep of Southeastern Baptist.
The infielder from Griffin, Georgia also contributed a RBI, double, walk and stolen base as the Bearcats beat the Chargers by a combined score of 21-7.
Baseball Bearcats Open Season With Doubleheader Sweep of Southeastern Baptist
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. – The Rust College baseball program has started the season 2-0 for the first time in seven years as the Bearcats handled the Southeastern Baptist Chargers by scores of 13-3 and 8-4 at Bearcat Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Rust College President Ivy Taylor was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and Head Coach Stanley Stubbs remained undefeated in three season openers at the helm in Holly Springs.
Rust (2-0, 0-0 A.I.I.) saw seven different Bearcats log multiple hit outings in the doubleheader with Darrien Chapman and Dreylin Holmes leading the way with four each.
Chapman went 4-for-6 with four runs scored, a double, a walk and an RBI.
Holmes mirrored Chapman by going 4-for-6 with a double as well while one-upping him with two walks and two RBI.
Micah Sanders and Tremaine Callaway both connected on triples during the doubleheader, combining for five hits, five RBI and five runs scored between them.
Saul Gonzalez was an RBI machine in game two, accounting for half of the team’s runs as he drove in four and tacking on a double for good measure.
RC took advantage of its speed on the basepaths on Tuesday, swiping an eye-popping ten bases in game two and totaled 15 steals in the two contests.
On the bump for the blue and gray, Cullen Odom (1-0) twirled a five-inning complete game in the second contest, picking up the win and not allowing a single earned run to be scored.
The first game saw Dreylin Holmes get the starting nod and Adrian Mendoza coming on in relief to combine for six innings of three-run baseball with Mendoza (1-0) earning the victory.
Southeastern Baptist (0-2) put up a respectable showing as this was the first two regular season games in program history.
Kaleb Gilner was the first baserunner in SBC baseball history when he walked to lead off the day, Deontay Robinson registered the first hit with a double in the top of the first and John Sullivan knocked in the first RBI on a two-out double of his own in the opening frame.
Noah Hillman was the opening day starting pitcher for the Chargers and tallied 5.2 innings of work.
Coach Stubbs and the Baseball Bearcats will take its first road trip of the new season to Talladega, Alabama on February 9 where it will face off with the Tornadoes for a doubleheader starting at noon.