YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | The University of South Carolina-Aiken baseball team held off Young Harris College to take a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader Saturday (April 14) evening at Zell B. Miller Field.

The Pacers thwarted a late YHC rally in both games as USC Aiken won the opener 6-5 before taking the nightcap 6-4 in 10 innings. 

USC Aiken improved to 26-15 overall and to 17-7 in the Peach Belt, while the Mountain Lions slipped to 22-20 and 14-13. Young Harris returns to action Tuesday (April 17) when they host Southern Wesleyan University in a 5 p.m. non-conference contest.

After the Mountain Lions tied game two at 4 on Tristin Smith's RBI single to right field in the eighth, the Pacers scored twice with two outs in the top of the 10th inning off McLain Harris (2-4). Harris got the first two batters out in the inning before Chandler Rogers reached on a bad-hop infield single to short. Rogers moved to third on Jose Bonilla's single to left and scored on Daulton Weeks' RBI double down the right field line. The Pacers added an unearned run on a throwing error later in the inning.

The Mountain Lions had the tying run at the plate after Smith reached on a walk in the bottom of the 10th, but reliever Blake Seigler (2-0) got the final batter to fly out to end the game.

YHC, which only had four hits in the nightcap, scored its first three runs without the benefit of a hit. Logan Worley led off the first being hit by a pitch - one of six in the game, was sacrificed to second and scored on back-to-back wild pitches. In the fifth inning, the Mountain Lions used back-to-back walks and a hit batter to load the bases before Tyler Washington drove in a run after being hit by another pitch. Young Harris used two walks and another hit batter to load up the bases in the seventh before getting a run on Jackson Jones' sac fly.

Washington, Smith, Jones and  Brett Graczyk had hits for the Mountain Lions.

In the opener, Young Harris took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Rudy Gaona led off with a home run over the right field fence that bounced off the dugout on the adjacent YHC Soccer and Lacrosse Field. It was Gaona's team-leading ninth homer of the season. Cory Ewald walked and Corley Reynolds singled to put runners on the corner. Zavier Lushington drove in Ewald with his single to center before Graczyk's ground out scored Reynolds.

USC Aiken got a run back in the third and took a 5-3 lead with a four-run fourth inning, highlighted by Weeks' three-run homer to right field.

Young Harris got a run back in the seventh to get within a run at 5-4 on Washington's single to center field, but the Pacers answered with Joey Smithers hitting a solo homer to center in the eighth. The Mountain Lions got back to within a run at 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth on a RBI ground out by Worley.  Young Harris had the tying run at third base, but reliever Daniel Wiggins earned his third save by getting the final out on a fly ball.

Mitch Spence (4-4) earned the win for the Pacers, while Dylan Gibeau (3-2) earned the loss despite striking out eight over seven innings.

Eight different hitters collected a hit for the Mountain Lions.