Box Scores
L 17-8 / L 9-0

PEMBROKE, N.C. - UNC Pembroke won the first game 17-8 and Josh Bagley threw a six-hit shutout in a 9-0 win in game two as East Stroudsburg University opened the 2008 baseball season on Saturday in North Carolina.

The Braves outhit ESU 27-18 over the two games to improve to 9-2 on the season. The teams will meet again on Sunday at 1 p.m. before the Warriors return home after their first road trip of the year.

UNC Pembroke scored two unearned runs off starting pitcher Dave Boyer in the bottom of the first in the opener before ESU took a 3-2 lead in the third inning. The Warriors loaded the bases with one out and Chris Zsenak (2 RBI) and Kyle Sheaffer both came through with base hits to score Mike Bortz, Brendan O'Malley and John Pisker.

Three errors and three hits led to six runs as the Braves took an 8-3 lead in the fourth. They added a run in the fifth and five in the sixth to go ahead 14-3.

Anthony Clemens drove in two runs with a double as ESU scored three runs in the eighth, and Zsenak ripped his second two-run hit of the game with a double in the ninth.

Zsenak and Sheaffer both had three hits in the opener as ESU pounded out 12 hits in the game.

In the second game, the Warriors put their first two men on base as Bortz started the game with a double and Brendan O'Malley followed with a single, but Bagley got out of the inning with a pickoff and two strikeouts.

ESU also had multiple runners on base in the second and third but couldn't push them across the plate, and Bagley allowed just three hits in the final four innings.

UNC Pembroke took a 3-0 lead in the first and added another run in the third inning off ESU starter Jason Colletti. The Braves exploded for five runs in the sixth to put the game away, keyed by a leadoff home run by Jon-Jon Mirra and three RBI singles.

ESU will close the three-game series on Sunday and head south again next weekend with four games at the Builder Invitational at the Apprentice School in Hampton, Va.