Seniors take the spotlight in USCB’s baseball victory over Ave Maria

Justin Kortessis scattered four hits over 7 1/3 innings and fellow senior Kal Davis banged out three hits as USC Beaufort celebrated Senior Day with a 5-1 victory Saturday over Ave Maria.

Alex Murphy also produced three hits, while Thomas Estopare tripled and drove home two runs as the Sand Sharks took the deciding game of the Sun Conference series after the teams had split a Friday doubleheader.

Kortessis kept Ave Maria without a hit until Andy Hernandez’s two-out double in the fourth. The Gyrenes didn’t score until the eighth, when a one-out error set up Steven Valentine’s RBI single.

Michael Biasello relieved Kortessis to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam, then worked around an error and hit in the ninth to pick up the save.

Estopare put the Sand Sharks in front with a two-run single in the second inning, and USCB got RBI singles from Murphy and Wade Arduini in the third for a 4-0 advantage. A sacrifice fly from Davis in the eighth completed the scoring.

This story was originally published April 2, 2017 at 10:50 AM with the headline "Seniors take the spotlight in USCB’s baseball victory over Ave Maria."