ST. AUGUSTINE – No. 16 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Flagler College split a Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader with Georgia Southwestern State University on an overcast and muggy Saturday afternoon at Drysdale Field. Flagler took the opener 5-2 while Georgia Southwestern won the second game 1-0, which featured a 2-hour, 14-minute lightning/rain delay.

Flagler moves to 30-12 overall and 17-9 in the Peach Belt. Georgia Southwestern is now 13-30 overall and 4-23 in conference play.

In the opener, Danny Brown (9-3) added on to his Division II era Flagler record with his sixth complete game. He scattered nine hits, allowed two runs and struck out five batters. He retired 15 batters on ground outs and set down the last 12 of 13 batters he faced.
 
Brown got all the offense he needed, and then some, in the second inning. Nick Kranick led off the inning with a double to left-center and then took third on a fly out. Todd Juliano hit a grounder to Will Redding at second base and his only play was to retire Julianoat first base, but the throw was wild and allowed Juliano to advance to second while Kranick scored, regardless of the play. Nick Oberg followed with a double to left-center to plate Juliano and the Saints grabbed a 2-0 lead. Igor Baez and Kolin McMillen added RBI singles to expand the lead to 4-0.

The Hurricanes added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings, as Paul Sorrow hit an RBI double in the fifth.

Oberg hit another RBI double in the bottom of the fifth for the Saints.

Juliano had two singles, two runs scored and he drove in a run. Oberg had two doubles, two runs batted in and scored a run. Kranick went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Lance Shelton (1-4) started and tossed three innings for the Hurricanes. He allowed seven hits and one earned run.

Redding collected four singles and scored a run. Sorrow went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.

Game two was a pitcher's duel all the way until the lightning delay in the middle of the sixth inning. Georgia Southwestern's Dylan Brown and Flagler's Nathaniel Abel held both offenses in check. Abel tossed six scoreless innings and allowed just one hit and struck out four. Brown threw five scoreless innings, scattered five hits, walked a batter and struck out three.

However, when the teams got back from the delay, the Saints went down in order as Kyle Romstadt (3-2) struck out the side.

Michael Hanke (2-2) came on to relieve Abel in the top of the seventh and struck out the lead-off hitter. But Sorrow ripped a double to right-center and took third on a wild pitch. Zach Barron drew a four-pitch walk and Josh Tatnall followed with a base hit through the left side of the infield to plate Sorrow with the games' only run.

The Saints had a runner in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings but could not score the tying run.

Romstadt tossed four hitless innings, walked three and fanned five to earn the win in relief for the Hurricanes.

Hanke tossed three innings, allowed two hits and one run, walked one and struck out a career-high seven batters.

Lorenzo Butler collected two singles for the Saints.

Up next for Flagler is a non-conference game on Tuesday (April 21) at 6 p.m. at Rollins College.

NOTE: Before the first game Nick Perpich received the J. Edward "Red" Cox Award for service to the local community and Lorenzo Butler received the "Red" Cox Scholarship. Before the second game, Flagler's 14 seniors were recognized for their careers.