The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SERIES sweeps and career milestones highlighted a busy weekend of baseball for Bahamian student-athletes at various levels of college baseball.

In NCAA Division I, BJ Murray and the FAU Owls completed a three-game sweep over the Seton Hall Pirates and the sophomore infielder continues to produce productive numbers at the plate.

In Friday’s series opener, Murray hit a triple and eventually scored the go-ahead run in FAU’s 6-2 win. He followed with his second home run of the season in the Owls’ 17-14 win. He finished 2-3 (including a double and homer) with two RBI and three runs.

As a part of an eight-run third inning, Murray hit a two-run shot early in the inning and returned later to draw a walk as the Owls built a 9-0 lead.

He later doubled in the fifth inning. Murray also scored two runs in Sunday’s finale, a 10-4 win. FAU improved to 6-1 on the season, second only to the Charlotte 49ers (6-0) in Conference USA.

The Owls will take a four-game winning streak into Wednesday’s matchup with the Florida Gators.

Through seven games, Murray is hitting .267 with two doubles, two triples, two home runs, and a .421 OBP.

“It’s always good to get a sweep, it’s never easy to win three times against the same opponent.

“I thought the guys played really well,” Owls head coach John McCormack said.

“It’s a good weekend, it’s a good thing to keep us going.”

In the Southland Conference, Daunte Stuart hit his first collegiate home run in his Northwestern State Demons’ 2-1 series win over Tarleton State.

After the Demons suffered a 3-0 loss in the opener Friday night, they took both games in a double header on Saturday.

Stuart hit a solo home-run with two out in the third inning of the Demons’ 5-3 win in game two of the double header. In game one, Stuart went 2-3 and scored one run with one stolen base.

He led off with a single in the first and eventually stole second base, but was left stranded.

In the third, Stuart singled up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

He was plated on an RBI double from Kendall Foster for the game’s first run in a 2-1 win.

The Demons improved to 3-4. Through seven games, Stuart, the sophomore infielder, is hitting .308 with two doubles, three RBI, and two stolen bases.

At the NAIA level, Devyn Munroe had a career day at the plate, but his Truett McConnell Bears took just one game of a three-game set against the Milligan Buffaloes.

In the Bears’ Appalachian Athletic Conference opener, Munroe went 5-5 with an RBI, and two runs scored in a 19-13 loss.

In game two, he went 1-4 in the Bears’ 10-2

In the Sun Conference, Dominique Collie hit .385 in a weekend series sweep over the Thomas Night Hawks. It was Webber’s first win at Thomas since the 2013 season. They improved to 12-7 overall and 7-2 in The Sun Conference.

In game one, Collie went 2-4, scored one run with two RBI in a 10-2 win. He had a two-RBI triple as a part of a six-run third inning and followed with an RBI double in a 10 - 2 win in game two

In game three, Collie again went 2-4, scored two runs with two RBI in an 11-9 win. In the top of the fifth, Collie hit a two-run single to give his team a 6-3 lead. They followed with a four-run seventh inning to put the game away.

“We are proud of the way these guys showed up this weekend,” said Webber head coach Collin Martin. “This can be a tough place to win, and that’s proven by some series losses we have had here in the last few years. We did a little bit of everything well at some point over the weekend, but the most important factor was how well we responded after small failures. These guys did a great job of picking each other up all weekend and keeping their hand on the wheel until the job was finished.”