COLUMBIA, S.C. – CIU baseball picked up their first Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) series-opening win of the season as they defeated Bluefield University (Va.) 7-2 on Friday. The Rams have won at least one game in their three home conference series thus far and are set up to get their first AAC series win with a doubleheader versus Bluefield on Saturday.

In Friday's contest, Bluefield got on the board first, pushing across runs in both the first and third innings to take a 2-0 advantage. The Rams would add a run on a Ryan Planas sac fly in the fourth but really got things going in the sixth. The Rams scored three unanswered in the sixth thanks to several miscues from Bluefield. Singles from Rafael Gonzales and Emmanuel Maldonaldo put runners on base in the eighth, and CIU built their lead out to five runs, again in part to fielding mistakes from Bluefield. With Dean Seelbach on the mound, the Rams would retire three batters consecutively in the top of the ninth to close out the game and record the victory.

Box Score Notes: 

• The Rams had seven players record a hit on the afternoon, while Joshua Hernandez got on base three times, all on walks.
• Brandt Miller and Price Alexander each collected a stolen base.
• Justin Parish tallied his first win of the season with six K's while Dean Seelbach notched a save after entering in the seventh inning with the Rams holding a two-run lead.

Up Next: CIU will wrap up their series with Bluefield tomorrow, Saturday, Mar. 18, with a doubleheader beginning at 12 PM.