A five run eighth inning lifted The Pride baseball team (1-0 overall) to a road victory over Berry (0-1 overall) on Saturday 8-6. Greensboro trailed 5-2 after seven innings before the bats got rolling.
The Vikings opened the game with a single run in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. The Pride found the board in the fourth on a lead off home run by Seth Caison to cut the deficit in half.
Berry added a run in the bottom of the fifth to extend the gap to 3-1 before Greensboro answered in the top of the sixth.
Matt Irwin reached on an error and would move to third on back-to-back infield ground outs. Steven Pfeiffer took advantage of the situation with a single to center to score Irwin.
After the Vikings put two more runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, The Pride would use a five hit, five run attack in the eighth to take their first lead of the season at 7-5.
Irwin again jumpstarted the rally with a lead off single up the middle. Caison reached and Irwin advanced to third following an error by the shortstop. James Feldmann brought Irwin home with a single through the left side of the infield.
Pfeiffer kept the momentum rolling with an infield single to load up the bases and force a pitching change. Austin Catherina provided an unwelcome greeting with a two RBI single to center.
A wild pitch moved Catherina and Pfeiffer to second and third, allowing Pfeiffer to score on a sacrifice fly by Bill Wooding – the first out of the inning. Joshua Powell added the final run of the inning on a single up the middle.
Berry would climb to within in 7-6 in the eighth despite not recording a hit, taking advantage of a walk, a passed ball and a wild pitch.
Feldmann got the run back for Greensboro in the top of the ninth, knocking home Irwin on a 6-4-3 double play.
The Vikings would put one runner on in the ninth but never threatened as The Pride closed out the come-from-behind victory.
Overall, Greensboro earned the win despite a making seven errors in the field. The Pride would outhit Berry 11-7 and take advantage of four Viking mistakes.
Five Greensboro players – Irwin, Caison, Pfeiffer, Catherina and Powell – finished the game with two hits. Catherina tallied a game high two runs batted in.
Kyle Zembsch picked up the win in relief of starter John Atkins. Zembsch worked 3.0 innings of hitless relief with one earned run allowed. Brian Robbett finished the game off with a spotless ninth inning.
“It was a great way to start the season,” said head coach Matt Aker. “The guys were resiliant and battled adversity today. It is nice to start off the season with a quality win heading into Guilford next week.”
The Pride will return to Greensboro next week and travel across town to take on Guilford on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.