North Charleston, S.C. – Lexee Emanuel and Taylor Belfiore homered to back the complete game effort of Izzy Berouty as the College of Charleston took a 6-1 win over Charleston Southern to finish off a three-game season sweep over the Buccaneers.
The Cougars (21-17) snapped a four-game skid while extending their winning streak over CSU to 12. CofC had previously taken a doubleheader from the Bucs on March 29 at Patriots Point.
Emanuel hit her third home run of the season in the fourth to snap a 1-1 tie, and then had the front end of consecutive doubles with Katie Padilla in the sixth to extend the CofC lead to 3-1. The double was Padilla's team-leading ninth.
The Bucs (20-28) threatened in the sixth with a single and walk with one out, but Berouty struck out Caitlyn Emberson and got Mallory Kasinger to fly out to center before the Cougars broke the game open in the seventh.
With two outs and nobody on, Kelly Sinclair singled and scored on a double by Jordin Jones, her second RBI of the game and team-high 26th of the year. Belfiore then put the finishing touches on the victory when she broke a tie with Jones for the team lead in homers when she launched her sixth over the fence in left center.
Belfiore's homer was her second of the year against the Bucs, having also hit a three-run shot in a 6-5 win in the second game of the March 29 twinbill.
The Cougars outhit CSU 10-5 with five players – Emanuel, Belfiore, Jones, Sinclair and Padilla – each recording a pair.
Berouty (4-4) tossed her third complete game of the season and earned her first win since beating Western Carolina on March 18. The freshman allowed runners to get into scoring position in each of the first three innings, but CSU could score only once on a double by Jade Gandara in the third.
Berouty settled down after that, retiring seven in a row including the side in order in the fourth and fifth before escaping the sixth-inning jam. The game ended when the Cougars turned their second double play of the game on a pop up to Taylor DuPree, who gunned down a CSU runner at first.
The Cougars stay on the road this weekend, heading to Philadelphia for a Colonial Athletic Association series against Drexel. CofC is back home on Tuesday when Coastal Carolina visits Patriots Point for a 5:00 contest.
