By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Myrtle Beach, SC---The Express continued their winning streak to begin the season with a doubleheader sweep over Burlington County College on Monday, scoring 9-5 and 6-2 victories to move to 3-0 overall.
Game 1: Owens 9 Burlington County 5
In the first game, two big offensive innings helped the Express secure the 9-5 win.
Jordan Basinger (Kalida/Kalida, Ohio) went 5 1/3 innings to pick up the victory as Ryan Hotmer (Lake/Millbury, Ohio) and Andrew Poland (Central Catholic/Toledo, Ohio) each went 2-for-3 at the plate.
The Express scored five in the second inning on an RBI single from Poland, an RBI double from Austin Gunn (Delta/Delta, Ohio), a 2-RBI single from Blake Schmenk (Perrysburg/Perrysburg, Ohio) and a wild pitch.
Burlington County answered back with one run in the top of the fourth before Owens broke through with four more runs in the bottom half of the inning.
A two-run triple by Jesse Solomon (Huber Heights/Wayne, Ohio), another wild pitch, and an RBI groundout by Joe Sickler (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, OH) made up those four runs.
Basinger allowed five hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and struck out four. Scott Robinson (Coventry/Coventry, Ohio) relieved him and finished the game with 1 2/3 innings pitched, three runs, three hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Jose Abinacer picked up the loss for Burlington County as the sophomore allowed 10 hits, nine runs (seven earned) and three walks in 3 2/3 innings pitched.
Game 2: Owens 6 Burlington County 2
In the second game, the Express completed the sweep with the 6-2 win behind the efforts of Kacy Dwornik (St. John's Jesuit/Maumee, Ohio), Solomon and Matt Hayes (North/Pickerington, Ohio).
Owens jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings and never looked back.
Dwornik (1-0) started and got the win with his four innings on the mound, allowing one hit and striking out six. Solomon and Hayes combined to go 6-for-9 from the plate. Each had one RBI and one run.
Hayes got the Express started with an RBI single in the first inning. Owens scored two more in the second on a sacrifice RBI by Danny Schira (Switzerland County/Vevay, Ind.) and an RBI single by Solomon.
Travis Tackett (Switzerland County/Vevay, Ind.) hit his first collegiate homer for the Express (3-0) with a two-run shot in the third inning that put Owens up 5-0. He was 1-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs in the game.
James Moore (Southfield Lathrup/Farmington Hills, Mich.) got the Express an insurance run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single.
Tyler Brown-Lewis (Shaker Heights/Shaker Heights, Ohio) allowed the only two runs of the game to Burlington County in the fifth inning on an RBI triple by John Montemurro and an RBI squeeze bunt by Matt Szukics.
Shawn Downey (Martinsville/Martinsville, Ind.) pitched a perfect final inning to close out the game for the Express while striking out two batters.
The Express collected 12 hits in the second game to give them 22 total for the two-game sweep. Jake Still took the loss on the mound for Burlington County.