HARDEEVILLE, S.C. (April 21, 2018) – In what was the team's final Sun Conference game of the 2018 season, the Webber International University baseball team led 7-1 midway through and then expanded what became a one-run lead into a 13-6 win over the University of South Carolina Beaufort on Saturday at the Richard Gray Sports Complex.

Leading the way was Marcus Begg, who finished 4-for-5 with four runs batted in, one run scored, a walk and a double. Manny Rodriguez added a 3-for-5 effort with three RBI's, two runs, two doubles and a sacrifice fly.

Other Warriors with two hits included Chris Medina, who also scored twice and added an RBI and a double; Langston Provitt, who was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a stolen base; and Mark Martinez, who added an RBI and a walk.

It was a 7-1 lead for Webber halfway through the sixth inning as Cristian Rivera and Begg each had an RBI hit in the top half; but in the bottom half, USCB nearly came all the way back, loading the bases with no outs and ultimately scoring five runs on four hits to make it a one-run ballgame at 7-6.

From there, John Shutrump and Jesse Coleman combined to close out the Sand Sharks with back-to-back 1-2-3 eighth and ninth innings. Doug Pearl improved to 6-1 on the season with five innings of work allowing seven hits, four total runs, two earned runs, three walks and five strikeouts.

In the top of the ninth, Webber put up a five-spot with two two-run doubles by Rodriguez and Begg and an RBI single by Provitt to finish the scoring.

As a team, Webber stole a season-high 11 bases with Esquivel and Garret Martin both swiping three bags. In all for the series, Webber was a perfect 17-for-17 in steals with Martin leading the way with seven.

At the plate in the series, Rodriguez and Medina both finished with six hits and two doubles while Provitt added five hits in only six at bats, and Provitt and Rodriguez tied for the team lead with five RBI's over the three games.

Additionally, Medina extended his current hitting streak to 12 games.

The win on Saturday also finished off a three-game conference sweep for Webber (31-19 overall, 13-11 TSC) over USCB (20-28, 5-17) as the Warriors finished the TSC slate tied for third place in the standings with Florida Memorial University (24-19, 13-11).

The Warriors and the Lions currently sit two games ahead of No. 16 Keiser University (34-15, 11-11) in the win column, but it could become a three-way tie for third place with the Seahawks two remaining TSC games coming against USCB. Both Florida Memorial and Keiser own the respective tiebreaker over the Warriors.

Webber will finish up its regular season with a home-and-way series against NCAA Division-II Eckerd College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and again at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 27, on the Heart of Florida Field. Last season, the Warriors defeated Eckerd 17-4 on the road in February and 8-7 at home in May.

Head Coach Brad Niethammer said, "We did what we needed to do this weekend. We now have two games left in the regular season to use to get ready for the conference tournament."

The 2018 Sun Conference Tournament will take place at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida, from Friday, May 4, until Monday, May 7.