CARY, N.C. — Home runs off the bats of Jacob Berry and Dylan Crews helped the Stars erase a four-run deficit and claim their first win of the summer with a 5-4 victory over the Stripes on the Fourth of July at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
Berry barreled up balls all afternoon, finishing a triple away from the cycle with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate. He hit his second home run in as many days, crushing a three-run blast down the right field line in the third. The Queen Creek, Ariz., native also had a double in the first and a single in the fourth.
The winning blow came in the fourth when Crews (LSU) put a dent in the scoreboard in right to bring in a pair of runs which served as the eventual game winners.
Nate Savino (Virginia) and Christopher Villaman (NC State) picked up the win and the save, respectively, with two shutout innings on the mound each. The duo combined to fan seven batters in those four frames, with Savino striking out three and Villaman punching out four.
KEY MOMENTS
The Stripes jumped in front early when Jace Jung (Texas Tech) singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Reggie Crawford (UCONN) in the top of the first inning.
They continued to pad their lead in the second when they were able to push across three two-out runs on an RBI triple by Jordan Sprinkle (UCSB), a run-scoring single by Drew Gilbert (Tennessee) and a Stars error.
Down 4-0, the Stars got one of the tallies back in the home half of the second as Brooks Lee (Cal Poly) doubled, moved to third on a single by Kyle Teel (Virginia) and scored on a wild pitch.
The Stars continued to cut into the deficit in the third when Berry followed a leadoff walk to Robert Moore (Arkansas) with a home run down the right-field line to make it a 4-3 game.
The biggest swing of the afternoon came in the fourth when Crews took a 2-0 pitch and drove it off the top of the scoreboard in right to complete the comeback and put the Stars in front, 5-4.
ON DECK
The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team will have a travel day on Monday as it heads out to complete its tour of the Appalachian League. The Stars and Stripes will next be in action at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 6 at Pioneer Park in Greeneville, Tenn., home of the Greeneville Flyboys.
