With Mike Miranda hitting a pair of homers and the pitching trio of Stephen Adkins, Devin Dunson and Bud Fuller combining for a four-hit gem, the No. 24-ranked Hawks downed Belhaven 7-2 in the first game of a three-game series at the Ledbetter Complex on Friday.
Willie Lewis added a two-run double to help the Hawks (33-12, 18-7 SSAC) extend their winning streak to five games and remain in third place in the SSAC standings with five conference games remaining.
Shorter fell behind 1-0 after a half inning, but tied the game in the bot-tom of the first and surged ahead from there. Miranda’s first homer of the game, a two-run shot with two outs in the third inning, gave Shorter its first lead at 3-1. Lewis added a two-run double down the right field line in the fourth that plated Dadynoel Lorenzo and Cal Hardie to put Shorter up 5-1.
Miranda hit his second homer of the game and team-best seventh of the season to lead off the seventh to make it 6-2. Lorenzo followed two batters later with a stand up triple then scored on Hardie’s single to right for the final 7-2 margin. The Hawks pounded out 13 hits and could have inflicted more damage had they not stranded 10 runners.
The 13 hits were more than enough for Shorter’s pitching staff, which got a boost from starter Adkins to set the tone for the game. Adkins, dealing with nagging injuries, gave the Hawks five quality innings during which he struck out six and allowed one earned run on four hits.
Dunson entered in the sixth and struck out four in three hitless innings and Fuller closed out the Blazers (31-16, 14-11) with a hitless ninth aided by one strike out.
Lorenzo went 3-for-4 and scored two runs for Shorter. Lewis, Miranda, Hardie and Antonio Wal-cott recorded two hits apiece in the win.
Shorter and Belhaven will close out their three-game set on Saturday with a doubleheader be-ginning at 12 pm.
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