BRADENTON, Fla. - With splitting Saturday's double-header with New College of Florida, the Royals have now officially clinched their spot in this year's SUN Conference Tournament. Warner and NCF battled on Saturday with the Royals taking game 1 of the series by a final score of 7-to-5 before falling 12-to-11 in a 10-Inning thriller.

Game 1: Warner 7 - NCF 5
Despite finding themselves down 3-to-0 after 4 Innings, the Royals were able to rally over the next few Innings to score 7 unanswered runs in their come from behind victory. Ethan Pues drove in the Royals first run of the game on an RBI double that scored Adriel Torres-Gonzalez in the 5th Inning. Warner continued to stay hot at the plate in the 6th as Danny Garcia drove in Gabriel Rodriguez for the Royals 2nd run of the game on another RBI double. Torres-Gonzalez later drove in Dawson Schumann on an RBI single before Paddy Smith drove in Torres-Gonzalez on an RBI double of his own giving the Royals a 4-to-3 lead. Smith would drive in 2 more valuable insurance runs for the Royals in the 8th on a 2 RBI triple that scored Torres-Gonzalez and Carliton Collins. Smith went on to later score 7th run for the Royals when he took advantage of a wild pitch by the Mighty Banyans to give the Royals a 7-to-3 lead heading into the final Inning. NCF made a push in the 9th and cut into the Royals lead, but Warner was able to fend them off to secure the series win with a 7-to-5 win in game 1 of the double-header. 

Warner's pitching staff was solid once again on Saturday allowing only 3 earned runs on 9 total hits while striking out 10. Trenton Chenard got the start for the Royals and recorded 3 Innings pitched while allowing only 1 earned run on 2 hits and struck out 3. Willis McCarter earned his 2nd win of the year on Saturday throwing 3.0 Innings while allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits and struck out 3 batters to bring his season total to 20 strikeouts.  The Warner bullpen stayed strong over the final 3 Innings as Evan Christ, Harper McLendon and Alexi Angelo combined to throw 4 strikeouts without allowing an earned run on only 4 hits to help the Royals secure the game and series win. 

Warner Game 1 Stat Leaders:
Hits: Paddy Smith (2)
RBIs: Paddy Smith (3)
Stolen Bases: Carlito Collins & Adriel Torres-Gonzalez (2)
Ks: Trenton Chenard & Willis McCarter (3)

Game 2: Warner 11 - NCF 12
Following a quiet opening two Innings, Raul Olivera was able to drive in Gabriel Rodriguez on an RBI single which was followed up by a Jacob Gumieny RBI sacrifice fly that brought home Dawson Schumann to give the Royals their first two runs of the game. NCF countered that with a 2 run Inning of their own in the bottom half of the 3rd to knot the game up at 2. Olivera drove in his 2nd RBI of the game during the 5th Inning when he drove in Carlito Collins to regain the lead for the Royals. Timothy Dunn added to that with RBI single of his own in the 6th Inning that saw Torres-Gonzalez make it home safely. The Royals rallied to bring home 4 more runs in the 7th starting with a 2 RBI single off the bat of Olivera scoring Collins and Rodriguez before Smith hit an RBI single to bring home Olivera. Timothy Dunn finished off the Inning for the Royas when he drove in Smith on an RBI double to give the Royals an 8-to 3 lead. The Mighty Banyans answered back quickly in the bottom of the 7th as they drove in 6 runs to take a 9-to-8 lead into the 8th Inning. 

As both teams continued to trade blows, the Royals went on to retake the lead in the 8th Inning with an RBI double by Olivera, his 5th RBI of the day, to score Rodriguez and a go-ahead RBI single off the bat of Garrett Gregory to score Olivera Warner tacked on 1 more run during the 9th when Carlito Collins hit an RBI single scoring Ethan Pues to give the Royals an 11-to-9 lead. NCF continued to fight and went on to force extra Innings in the bottom of the 9th and later pulled out the win in the 10th Inning to end the high scoring and back-and-forth battle between the SUN Conference foes. 

Gage Allen had a strong day on the mound for the Royals after being called upon to get the start, Allen threw 5.0 Innings while allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 4. Warner will look to build upon this weekend's performance as they return home to wrap up the regular season against Webber International University in this year's installment of the Crooked Lake Series. 

Warner Game 2 Stat Leaders:
Hits: Raul Olivera (4)
RBIs: Raul Olivera (5)
Stolen Bases: Carlito Collins & Timothy Dunn (1)
Ks: Gage Allen (4)
 

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Up Next:
The Royals will host Webber International University in the Crooked Lake Series to wrap up the regular season that will begin on Thursday, April 23rd at 6:00pm at the Sikes Family Field. 
 

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