Hartsville, SC- The Coker baseball team followed the strong pitching performance of senior Seth Weinberg and the hitting of TJ Dawson to defeat Claflin University 7-3 on Tuesday afternoon.

Weinberg threw five and a third innings, only allowing three hits and giving up only two runs, while Dawson gave the Cobras three big hits and two RBIs.

Claflin was the first to strike, scoring a run in the first, but Coker would answer with three runs in the bottom of the second. In the fourth Claflin cut the Coker lead to 3-2 with a run, but the Cobras came right back and scored three more runs in the bottom half of the inning. Coker would add an insurance run in the fifth giving them a comfortable 7-2 lead. Claflin would add one more run in the eighth off a Jonathan Walters sacrifice fly that scored Jamie Aimar from third.

Dawson finished the day 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs, while Carlton Deese went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Junior short stop Brian Nally also had two RBIs for the Cobras, as he finished 1-for-5 with a double.

For the Panthers of Claflin, Eric Jordan was 2-for-5 with a run scored and Walters finished 1-for-1 with an RBI.

Weinberg (1-0) earned the win for the Cobras and Jeffery Pierce took the loss for Claflin.

Coker will travel to Francis Marion on Friday, Feb. 17, for the Peach Belt-CVAC Tournament. Coker’s first opponent will be UNC-Pembroke, with the first pitch at noon.