Kondla and Loraine Power the Cobras past the Fleet, 8-2

BURLINGTON, N.C. – Fico Kondla and Zach Loraine fueled the Coker Cobras in their 8-2 win over Erskine College in Saturday's (Apr. 27) Conference Carolinas Baseball Tournament elimination game.

With the win the No. 2 seed Cobras advance to play the No. 1 seed Mount Olive Trojans at 7 p.m. Saturday night in another elimination game.

Coker is one of just three teams remaining in the double elimination tournament; Mount Olive College and the undefeated King University are the other two teams.

After four scoreless innings, the Cobras (31-14) found themselves training 2-0, but an RBI single by Justin Blechle in the fifth cut the lead to one and awakened the Coker bats. Three more runs, courtesy of a solo homer by Loraine and a two-run bomb by Kondla, gave the Cobras a 4-2 lead in the sixth. A two-run double by T.J. Giczkowski and another RBI by Kondla made it a 7-2 ball game in the seventh. After a scoreless eighth, Kondla drove in his fourth run of the game in the ninth to give the Cobras the 8-2 win.

Loraine (3-2) earned the win on the mound with 4.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just three hits and fanned three batters.

Kondla finished the game 3-for-5 with a homer, four RBIs and a run scored, while Loraine was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, a double, an RBI and three runs scored. Giczkowski also had three hits including a double with two RBIs and two runs scored. Keith Wolf collected a pair of hits including a double and Blechle drove in a run.