PEMBROKE — As Joey Rezek and Michel Dolberry II entered their final home games at UNC Pembroke on Saturday, both did so on an extended hot streak in recent weeks.

Then again, that’s true for the whole Braves team.

Rezek and Dolberry continued their personal runs on senior day while helping propel the Braves to 9-1 and 20-4 wins over Southern Wesleyan, sweeping a three-game Conference Carolinas weekend series as the Braves sealed a fourth-place finish in the league standings.

“We knew we had to win out to get the 4 seed, and Coach (Paul) O’Neil really instilled in us just to be tough and fight through any adversity we face, and just get it done, back up one another and just come out here and play for us, just compete,” Dolberry said.

The Braves won their fifth straight conference series, compiling a 12-3 league record and a 17-3 overall clip in the season’s stretch run, with a club-wide hot streak taking place over the last month of the regular season.

Rezek and Dolberry, though, have been the two most conspicuous propellants through this stretch.

“I think both of them are very hard workers, I think that’s where it starts,” O’Neil said. “Both of them have a lot of talent too, don’t miss that either; both have a lot of skill. I think that they’ve probably both settled in, they’re able to relax more and just kind of play, and they’ve seen some success and it’s kind of just rolling for them.”

In Rezek’s last seven games, he has gone 19-for-25 (.760) with five home runs, 13 RBIs and 19 runs. This includes a 4-for-5 day over Saturday’s two games with six runs and three RBIs.

“Just trying to keep everything simple — just trying to go day by day and see what God brings and just having a good time and having fun for my last year possibly,” Rezek said.

Dolberry has been just as strong dating back nine games, hitting 21-for-42 (.500) with six home runs, 17 RBI and 18 runs in the span, including a 4-for-7 mark with two RBI and five runs Saturday.

“Just trying to come through for the team, trying to have team ABs,” Dolberry said. “Our teammates are putting us in positions to be successful, and they’re just falling for us.”

Beyond those two, the whole Braves team has been successful at the plate, scoring 39 runs in the three-game series against Southern Wesleyan (9-41, 7-23 CC) and 82 runs in its last five games.

The offensive explosion has come from all nine spots in the order. In game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, the bottom third of the order accounted for five hits, three runs and four RBIs, with two-hit games from Andrew Jenner and Jake Bradley, who both homered, and a two-RBI game from Will Hood.

In the nightcap, cleanup hitter Kody O’Connor had three hits, four runs and five RBIs — reaching a team-high 70 for the season — while Chase Hudson had four hits and six RBIs, Morgan Padgett had two hits and three RBIs and Will Hood had two hits and one RBI.

“It’s huge, because you know how baseball is, it’s not going to go your way every day,” Dolberry said. “But when you have nine that are firing on all cylinders, it’s huge.”

The Braves finished the regular season at 38-12 overall and 19-11 in Conference Carolinas, entering the Conference Carolinas Tournament with as much momentum as anyone in the league after a much stronger second half of the conference schedule after starting 7-8 in the league.

“I think at the beginning of conference play, we weren’t ourselves as a team,” Rezek said. “Throughout everything, we figured out who we truly are, and you’d rather be hot right now than starting to slow down and lose to a team like this. It builds their confidence up, and it’s a new season, everybody’s 0-0; you’ve got to keep winning. We’re playing for regionals, super regionals and a World Series here, so we’ve got to keep our head above water and just keep living day by day.”

The Braves will play No. 5 seed Emmanuel in Wednesday’s tournament opener; the Lions won two games out of three against the Braves in the regular season.

Game One

What began as a low-scoring pitchers duel in the doubleheader opener was blown open quickly by UNCP in a seven-run fourth inning.

Leading 1-0 entering the frame, UNCP scored two on a Hood RBI single. Blake Hinson and Rezek drew RBI walks, with Andrew Jenner scoring on a wild pitch, before an O’Connor single brought home two more runs for the Braves for an 8-0 advantage.

UNCP bookended the big inning with a pair of solo home runs; Jacob Bradley hit his seventh of the season in the third inning and Jenner’s second came in the fifth.

“Jacob Bradley, that solo home run, that gave us a 1-0 lead, and then we had the big inning after that,” O’Neil said. “I think anytime you can score, that kind of breaks the ice, and then everybody exhales a little bit.”

That was more than enough for Braves right-hander Will Harris (5-0), who allowed one run on five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts, pitching a complete game in the seven-inning contest to earn the win.

“(Harris) really responded, because last week he didn’t get out of the first at King,” O’Neil said. “He had something to prove today, that he wanted to go out there and throw well, and we had a good crowd, so I think it all starts with him.”

Christopher Hund (2-6) took the loss for SWU, allowing seven runs on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts after a strong start to the game in the first time through the Braves’ order.

Game Two

UNCP put up a crooked number in four of the first five innings of the nightcap to cruise to the win and complete the sweep.

“I think it’s huge to assert your dominance early in the game,” Rezek said. “When you get a 1-2-3 inning when you’re the home team and you get back in the dugout and take the lead, it kind of tells the other team we’re here to play and take everything serious.”

UNCP led 3-0 in the first inning after RBI hits from Rezek and Hudson, then after a run on a wild pitch and an O’Connor RBI single led 5-0 through two frames.

SWU cut the lead to 5-1 in the fourth, but UNCP did good work to limit the damage, escaping a bases-loaded jam with no further Warriors runs.

“That was a pivotal inning for us right there because if they hit the ball out of the ballpark right there, we’re tied, 5-5, and who knows what happens after that; the momentum switches dugouts,” O’Neil said.

Instead, UNCP answered with five runs in the bottom half, with RBI hits from O’Connor, Hudson, Padgett and Hood for a 10-1 lead. The Warriors scored three in the top of the fifth, but the Braves got three right back in the bottom as O’Connor, Hudson and Padgett each had another RBI hit. O’Connor made it 15-4 with a two-run home run in the seventh, his 15th of the season.

The eighth inning featured a pinch-hit appearance by Braves senior pitcher Luke Barrow, the first at-bat of his collegiate career; he singled up the middle in the early stages of a five-run inning which included RBI hits from Dolberry, Rezek and Hudson.

“(Barrow) has been bugging me all year about getting an at-bat,” O’Neil said. “His last four outings he’s been throwing the ball excellent, just dominant. Coach (Jeff) Jefferson was like ‘get Luke an at-bat,’ and we figured it out on the sheet and got him in there and he got a hit. If you had told me he was going to get a single, I would’ve been like ‘you’re crazy,’ but he did, he got up there and got a single and the dugout was going bananas. This is the stuff they’re going to remember.”

Starter H.L. Smith pitched into the fifth for UNCP, allowing three runs in the final inning while tiring after a strong first four innings. Kasen McCawley and David Wurth each pitched in relief before senior Chase Jernigan (3-1) struck out two in two hitless innings to finish off the victory.

Nick Vollmert (1-8) took the loss for the Warriors.