Baseball Southern Conference

SoCon Baseball Results, Friday, April 11, 2003

UNC Greensboro-Western Carolina Postponed

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Friday night's baseball game at The UNCG Baseball Stadium between UNCG and Western Carolina has been postponed due to unplayable field conditions. The Catamounts and Spartans will make up the game as part of a doubleheader scheduled to start Saturday at 1 p.m.

Jay Metzger will take the mound for UNCG in tomorrow's opener, while Scooter Michael will get the ball in the nightcap of the twinbill.

College of Charleston 11, East Tennessee State 2

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (April 11, 2003) - Friday's Southern Conference baseball matchup between East Tennessee State and College of Charleston was a pitchers' duel for the first six innings before the Cougars plated nine runs in the final three innings to defeat the Bucs, 11-2.

College of Charleston (20-14, 8-5 Southern Conference) opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the first. Left fielder Brett Gardner led off the game with a walk and moved to second as the next batter, designated hitter Matt Hallett was hit by a pitch. The runners would then advance to second and third on a wild pitch. Gardner came home on an infield single by second baseman Lee Curtis, advancing Hallett to third with no outs. Hallett then scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by first baseman Stanley Nix.

East Tennessee State (10-19, 6-9 SoCon) also got on the board in the first inning, scoring a run of their own to cut the Cougar lead to 2-1. With two outs in the frame, sophomore designated hitter Davis Burklin (Knoxville, Tenn.) hit his second home run of the season over the right field wall.

From that point, both pitchers cruised for the next few innings. Buccaneer starter Steven Calicutt (Spartanburg, S.C.) allowed only the infield hit to Curtis over the first six innings. After the first inning, Cougar pitcher Matt Soale, would allow just one more hit over the remainder of the game.

The one hit that Soale did allow in the final eight innings tied the game at two in the fifth as ETSU junior outfielder Tim Turner (Marietta, Ga.) led off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to left center.

Both teams were quiet in the sixth, but the Cougars took the lead for good in the top of the eighth. Center fielder Brett Spivey led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground out to first. Then with two outs, designated hitter Mark Lyons hit his third homer of the season to left center to give College of Charleston a 4-2 advantage.

College of Charleston's Nix led off the top of the eighth with a solo blast to left. Catcher Matt Lauderdale followed with a double to right, and went to third on a sacrifice bunt. Right fielder Brett Anderson then reached on a fielder's choice and Lauderdale scored on an errant throw to the plate. Anderson made the score 7-2 in favor of the Cougars as he scored on a single to center by shortstop Anthony Fairchild.
The Cougars scored four more runs in the top of the ninth to provide the final margin of victory. CofC loaded the bases with no outs on a walk, a Buccaneer error and an infield single. Lyons would then score on balk, then Lauderdale cleared the bases with his fourth homer of the season.

Soale stayed undefeated on the season, running his record to 5-0. He went the distance, allowing two runs on two hits, while walking one and striking out five. Calicutt (2-4) was charged with the loss for ETSU, after pitching seven innings and allowing five runs on three hits, walking six and striking out two.

Lauderdale had a strong day for the Cougars, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Nix and Lyons both scored two runs and drove in two on the afternoon.

Game two of the weekend SoCon series will be played at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn. The contest was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., but has been pushed back one hour.

Furman 5, Appalachian State 2

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Tom Mastny won his fifth consecutive start and pitched
his fifth complete game of the season to lift Furman to a 5-2 win over
Appalachian State in Southern Conference baseball action Friday night at
Furman Stadium.

A senior righthander from Zionsville, Indiana, Mastny (7-2) struck out
nine batters and surrendered only four hits, one walk, and one earned run
in pacing Furman (16-14, 7-9 SoCon) to its fifth win in its last six
games. With the complete game performance, Mastny lowered his league
leading earned run average to 1.11. Opponents are batting only .182
against him this season.

Offensively Furman was paced by Craig Caudill, who tallied a career high
four hits in a 4-for-5 performance that included a triple. Nick Wajda and
A.J. Davidiuk added a pair of hits for the Paladins, who collected 10 hits
on the evening. Tim Johnson went 2-for-4 to lead Appalachian State (8-20,
3-10 SoCon).

Furman wasted little time in providing run support for Mastny, taking a
1-0 lead in the bottom off Mountaineer starter Nick Peterson (2-7). With
one out Craig Caudill singled to left field, stole second, and came home
when Appalachian State centerfielder Ty Racette misplayed a deep fly by
Derek Norman.

The Paladins tacked on three more runs in the second. After Nick Wajda
walked with one out, A.J. Davidiuk singled to center. Two batters later
Caudill singled to center to drive in Wajda, and Norman followed with an
RBI single to right center to plate Davidiuk. A walk to Dominic Frankey
loaded the bases, and Sam McLain followed with another walk to force in
Caudill and extend Furman?s lead to 4-0.

Appalachian State touched Mastny for a run in the third. Hit by Mastny to
lead off the inning, Derek Smith advanced to second on a groundout and,
one out later, raced home on a Justin Thomas double to left center to make
it 4-1.

It remained 4-1 until the top of the sixth. With two out, Graham Thompson
walked and advanced to third on a single by Eric Pittman. Tim Johnson
then followed with a line drive double to left field, scoring Thompson to
make it 4-2. Mastny recovered by getting Eric Hunnicutt on a fly out to
end the inning.

Furman made it 5-2 in the eighth when Wajda singled, stole second, and
scored on a single to left by A.J. Davidiuk.

Mastny finished strong, surrendering only one hit in his final three
innings of work and getting Derek Smith on a foul pop to first base to end
the game.

Furman and Appalachian State play the second game in the three-game series
on Saturday beginning at 6:00 p.m. Sunday?s contest is slated to begin at
1:00 p.m.

Davidson 6, The Citadel 4

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Freshman third baseman Jay Heafner drove in Davidson's final three runs to help the Wildcats rally for a 6-4 victory over The Citadel on Friday evening at Wildcat Park. Davidson (11-17, 6-12 in Southern Conference) has now won six of its past eight conference games since losing its first 10. The victory is also the Wildcats' first in their home park under the newly-installed lights.

The Citadel (20-13, 10-3) took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Jon Aughey opened the game with a base hit and moved to third on Andy Phillips double to left. But Wildcat sophomore hurler Andy Carter limited the damage to just one run on Chip Cannon's run-scoring grounder to second.

In the fourth, the Bulldogs plated three runs for a 4-0 lead. Consecutive singles by Cannon and Ard put runners on first and second to start the frame. After a force out at third on a failed bunt attempt, Brook Dantzler singled home one run, and Josh Stackley brought home another on a fielder's choice to short. The Citadel's final run came home on a slow roller to first by Matt Matulia.

The Wildcats came into the game averaging just under four runs per game, but got right back into the ball game with three runs of their own in the bottom half. Sophomore Eli Benefield laced a double into the left-field corner on the first pitch and fellow sophomore Justin Hartanov singled to right to put runners on the corners.

Sophomore Sam Navarro then hit a grounder to second that was bobbled, then thrown away as one run scored. Davidson completed its scoring in the inning on an RBI single by sophomore Michael Muniz and a sacrifice fly by freshman Taylor Shoop.

In the sixth, the Wildcats had runners at second and third with two outs when Heafner strolled to the plate. He battled Bulldog pitcher John Ellis (5-3) to a 2-2 count before hitting a grounder up the middle to give Davidson a 5-4 lead.

Heafner did his two-out magic again in the eighth for an insurance run, driving home Muniz with a solid single through the hole between short and third.

Carter (2-3) picked up his first victory since his first start of the season, allowing four earned runs on six hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out six. Junior Brian Akin shut out The Citadel over the last two innings to earn his second save of the year.

Muniz had a pair of hits, including a double, scoring twice and driving in another, while Heafner added his two clutch singles.

Phillips was the lone Bulldog with two hits on the evening.

The two teams will continue their three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.