Baseball Southern Conference

Charleston Advances To NCAA Baseball Regional Final

College of Charleston 7, Southern Miss 3

Chris Campbell went 4-4 and drove in three runs and Reid Price tossed a complete game to lead third-seeded College of Charleston to a 7-3 win over No. 2 seed Southern Mississippi on Saturday night in an elimination game in the 2004 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, which sent the Cougars to Sunday's championship round to take on host and top-seed LSU.

The Cougars (47-15) avoided elimination earlier on Saturday with a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Army, eliminated their second team of the day, and will face LSU (43-17) at 1 .m. on Sunday. College of Charleston must defeat LSU twice to win the regional. The Cougars are making their debut in NCAA-regional play. College of Charleston enacted revenge from its 6-5 loss to the Eagles on Friday night. Southern Miss' season ended at 45-19.

Price went the distance, allowing nine hits and three runs to go with eight strikeouts and three walks to improve his record to 7-4. College of Charleston starter Mike Cashion fell to 3-4 with the loss, pitching just 3 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on seven hits. Cashion walked two and struck out three.

The Cougars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as second-baseman Chris Campbell drove a sharp single past a diving Matt Shepherd into left field to score Brett Gardner.

The Eagles had a chance to tie it up in the second after putting two on with none out, but Price worked through the jam by getting a double play ball off the bat of Jason Lowery following consecutive singles by Brad Wilcutt and Ryan Frith. Carlos Velasquez drew a two-out walk but he then got out of the inning when Jody Blount grounded to short.

College of Charleston also had the first two runners reach base to lead off the bottom half of the second, but shortstop Anthony Fairchild went down on strikes for the first out and then Phillip Coker grounded into a double play to end the frame.

Southern Miss took the lead in the third on a two-run single by second-baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir. Beau Griffin started the inning off with a single but was then erased at second when Matt Shepherd grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop. Marc Maddox then laced a double to the corner in left to put runners at second and third and Hoffpauir drove them in for his fifth and sixth RBI of the regional. Price escaped any further trouble by striking out both Brad Willcut and Ryan Frith to close the inning.

Campbell tied the game at 2-2 with his fifth homer of the season with two away in the third. That damage could have been worse but Barber grounded into the game's third double play at the time, prior to Campbell's homer.

The Cougars grabbed a 3-2 lead as Cashion's wild pitch scored Kevin Bulger from third with one out in the fourth. Bulger doubled to open the inning and then moved to third on Brian Hastings' single, which bounced off of Hoffpauir's glove and into right field. Anthony Fairchild grounded out to third, keeping Bulger at third, but would come home anyway on the wild pitch, which also moved Hastings to second base.

Cashion then walked Coker, which prompted Southern Miss head coach Corky Palmer to bring in Daniel Best in from the bullpen. After Gardner grounded to first base, which moved both runners up one base, Barber delivered a clutch two-run single to right-center field, pushing the score to 5-2.

Campbell made the score 6-2 with an RBI single up the middle to score Barber, who had stolen second, giving Campbell three RBI on the night. Campbell was caught stealing to end the inning.

Maddox cut the Cougar lead in half with a one-out homerun, his 16th of the season, in the top of the fifth. It was his second of the day, as he homered earlier in the 6-2 loss to LSU.

Jess Easterling, who was hitless in his previous three at-bats, ripped a double into the left-field corner to score Campbell and make it a 7-3 ballgame in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Bulger and Hastings had two hits apiece for the Cougars while Maddox, Hoffpauir, and Willcut each collected two hits to lead the Southern Miss offense.


North Carolina 6, The Citadel 3

Columbia, SC - Matt Ellington drove-in three runs and Chase Younts scored two runs and drove-in one to help No. 2 North Carolina down No. 4 The Citadel 6-3 and eliminate the Bulldogs from the NCAA Regional in front of 2,118 fans at Sarge Frye Field. Making it to the third game on day two of the Regional marks the farthest the Bulldogs have advanced in NCAA postseason play since 1998, when they went 1-2 in the Clemson Regional.

North Carolina (43-20) scored two in the second to take a quick two-run lead, 2-0. With runners on second and third, Matt Ellington singled to center driving home two for the first runs of the game.

The Citadel (39-28) got on the board and cut the lead in half 2-1 on a RBI-double to right-centerfield by sophomore first baseman Mark Egleton. After reaching on an infield single, junior second baseman Jon Aughey scored from first on Egleton's seventh double of the year.


UNC added a run in the third thanks to a run-scoring single by Sammy Hewitt that allowed Chase Younts to score after he led off the inning with a base on balls.

The Bulldogs knotted the game at 3-3 with two runs in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded, Aughey plated sophomore centerfielder Matt Covington on a RBI-single through the left side of the infield for the Dogs first run of the frame. One batter later, Egleton picked up a RBI on a sacrifice fly to left that drove-in junior third baseman Chris Ard for the tying run.

The Tar Heels quickly retook the lead 5-3 on a RBI-single by Younts and a run-scoring double by Marshall Hubbard. Citadel reliever Griff Beckham came on with two outs and struck out Hewitt on four pitchers to squelch the rally and end the inning without any further damage.

In the top of the fifth, North Carolina extended their lead to 6-3 thanks to a sac-fly off the bat of Ellington. After Mike Daniel led off the inning with a double and moved to third on bunt, Ellington flew to left driving home Daniel from third.

The Dogs attempted a rally in the bottom of the seventh, but UNC closer Mike Gross struck out junior right fielder Josh Stackley on three straight pitches to strand runners on the corners and hold the three-run Tar Heel lead.

North Carolina reliever Whitley Benson (5-1) pitched 4.1 scoreless innings to pick up the win; while Gross pitched the final three innings to earn his eighth save of the season. Citadel starter Chip Cannon (5-4) took the loss after not making it out of the fourth. He surrendered five runs on nine hits. Beckham, who pitched 5.1 innings in relief of Cannon, allowed one run on four hits, while fanning

UNC will go on to face South Carolina in the Regional championship tomorrow at 1:30 pm at Sarge Frye Field, while the Bulldogs will finish the season with a 39-28 record and the Southern Conference Tournament Championship trophy.