Story courtesy of South Carolina sports information
Elon 2, South Carolina 1
COLUMBIA, SC -- Lance Cole and Ryan Basham combined to shut 14th ranked South Carolina out after the first inning Saturday and Elon tallied unearned runs in the fifth and sixth for a 2-1 win that evened the baseball series season opening baseball series.
The rubber game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Sunday at Sarge Frye Field.
Cole worked 7 2/3 innings to earn the victory. He allowed all five South Carolina hits, four of them in the first two innings. Basham pitched one 1/3 hitless innings and got out of a mild ninth inning jam when South Carolina catcher Trent Kline hit into a game ending double play.
A two out first inning home run by Neil Giesler staked South Carolina to a 1-0 lead. Robbie Grinestaff and Reese Havens followed with base hits and Justin Smoak walked to load the bases. However, Mark Stanley lined out to end the inning.
Kline led off the second inning with a single but was left on base. South Carolina's only hit after the second inning was a two out single by Giesler in the fifth.
Arik Hempy held Elon hitless through the first .four innings but the Phoenix parlayed one hit and an error each inning for single runs in the fifth and sixth to saddle Hempy with the loss.
Drew Davis reached on an error to lead off the Elon fifth. He was sacrificed to second and scored on a double by Adam Weaver. In the sixth inning Donny Jobe led off with a single. He moved all the way to third on Hempy's wild throw on a sacrifice bunt by Paul Bennett. Davis scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Price. Conor Lalor pitched the final three innings for South Carolina. He allowed three hits but no runs.
Havens walked and Stanley reached on an error to give South Carolina two base runners with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning but Kline grounded to shortstop Paul Bennett who tagged second and threw to first for a game ending double play.
Of the 27 outs registered by the South Carolina offense, 18 came on fly balls to the outfield and two were infield pop ups. Elon left fielder Price made eight putouts, three of them, diving catches. Center fielder Ryan Addison had six putouts and right fielder Grant Rembert had four.
Story courtesy of College of Charleston sports information
College of Charleston 12, High Point 6
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Jess Easterling earned his first career grand slam to go along with a two-out Cougar rally in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Coach John Pawlowski his 216th win at the College of Charleston, making him the all-time leader in career wins as the Cougars defeated High Point 12-6 Saturday night at Patriots Point.
The Cougars improve their record to 2-0 with the victory as CofC will look to complete the sweep of the Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. Quinn Monsma earned his first victory with the Cougars as he pitched three innings striking out three batters in relief. Danny Meszaros came in the eighth inning in relief to earn the save. High Point falls to 2-3 on the year with Eammon Portice getting the loss.
"We found a way to win despite not playing our best baseball," said Pawlowski. "Jess Easterling had a great day offensively and really sparked out play at the plate."
Easterling's grand slam was only a part of his three hit, four runs batted in and two runs scored performance. Alex Garabedian hit a homerun to left center to drive in three runs and Chris Campbell had three hits driving in two runs for the Cougars.
Nick Chigges started the game for the Cougars going four and two-thirds innings striking out seven batters. Chigges, Monsma, and Meszaros combined for 12 strikeouts on the night.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead in the second as they put up six runs including Easterling's grand slam in their half of the inning. High Point responded quickly as they scored three runs of their own in the top half of the third. Charleston added another run in the top of bottom of the sixth to push the lead to four.
The Panthers scored once in the seventh and twice in the eighth to get within a run of Charleston at 7-6. But the Cougars shut the door on any hopes of a comeback in the bottom of the eighth as CofC posted five runs to make the score 12-6.
That would be the final as Pawlowski passes Ralph Ciabattari on the all-time wins list at the College of Charleston. Pawlowski's record now stands at 216-136-1 in his seventh season with the Cougars.
High Point finished the game with six runs on nine hits with Randy Schwarts and Billy Aguiar earning two hits each. Chris Norwood and Chris Marks both drove in two runs for the Panthers in the losing effort.
Story courtesy of Georgia Southern sports information
Georgia Tech 13, Georgia Southern 9
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Three different Georgia Southern players hit their first home run on the year but the Eagles issued 13 walks in a 13-9 loss to Georgia Tech, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 11) at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles dropped to 1-3 overall while the third-ranked Yellow Jackets won their season-opener.
Josh Lairsey avoided a big inning to start the game. The junior left-hander walked the bases loaded with one out. Jeff Kindel lined a 2-run double down the right field line. After getting his second strikeout, Lairsey issued another walk to re-load the bases. Shortstop Jeremy Beckham made a diving catch on a sinking line drive by Mike Trapani to end the inning.
Chris Hollis led off Southern’s half of the first with an infield single, stole second base and advanced to third on Andy Hawranick’s throwing error. He scored on Greg Dowling’s infield single, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
A pair of hit batters, three singles and a walk, which led to three Yellow Jackets runs, chased Lairsey with one out in the third inning. Dustin Evans pitched out of the bases loaded jam by striking out batters three and four, Matt Wieters and Wes Hodges.
Dowling made it a 5-3 game thanks to a 2-run blast to right field, his first homer this year. Jeremiah Parker also hit his first homer, a one-out blast over the left field fence in the fourth inning cutting the deficit to one run. Mike Economos hit a RBI single in the seventh inning.
The Yellow Jackets scored eight times from the fifth through eighth inning, taking a 13-5 lead. Brett Pelfrey hit a 3-run homer with two outs in the eighth, his first this year, capping a four-run frame.
Dowling and Pelfrey had three hits and three RBI apiece while Pelfrey also scored three runs. Hollis finished with two runs scored and two hits, but the Eagles were still out-hit 13-12.
Lairsey (1-1) gave up five runs and five walks in 2.1 innings. Evans fanned five batters in 4.1 innings but allowed five runs, four of which earned. The Eagle pitching staff combined for 13 walks and two hit batters but also stranded 17 Yellow Jackets.
Blake Wood (1-0) was charged for four runs on seven hits in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out six. Whit Robbins had three hits and three RBI while Steven Blackwood, Kindel and Trapani registered two hits apiece.
Georgia Southern concludes the two-game series against Tech on Sunday (Feb. 12). The contest will be televised live on CSS starting at 2 p.m.
The Citadel vs. Campbell, Canceled
Liberty at Wofford, Ppd. (DH 2/12 at Noon)