Story courtesy of Elon sports information
Elon 7, Wake Forest 5
ELON, N.C. - Ryan Addison's homerun to left in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled the Elon Phoenix to a 7-5 baseball victory over Wake Forest in front of 621 fans at Latham Park on Tuesday night. The win, the 300th of Elon skipper Mike Kennedy's career, improved the Phoenix to 26-11 while the Demon Deacons dipped to 24-12.
Back-to-back solo shots from Chris Price and Chris Vasami got the Phoenix started in the bottom of the first. For Price, it was his ninth homer of the year while Vasami's blast was his seventh of the season.
The Deacons answered in the second when Grant Achilles lifted a sac fly to leftcenter to plate Evan Ocheltree who had singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a double from Tyler Smith.
Wake loaded the bases in the fourth with two walks and an infield single. With one out, Achilles lifted a ball to left for what should have been a sacrifice fly, but the ball was dropped by Price and the Deacons evened the score. Two runs scored to give Wake the lead on a single up the middle from Eric Williams that plated both Austin Jones and Smith. A sac fly from Allan Dykstra brought home Achilles with the fourth run of the frame.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Elon loaded the bases on three straight walks from reliever Andrew Knox. Knox then gave way to Sean Souders who got Adam Weaver to ground out, but Paul Bennett was able to score on the play to trim the Wake Forest lead to 5-3.
Elon evened the score at five in the sixth inning when Grant Rembert followed Vasami's single with his third homer of the season, a bomb over the wall in left.
Robert Rodebaugh led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right. Austin Boehme pinch-ran for Rodebaugh and was able to jog home as Addison lifted his fifth homer of the season just to the left of the scoreboard in leftcenter to give Elon a 7-5 edge.
The Deacons got runners on the corners with one out in the ninth before Phoenix closer Chad Tilley fanned Woodall and got Ocheltree to ground out to end the game.
Jesse Lewter (2-1) picked up the victory after throwing 4.2 innings in relief. Lewter allowed no runs on two hits. Tilley threw the final inning for the save.
Ben Hunter (1-1) took the loss after surrendering two run on two hits in one inning of work in relief.
Rembert and Addison each tallied two RBI on the night while Weaver and Vasami both had two hits for the Phoenix.
Wake's Dyksta and Smith each had two hits.
The Phoenix returns to SoCon action this weekend as The Citadel visits Latham Park. Friday's first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.
Story courtesy of Appalachian State sports information
Appalachian State 21, NC A&T 5
BOONE, N.C. ? Freshman Rand Smith drove in six runs and blasted his first-career grand slam to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 21-5 rout over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday afternoon at Red Lackey Field.
The 21 runs are the most ever scored by Appalachian at the current Red Lackey Field, which opened in 1998 and marks the most runs scored anywhere by ASU since it defeated Wagner, 22-3, in 2002 in Rock Hill, S.C.
Smith’s grand slam highlighted an eight-run fourth inning for Appalachian (13-18-1), which turned a 3-3 tie into a commanding 11-3 lead. ASU continued to pour it on with a run in the fifth, four in the sixth and five in the seventh en route to the record-breaking performance.
Smith finished the day 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored to go along with the six RBI, the most by a Mountaineer since Justin Thomas drove in six versus East Tennessee State on April 6, 2003.
Senior catcher Kevin Butler continued to swing a hot bat for the Mountaineers with a double, home run and three runs scored. Dating back to last Tuesday’s 13-13 tie with Charlotte, Butler is 10-for-22 (.455) with eight extra-base hits and five RBI. Center fielder Chris Baker also doubled and homered in Tuesday’s rout over North Carolina A&T (13-23).
Making his first start in the Black and Gold, Calvin Teague (2-1) scattered six hits and three runs over five innings to pick up the win. Zach Quate and Brian Peede were also effective in relief of Teague, as the due combined to allow just two runs over the final four innings of the ballgame.
Aggie starter Joe McIntyre (0-1) allowed nine runs in 3.1 innings of work to suffer his first loss of the season. The A&T defense certainly didn’t help its pitchers, as it committed five errors in the loss. Left fielder Phillip Brewington led the Aggies with a 4-for-4 effort at the plate.
Tuesday’s victory closed out a season-long nine-game homestand for Appalachian. ASU hits the road for the first time in more than two weeks on Wednesday when it travels to Blacksburg, Va. to take on Virginia Tech. First pitch at VT’s English Field is set for 7 p.m.
Story courtesy of UNC Greensboro sports information
High Point 6, UNC Greensboro 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? High Point starting pitcher David Parker allowed no runs and scattered just four hits in six innings of work as the Panthers claimed a 6-0 victory over UNC Greensboro Tuesday evening at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Parker (1-1), who entered the game with an 11.74 earned run average in five previous appearances, struck out one and walked just two in his first start of the season.
UNCG starter Clay Gibson (2-1) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits in two plus innings of work.
High Point (18-21) scored a run in the bottom of the first on an RBI double from first baseman Randy Schwartz. Chris Norwood reached on a one-out single before stealing second with two outs prior to Schwartz’s two-bagger into rightfield.
The Panthers tacked on two more runs in the second inning when Dustin Holtzman, who singled to right-centerfield with one out, scored one batter later on a fielding error in the UNCG outfield. Shortstop Alfie Wheeler added a sacrifice fly to account for the second run.
Mark Shorey put the Panthers out in front 3-1 in the third inning with a towering homerun over the rightfield wall for his 13 roundtripper of the season. Shorey added his second hit and RBI of the game in the fifth inning with a double to right that scored Jeff Cowan with the fourth Panther run of the night.
Ryan Laboy capped the scoring for the visitors with an RBI single of the infield in the top of the seventh inning.
UNCG (14-20) loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but High Point closer Bubba O’Donnell came on to get the final out of the game as David Adams was retired on a popup on the infield.
Jermaine Mitchell finished the evening with a team-high two hits while rightfielder Sean Snell extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-4 performance.
UNCG returns to play Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the Spartans travel west to take on Wake Forest from Hooks Field.
Story courtesy of Western Carolina sports information
Clemson 8, Western Carolina 3
Cullowhee, N.C. ? A costly Catamount error in the fifth led to four Clemson runs, including a key three-run home run from Tyler Colvin as the fifth-ranked Tigers avenged a loss seven days ago with an 8-3 victory over Western Carolina Tuesday night at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. The game, however, was almost secondary as the largest crowd in WCU baseball history (2,823) was on hand to celebrate the Western’s Department of Athletics retiring Hall of Fame player and coach Keith LeClair’s #23 in a pre-game ceremony, marking the first time the baseball program has ever bestowed such an honor.
As WCU head coach Todd Raleigh, who played with LeClair at Western and coached under him at Western Carolina and East Carolina, said in the pre-game ceremony, it was “appropriate that the ceremony to retire LeClair’s #23 came when Clemson was in town” as current Tiger skipper Jack Leggett brought LeClair to Cullowhee twice, once as a player and later as an assistant coach.
LeClair then took over the Catamount program in 1992 when Leggett left for Clemson. Leggett, who addressed the record crowd before the game, said, “You always want to leave a program in better shape than when you arrived. Even though leaving Western was a tough decision, I knew I was leaving the program better than when I arrived by knowing Keith would be taking over the program.”
Clemson took an early 1-0 lead in the fourth as Colvin, who had three hits, doubled and scored on Andy D’Alessio’s RBI single to center. D’Alessio also had three hits and added three RBI.
In the fifth, with two on and two out, Taylor Harbin appeared to have ended the inning with a high pop up in the Catamount infield. An error on the play allowed Stan Widmann to score from second and set the stage for Colvin’s three-run blast two pitches later.
In the bottom of the fifth, Western pushed across one run to make the score 4-1. Donnie Wilson walked, moved to second on an error, advanced to third on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch. Western would eventually load the bases, but Clemson starter P.J. Zocchi (3-0) got a strikeout to end the threat.
The Tigers padded their advantage in the sixth as Marquez Smith lined a home run just inside the right field foul pole for his fourth home run of the season.
Western cut its deficit to three (6-3) in the seventh as Grey Gregory and Jason Haynes hit the first two pitches from relief pitcher Drew Fiorenza of the home half over the “Purple Monster,” where LeClair’s #23 is positioned. It was Gregory’s second home run of the season as well as second of his career. For Haynes, it was his first round-tripper of the season and career.
Clemson put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs with two outs. Colvin kept the inning alive with a single and D’Alessio followed with a two-run home run over the left-center field fence.
Daniel Moskos, who entered the game with one out in the eigth and Clemson clinging to a three-run lead, pitched the final 1.2 innings and retired all five batters he faced to earn his fifth save. Zocchi only allowed three hits and one unearned run with four walks and two strikeouts over six innings to get the win.
For Western, six different players had one hit each, including the solo home runs by Gregory and Haynes. Tyler Johnson was the tough-luck loser, falling to 2-1 on the season. He allowed five hits and three runs over 4.1 innings with two walks and three strikeouts. However, just one of the three runs was earned, thanks to the costly miscue in the fifth. Brian McCullen and Greg Holland were solid in relief. McCullen allowed three hits and three runs (one earned) with a walk and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Holland allowed two hits and two runs with two walks and a strikeout in three innings.
Western Carolina will remain at home to host #21 College of Charleston for a three-game weekend series. Game times are 7 pm Friday, 4 pm Saturday and 2 pm Sunday.
Story courtesy of College of Charleston sports information
College of Charleston 5, Winthrop 2
Rock Hill, S.C. -- Freshman lefty Jeff Beliveau struck out a career-high seven and Alex Garabedian added a pair of RBI singles as 17th-ranked College of Charleston downed 20th-ranked Winthrop, 5-2, in college baseball action before 904 at The Winthrop Ballpark on Tuesday.
With the win, Charleston completes the season-series sweep and improved to 28-6 overall. The Eagles, who lost 8-3 at Charleston last week, dropped to 26-10.
The Cougars used a throwing error and a sacrifice fly by Oliver Marmol to score single runs in the second and third innings to grab a 2-0 advantage.
Charleston extended its lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth on run-scoring hits by Jess Easterling and Garabedian.
Winthrop cut the margint to 4-2 on back-to-back solo homers by Tommy Lentz and Mitch Saum in the sixth inning. Garabedian added his second run-scoring single in the seventh that scored Easterling for a 5-2 CofC lead.
Beliveau (3-1) picked up the win working the first 5 2/3 innings allowing two runs on six hits with three walks. Bryn Henderson (1-1) suffered the loss allowing two unearned runs over 2 1/3 innings of work.
The Cougars open a three-game Southern Conference series at Western Carolina on Friday at 7:00.
Story courtesy of Georgia Southern sports information
Georgia Southern 7, Mercer 3
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Down 3-1 in the bottom of the 8th, the Georgia Southern baseball team batted around to score six runs and take the Tuesday night (April 11) contest 7-3.
Mercer starter J.C. Daugherty kept the Eagles at bay through seven innings, only allowing one run, walking two and striking out five. Georgia Southern starter Matt Shurley pitched effectively in jams throughout five innings of work, allowing three runs (one earned), walking none and striking out six. Shurley threw two wild pitches and committed a costly error on a pickoff throw in the 5th inning.
The 8th inning rally began when senior first baseman Greg Dowling led off with a double off the centerfield wall off of Mercer reliever Mike Narveson. After Jeremiah Parker was hit by a pitch, Narveson was replaced by Kyle Johnston (0-3). Griffin Benedict drew a walk, followed by a timely single through the left side by Mike Economos which drove in Dowling. Second baseman Brett Pelfrey followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game as Parker scored. Pinch-hitter Chris Hollis then hit what seemed like a sure inning-ending double-play to Bears shortstop Billy Shaughnessy; however Economos was called safe at second on a close play as Shaughnessy transferred the ball to second baseman Sean McCahill. Hollis was out at first, however Benedict was able to score as the inning was kept alive.
A Jeremy Beckham single and two walks allowed Dowling to return to the plate and single through the right side to add two more runs to GSU’s tally. In all, Dowling was four-for-five on the night, drove in two and scored once.
The Eagles (19-17, 6-3 SoCon) knocked out a total of 10 hits in the game, however one from freshman Chris Shehan was not among them. The Strasburg, Pa. native saw his 13-game hitting streak come to an end with only a walk in five trips to the plate.
Junior right-hander Mike Chiciak (2-1) picked up the win after working three scoreless innings and striking out four.
The Eagles travel to Greenville, S.C. for a three-game set with conference-leader Furman, beginning Thursday and concluding on Saturday. Game times are 7 p.m., 6 p.m. and 2 p.m.