Story courtesy of College of Charleston sports information
College of Charleston 8, Charleston Southern 5
Charleston, S.C. -- Larry Cobb belted a pair of solo homers and Phillip Coker gave the Cougars the lead for good with a two-run double in the eighth as 21st-ranked College of Charleston rallied for an 8-5 win over Charleston Southern before 188 at Buccaneer Field on Wednesday.
Charleston, which improved to 36-11 on the season, gave Cougar coach John Pawlowski his 250th career victory. Pawlowski, in his seventh season, has a 250-147-1 career mark. The Bucs fell to 17-35.
College of Charleston struck for a run in the top of the first on Cobb’s third home run of the season but the Buccaneers answered with Sean Doherty’s first homer of the season in the second.
Designated hitter David Perkins gave CSU a 2-1 lead with an RBI single in the third and the Buccaneers put three runs up in the fourth. Cleaveland delivered a run with a double to left and shortstop Adam Brown lifted a sacrifice fly to left for a 4-1 CSU lead. Fyle made it 5-1 with an infield single up the middle, his 46th RBI of the season.
The Cougars scored a run in the top of the fifth with Oliver Marmol driving in Phillip Coker with a two-out single to center. In the sixth, the Cougars loaded the bases and CSU’s Ryan Rowland walked in a run, cutting the lead to 5-3. Tweddale relieved Rowland and struck out Joey Friddle and got Phillip Coker to fly to left to end the threat.
Cobb struck again in the top of the seventh, belting his second homer of the game to left center and cutting the lead to 5-4. Charleston Southern loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh but Cougar reliever Quinn Monsma got Cleaveland and Brown to ground out.
Cougar catcher Alex Garabedian led off the eighth with a single up the middle and designated hitter Matt Kirkpatrick followed with a bloop single to right. Joey Friddle then beat out a bunt for a single to load the bases with no outs.
Phillip Coker lined to left center to score Garabedian and Kirkpatrick, giving College of Charleston a 6-5 lead. Chris Campbell followed with a two-out single to right, scoring two and pushing the score to 8-5.
Quinn Monsma (6-2) picked up the win in relief for Charleston tossing two shutout innings. Josh McLaughlin pitched a scoreless ninth for his 13th save.
CSU’s fourth pitcher of the day, Payton Tweddale, took the loss, falling to 0-4 on the season. Tweddale allowed seven hits and five runs in 2 1/3 innings. Freshman Brandon Roberts, making his first career start, went five innings, allowing two runs on six hits.
The Cougars open a three-game Southern Conference series at Furman on Friday at 7:00.
Story courtesy of Appalachian State sports information
Appalachian State 8, Longwood 6
BOONE, N.C. ? Ben Billingsley’s grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted Appalachian State University baseball to a thrilling 8-6 victory over Longwood on Wednesday afternoon at Red Lackey Field.
Billingsley capped a five-run eighth-inning rally by driving a 3-1 pitch from Longwood’s John Walker II over the right field fence to give Appalachian (20-25-1) an 8-6 lead. Jason Rook started the comeback from a 6-3 deficit with a pinch-hit RBI single through the right side of the infield. ASU also got hits from Wes Borden and David Rubinstein in the five-run eighth.
Longwood (21-24) took the three-run lead into the bottom of the eighth on the strength of scoring five of its six runs between the fifth and eighth innings, highlighted by a three-run fifth. The Lancers threatened to stretch the lead even more in the eighth by moving a runner to third with just one out. However, Mountaineer left-hander Josh Fish came on to strike out the final two batters of the inning, keeping the deficit at just three runs and setting up Billingsley’s heroics in the bottom of the stanza.
The eighth-inning slam was the team-leading ninth home run of the season for Billingsley, a true freshman from Hamlet, N.C. (Richmond County). He finished the day 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI.
Rubinstein, another true freshman from Charlotte, N.C. (South Mecklenburg), paced the Apps with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, while senior Joey Robinson and Borden, yet another freshman, added two hits apiece.
Fish moved to 2-0 with the win and junior Jonathan Reeder pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
Tyler Ames and Ryan Rowe drove in two runs apiece for Longwood, while Aaron Berg allowed four runs in two innings to fall to 1-1 on the season.
With the win, Appalachian reached the 20-victory plateau for just the second time in 10 seasons and matched its win total from each of the past two seasons combined. ASU looks to continue to add to its already successful campaign when it travels for a three-game Southern Conference series at Georgia Southern this weekend. The set begins with a 7 p.m. on Friday in Statesboro, Ga.
Story courtesy of Western Carolina sports information
Tennessee 7, Western Carolina 2
Knoxville, Tenn. ? Western Carolina only trailed by two through six and a half inning until allowing three runs in the bottom of the seventh to drop 7-2 decision to the Tennessee Volunteers Wednesday evening at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Western (27-22) scored first, taking advantage of two Volunteer errors. Tim Hallam started the game by reaching on an error by the shortstop, then advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt at first. Barrett Shaft moved Hallam to third and Jonathan Greene delivered an RBI single.
Tennessee (28-20) answered back in the home half, scoring two runs. After a leadoff triple by Julio Borbon, Chris Kemp had an RBI double. Kemp scored one batter later on J.P. Arencibia single. Arencibia finished the night going 4-for-4 with four RBI.
The Vols padded their advantage with two runs in the third, taking a 4-1 lead. Borbon had a leadoff walk and Tennessee strung together three consecutive singles, the last being a two-run safety by Arencibia.
The Catamounts cut into their deficit in the sixth when sophomore catcher Blake Murphy hit a two-out, solo home run to left for his 10th round tripper of the season.
In the seventh, the Vols got that run back and added two more for a 7-2 lead. With one out, Borbon reached on an error, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on an infield single by Tony Delmonico and scored on Chros Kemp’s sacrifice fly to center. Delmonico, who stole second, would score on Arencibia’s bloop single then Ryan Jones followed with an RBI double down the left field line.
While the five Catamount pitchers had solid outings, a particular bright spot was reigning Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week and SoCon TIAA/CREF Student-Athlete of the Week Greg Holland. Despite giving up a leadoff double and having runners on second and third, the sophomore did not allow a run for the sixth consecutive game, a span of 9.2 innings. Starter Caleb McConnell suffered the loss, falling to 1-5. He allowed four runs over three innings.
Deunte Heath picked up the win for Tennessee, improving to 4-2. He pitched seven complete with five hits and two runs (one earned) with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Western Carolina will return to action Friday at 7 pm, hosting the first of three games with Kennesaw State.