Story courtesy of College of Charleston sports information
The Citadel 4, College of Charleston 2
Mt. Pleasant, S.C. ? Matt Matulia’s two-run single in the eighth lifted The Citadel to a 4-2 win over 20th-ranked College of Charleston before 1,181 at Patriots Point Field on Friday.
The Bulldogs are 29-24 overall and 14-11 in league play. Charleston is 38-14 and 19-6.
Tied 2-2 entering the eighth, the Bulldogs’ Matt Covington walked and moved to second when Chris Swauger was hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Sonny Meade grounded out to second and Zach Brown popped out.
Matulia followed with a two-run single to right for the final margin.
Meade’s solo homer in the fourth staked The Citadel to a 1-0 lead. Larry Cobb’s sixth homer of the season, a solo shot to center, tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth. Jess Easterling’s RBI single gave Charleston a brief 2-1 sixth inning lead.
Conrad Kellahan’s RBI grounder in the top of the seventh tied the game at 2-2.
Justin Smith (7-1) picked up the working two scoreless innings. Link Saunders recorded his 15th save. Josh McLaughlin (1-4) suffered the loss.
Game two of the series is Friday at 6:00.
Story courtesy of UNC Greensboro sports information
Elon 7, UNC Greensboro 4
GREENSBORO, NC ? Elon starting pitcher Steven Hensley hurled eight strong innings en route to his sixth win of the season as UNC Greensboro dropped a 7-4 decision Thursday evening at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Hensley (6-3) allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits while striking out nine in the eight innings. The right-hander allowed two runs over the first two innings before limiting the Spartans to just two more hits over the next six innings.
Chad Tilley came on in the ninth and worked himself into a jam, but recovered nicely to earn his 10th save of the season. UNCG loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth on a pair of hits and a walk, but Tilley induced pinch hitter Mike Mongiello into a game-ending double play to secure the win for the Phoenix.
Spartan starter Nick Starnes (4-4) took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits while recording five punchouts in five innings of mound duty.
UNCG (23-30, 12-13 SoCon) put a run on the board in the bottom of the first to take an early 1-0 advantage. Greg Feltes led off the inning with a sharp double into left-centerfield and moved to third when Sean Snell followed with a sacrifice bunt. Jermaine Mitchell then recorded his 34th RBI of the season with a groundout to the right side.
The Spartans tallied a second run in the home half of the second inning as UNCG put together a pair of two-out doubles. Catcher Adam Deleo started the rally with a two-bagger into right-centerfield before designated hitter Sam Martin battled back from an 0-2 count and laced a double of his own down the leftfield line for his second RBI of the season.
Elon (41-13, 20-5) stormed back for four runs in the top of the third as the Phoenix started the inning with four consecutive hits en route to a two-run lead at 4-2. Leadoff hitter Donny Jobe opened the frame with a triple to right-centerfield and Adam Weaver hit the first pitch he saw through the left side for Elon’s first run. Designated hitter Robert Rodebaugh produced Elon’s third straight hit with a single to right before Chris Price cleared the bases with a two-run double off the right-centerfield wall. Chris Vasami produced the final run of the end with an RBI groundout.
The Phoenix extended its lead to 7-2 as Elon scored three runs with two outs in the top of the sixth. Weaver laced an RBI double to right-centerfield for the first run while catcher Grant Rembert added a two-run bloop single into shallow right. UNCG answered with two runs in the bottom half to cut the Elon lead to 7-4. Jermaine Mitchell started things with a two-out walk before Guy Welsh drove him home with a double into right-centerfield. Welsh then came around to score on a fielding error by Paul Bennett with Brandon Harvey batting.
Martin finished the game as the lone Spartan with a multi-hit performance as the Roxboro, NC native was 2-for-4 at the dish. Mitchell finished the night 1-for-3 with an RBI to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Story courtesy of Appalachian State sports information
Davidson 5, Appalachian State 4 (Susp. Bottom of 6th)
BOONE, N.C. ? Thursday’s baseball game between Appalachian State and Davidson was suspended in the bottom of the sixth inning due to rain with Davidson leading 5-4. The game will resume where it left off on Friday at 1 p.m. and will be immediately followed by Friday’s regularly scheduled contest.
Davidson jumped out to a 5-1 lead on the strength of a four-run third inning. However, back-to-back home runs by Rand Smith and Ben Billingsley accounted for three Appalachian runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-4 before play was halted.
Story courtesy of Wofford sports information
Georgia Southern 15, Wofford 6
SPARTANBURG, SC ? Georgia Southern collected 13 hits and starter Everett Teaford held Wofford to just five hits through eight innings as Georgia Southern defeated the Terriers 15-6 Thursday night at Russell C. King Field.
Teaford, the Southern Conference strikeout leader with 9.2 per game, fanned the side in the first and finished with nine strikeouts in raising his record to 10-3 on the year.
Georgia Southern (29-24, 15-10) scored twice in the first inning as Wofford starter Austin Redwine walked the first two batters he faced. Both runners would score on a single and a sacrifice fly to spot the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Wofford (19-35, 4-21) pulled within a run in the third when Keith Munns walked, moved to second on an infield grounder and to third on a single by Zach Pittman. Munns would score on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Johnson.
GSU added a single run in the fourth when Griffin Benedict reached on an error and would eventually score on an infield singly by Brett Pelfrey.
Georgia Southern extended its lead to 6-1 with three runs in the fifth. Chris Hollis led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Greg Dowling. After a walk to Mike Economos and an infield single by Benedict, Jeremiah Parker doubled in one run and Pelfrey plated another run with a sacrifice fly. The Eagles scored three more in the seventh on just one hit, taking advantage of a pair of Wofford errors.
Wofford cut the lead to 9-3 with a pair of runs in the eighth. Brent Pearce walked, moved to second on a single by Adam Wood and both runners scored on a two-run triple by Eric Sturkie.
GSU would score six runs in the ninth on five hits to take a 15-3 lead but the Terriers would score three in the bottom of the ninth. Pearce knocked a two-run double and Wood drove home a run with a single.
Redwine (5-7) took the loss, going five innings and allowing seven hits and five earned runs while striking out three. Mike Chiciak relieved Teaford in the ninth and allowed three runs on three hits while striking out three.
Pittman and Wood each had two hits for the Terriers. Pearce and Sturkie each drove in two runs.
Georgia Southern was led by Benedict with three hits while Parker and Pelfrey each collected a pair of safeties.
The two teams will meet again in game two of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. at Russell C. King Field on the Wofford College campus.