#6 Western Carolina 13, #4 Georgia Southern 3

WCU-GSU Box Score

CHARLESTON, SC ? Behind Blake Murphy’s record-tying five hits, sixth-seeded Western Carolina got off the snide quick on Friday morning, jumping out to an early 7-0 lead that they would never relinquish in a 13-3 defeat of Georgia Southern in an elimination game at the Southern Conference Baseball Championships at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.

Murphy went 5-for-5 on the day to tie with eight others for the most hits in a single SoCon tournament contest. Murphy is the third Catamount to accomplish the feat.

Murphy also tied the league tournament record for doubles in a single game with three.

The loss eliminates Georgia Southern from the 2006 SoCon Baseball Championship.

Western Carolina moves on to face the winner of the #5The Citadel-#7 UNC Greensboro contest at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night at Riley Park. Georgia Southern concludes its season with a 31-27 overall record.

The inning’s scoring began with a solo home run by Western Carolina’s Jason Haynes off Georgia Southern starting pitcher Josh Lairsey. The homer was the second of the campaign for Haynes and only his third extra-base knock in 2006.

Barrett Shaft was hit by a pitch one batter later, giving way to Jonathan Greene, who promptly doubled down the left field line to advance Shaft and place two more Catamounts in scoring position. The two-bagger by Greene allowed the WCU third baseman to extend his hitting streak to 12 straight.

Steven Strausbaugh plated his first RBI of the contest next, as he reached base and scored Shaft on a fielding error by Georgia Southern centerfielder Chris Hollis.

From the sixth spot Trey McDaniel then singled to centerfield to send Strausbaugh to the dish and give the Catamounts a 3-0 lead.

Murphy doubled off the wall in right field next to allow McDaniel to move to third base. McDaniel was able to scamper home for a 4-0 Catamount lead on a fielding error by Georgia Southern right fielder Mike Economos.

The fourth run obtained by the Catamounts prompted Georgia Southern head coach Rodney Hennon to pull Lairsey in favor of A.J. Battisto. Lairsey left the contest having pitched one-third of an inning, allowing three earned runs on four hits.

The arrival of Battisto did not truncate the Western Carolina attack in the inning, as the Catamounts were able to score three more runs, ending with Haynes acquiring his second RBI of the inning on his second at-bat.

Western Carolina ended its first inning with seven runs on seven hits.

McDaniel padded the Catamounts lead in the top of the fourth inning on a solo dinger over the right field wall to give WCU an 8-0 lead.

The Eagles were able to garner their first score of the contest in the bottom of the fifth inning. Brent Pelfrey was able to cross the dish after Chris Hollis grounded out into fielder’s choice double play opportunity that Hollis negated by beating out the throw to first base to set the game at 8-1.

Georgia Southern added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Pelfrey sacrifice fly RBI to the Western Carolina leftfielder. Jeremiah Parker crossed the plate for the Eagles to make the game 8-2.

The Catamounts scored four more runs in the top of the eighth inning to go ahead 12-2, with one of the runs being plated by Murphy to secure his only RBI of the day.

Pelfrey commandeered his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the eighth, singling through the left side to score Chris Shehan.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Western Carolina again extended its lead to double digits as Andy John doubled in Shaft to set the game at the eventual final score of 13-3.