COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 11, DAVIDSON 5
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Chris Campbell belted two homers and Nick Chigges pitched six strong innings leading College of Charleston to an 11-5 win over Davidson in the opener of its three-games Southern Conference series before 233 rain-soaked fans at Patriots Point Field on Thursday.
Charleston, which remains in a first place tie with Western Carolina with two games left in the regular season, improved to 38-16 overall and 19-6 in league play. Davidson fell to 18-32 and 7-18. Both teams weathered a 1-hour, 40-minute rain delay in the bottom of the sixth inning. The series concludes with a doubleheader at 3:00 on Friday. WCU beat Georgia Southern, 4-1.
Davidson grabbed a 1-0 first inning lead. After Alden Crissey singled and Rob Wilson walked with two outs, Blake Osborn drove in Crissey for the game's first run with a single to center.
Oliver Marol tied the game at 1-1 when he led off the bottom of the first with his seventh homer of the season down the left field line. Campbell's first homer was a one-out solo shot to left in the first that gave Charleston a 2-1 lead. Campbell's second solo homer was his 10th of the season and came with two outs in the fourth to extend Charleston's lead to 6-2.
Michael Harrington's 11th homer of the season was a three-run blast to right in the sixth that gave Charleston a 9-2 advantage.
Davidson's Zach Kayne belted a three-run homer in the ninth, his sixth of the season, for the final margin.
Chigges (11-0) picked up the win working the first six innings allowing two runs, one earned, on just four hits with six strikeouts. Mike Lynn worked the final three innings for his second save of the season. Rob Wilson (2-9) suffered the loss surrendering seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits with six strikeouts over the first five innings.
WESTERN CAROLINA 4, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Staked to an early lead by a two-run home run to straightaway center field by senior John Ingram, Western Carolina starting pitcher Tyler Sexton struck out eight Eagles with junior reliever Greg Holland striking out the final two batters in the ninth to earn his career-best 10th save of the season as the Catamounts downed Georgia Southern, 4-1, Thursday night in the final Southern Conference regular season series opener at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium.
Sexton (8-2) worked seven scoreless innings for the Catamounts, scattering six base hits with the eight K’s and no walks to secure his team-best eighth victory. Freshman reliever Chris Masters tossed an inning an a third, allowing one earned run on two hits, one of which was a solo homerun, with three strikeouts. The run allowed by Masters snapped his streak of 15-consecutive scoreless innings of relief, which included 21 strikeouts. Holland closed out the game, pitching two thirds of a frame in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts to garner the save.
All told, Western (39-15, 19-6 SoCon) pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts in the win.
Coupled with the College of Charleston’s rain-delayed 11-5 win over Davidson in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., on Thursday, Western remains in a first-place tie with the Cougars. CofC hosts the Wildcats in double-header action on Friday beginning at 3:00 pm at Patriot’s Point.
The Catamounts scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning and added one in the seventh to lead 4-0 before the solo homer in the top of the GSU ninth prevented WCU from tallying back-to-back shutout victories (downed High Point 4-0 on Tuesday night in Cullowhee).
Junior Jonathan Greene led off the home portion of the second inning by poking a single through the left side in front of Ingram, who blasted a 0-1 curve ball over the fence in dead center field to put the Catamounts on top, 2-0. A two-out double to right by freshman Brent Greer put a runner in scoring position for junior Barrett Shaft, who singled through the left side to score Greer for the 3-0 advantage.
In the seventh, Shaft singled up the middle before junior Blake Murphy legged out a bloop-double to shallow right center, moving Shaft to third on the perfectly executed hit-and-run play. The next batter, junior Steven Strausbaugh, drove in his 50th run of the season with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field to conclude the scoring for the Catamounts.
Georgia Southern (32-25, 12-13 SoCon) attempted to mount a rally in the top of the ninth as outfielder Jeremiah Parker took a 1-0 offering from Masters deep to left center to end the shutout. After a walk to Eagle designated hitter Justin Klinger, Masters responded by striking out the final batter he faced before giving way to Holland who completed the striking out of the side to save the win.
Four Catamounts posted two-hit games as Ingram, Shaft, Murphy and Greer each went 2-for-4 at the plate. Senior transfer Kenny Smith legged out his 22nd double of the season as a part of a 1-for-4 night and now has hit safely in 20 of his last 21 ball games.
Eagle starter Aaron Eubanks (3-4) was saddled with the loss, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts in six innings of work. Right fielder Mike Economos led GSU with a 2-for-3 night at the plate before being replaced in the field in the latter innings, with Chris Shehan also posting two hits on a 2-for-4 outing.
FURMAN 4, THE CITADEL 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Charlie Bailes’ two-out, two-run walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning powered Furman to a 4-2 win over The Citadel in the opener of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series Friday night at Furman Stadium.
Bailes, a redshirt freshman designated hitter, drilled the first pitch from Bulldog reliever Justin Smith over the left field fence to score Will Stembridge ahead of him and give Furman (18-34, 10-15 SoCon) its fourth straight victory and third win in the last four meetings with arch-rival The Citadel (29-24, 11-14 SoCon). The triumph moves Furman to within a game of the Bulldogs for seventh place in the league standings and within two games of fifth place Appalachian State and Georgia Southern, both of which dropped Thursday evening league games to fall to 12-13 in conference play.
Bailes’ clout, his first of the season, made a winner of Paladin starting pitcher Matt Klinker (5-5), who threw his most impressive game of the season, going the route and allowing only three hits and no walks while striking out six.
Klinker’s complete game, the first by a Paladin this season, lowered his earned run average to 2.17 over his last four appearances, spanning 29.0 innings. Two of his three hits allowed were solo home runs by Matt Arnold and Chance Smith, but the Paladin righthander proved especially dominant in the later innings, retiring the final 10 batters he faced and notching all six of his strikeouts after one out in the fith inning.
The Citadel’s Wes Wrenn also threw effectively, working six inning and yielding just five hits and a run while striking out four and walking two before departing with a 2-1 lead.
Furman tied the game at 2-2 in the seventh after Joey Rodgers was hit by a pitch with two outs, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error by Bulldog catcher Richard Jones. Following a walk by Connor Lind, Rodgers scored from third before Lind was tagged out in a rundown while attempting to steal second.
In the ninth, Stembridge bounced a one-out single up the middle. After Paul Ortenzo struck out, Bailes drilled Smith’s first offering to him over the left center field fence for the game winner.
Smith (6-4) absorbed the loss after working 2 2/3 innings and giving up two hits and three runs, only two of which were earned. He walked one and struck out three.
Jay Jackson had two of Furman’s seven hits, including an RBI single in the first inning off Wrenn that staked the Paladins to a 1-0 lead.
The Citadel knotted the game in the fourth on Smith’s solo home run to left field, and the Bulldogs went up 2-1 in the fifth on a two-out home run to right field by Matt Arnold, who had two of The Citadel’s three hits. Arnold’s roundtripper, however, would prove to be the final base hit for the Bulldogs as Klinker faced the minimum of 13 batters the rest of the way, erasing the only base runner allowed during that stretch on a double play in the sixth inning.
UNC GREENSBORO 8, APPALACHIAN STATE 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? Senior Ryan Falcon pitched eight scoreless innings to lead UNC Greensboro to an 8-0 win over Appalachian State in game one of a three-game Southern Conference series on Thursday evening at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Falcon scattered just six hits and struck out five en route to his seventh win on the season. Senior Nick Starnes allowed one hit in an inning of relief for the Spartans.
Starter Jason Rook (6-6) took the loss for Appalachian State (30-24, 12-13 SoCon) despite striking out a game-high eight batters, which ties his season-high. Rook gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings on the mound.
UNCG (28-26, 14-11 SoCon) scored a run in the bottom of the third to take an early advantage. Junior Greg Feltes sent a two-out double to left-center to score Matt Gaski, who led off the inning with a double to the same spot.
The Spartans picked up two runs and took a 3-0 lead in the fifth. Feltes recorded his second two-bagger and RBI of the night before Sean Snell hit his first triple of the season deep to right-center, bringing Feltes in for the run. UNCG added another run in the sixth when Corey Overholtzer scored on a Gaski sacrifice fly, making 4-0 in favor of the Spartans.
UNCG tacked on four runs in the seventh to take the eight-run advantage. With runners on the corners and two-outs, Overholtzer laced his second hit of the night through the right side and plated Feltes, who singled earlier. Junior Tim Carrier capped the scoring for the Spartans in the inning with a three-run home run over the left-center wall, his fifth of the year.
Feltes led the Spartan offense, finishing 3-for-4 with two RBI. Catcher Adam Deleo went 3-for-3 with a run scored, while Carrier and Overholtzer recorded two hits each.