SoCon Baseball Recaps for March 4, 2008
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 28, SAVANNAH STATE 6
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. --- Michael Kohn belted a three-run homer and drove in five runs, while Mike Hentz, Gabe Marchant and Matt Mansilla added homers as the College of Charleston defeated Savannah State, 26-8, before 278 rain-soaked fans at Patriots Point Stadium on Tuesday.
Charleston, which plays host to Charleston Southern at 5:00 on Wednesday, improved to 7-2 on the season. Savannah State fell to 6-3. The start of the game was delayed 2-hours, 55-minutes because of rain.
Kohn hit his fifth homer of the season, a three-run shot to center, to give Charleston a 3-0 first inning lead. Kohn's two-run double to left center in the third inning extended Charleston's lead to 10-3.
Hentz's two-run homer to left center in the fifth was his second of the season and gave Charleston a 14-3 advantage. Marchant and Mansilla added solo homers to centerfield in the sixth inning. Austin Morgan added three hits and three RBI for Charleston.
Casey Luchese (1-0) picked up the win allowing four runs, three earned, with 13 strikeouts over six innings. Robert Jones (0-2) suffered the loss surrendering eight runs, five earned, on four hits over two innings of work.
Brandon Javis led the Tigers with four hits, including a ninth inning homer and three RBI. The Tigers' Brett Pointer added an eighth inning solo homer to left, his third of the season.
ELON 10, HIGH POINT 0
ELON, N.C. -- Freshman Jimmy Reyes threw a complete game shutout while fellow freshman Neal Pritchard drove in three during a 3-for-3 day as the Elon Phoenix defeated the High Point Panthers 10-0 in a game shortened to 4 1/2 innings by rain. Elon has now won 10 consecutive games for the first time since a 14-game winning streak in 2002 and is 10-0. High Point fell to 3-6 on the season.
Following two scoreless frames, the Phoenix sent 11 men to the plate and erupted for six runs in the bottom of the third. Pritchard led off the inning with his second homer of the season by sending a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right. Mike Lobacz followed with a walk before scoring on Cory Harrilchak's double down the rightfield line. Chris Dove's double off the wall in right scored Harrilchak to push the score to 3-0. After Dove went to third on a failed pick-off attempt, Donny Jobe grounded out allowing Dove to score. With two outs, Bennett Davis connected for his second home run of the year, a solo shot to left-center. Dallas Tarleton kept things alive with a single before Ryan Adams walked. On his second trip to the dish in the inning, Pritchard singled up the middle to plate Tarleton with the sixth run.
The Phoenix added four more in the fourth inning. Harrilchak singled to start the at bat and came around to score on Jobe's double down the leftfield line. That double extended Jobe's hitting streak to 10 games. Davis would later single to center to plate Dove who had been hit by a pitch. Adams and Pritchard each delivered RBI singles to cap the scoring.
Reyes (2-0) threw all 5.0 innings and allowed just four hits while striking out a career-best five hitters.
Mike Caldwell (1-1) took the loss after allowing seven runs on seven hits in 3.0 innings of work. Sean Murphy came on and surrendered three runs on four hits in 1.0 inning of action.
Davis contributed a 2-for-3, two-run, two-RBI performance while Harrilchak finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored and one RBI.
Jeff Cowan went 2-for-3, collecting two of the four Panther hits on the afternoon.
Elon will return to Latham Park to take on the UNC Wilmington Seahawks at 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
GEORGIA TECH 4, WESTERN CAROLINA 1
ATLANTA, Ga. - Western Carolina took an early lead, but was unable to hold on for the win, falling to No. 19 Georgia Tech, 4-1, Tuesday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.
WCU (3-5) got on the board first in the top of the second inning on a solo home run by J.C. Lyons' over the left center field wall. It was the junior's third home run this year, which is good for tops on the team.
Georgia Tech (8-1) responded in their half of the frame when, after running the count from 0-2 to a full 3-2, shortshop Derek Dietrich turned on a Drew Saberhagen pitch and put it over the wall in center field, scoring two runs and giving GT the 2-1 lead, which they would never relinquish.
The Yellow Jackets put across two more runs in the rest of the game to push the final score to 4-1. In the third inning, Jason Haniger followed his leadoff double with a stolen base to move to third, then scored on a fielder's choice. Haniger then scored his second run of the game on a wild pitch that got away from WCU catcher Blake Murphy.
Saberhagen, who was saddled with the loss, threw 7.0 impressive innings on the day, only allowing a single earned run on six hits while striking out five. After coming on in the eigth inning in relief, sophomore Chris Masters struck out one batter, while giving up one run and one hit.
Catamount first baseman Tyler Kirkpatrick led the team with two hits on the day, with Brent Greer, Ryan Mathews, and Lyons each recording a single base knock in the game.
THE CITADEL 4, USC UPSTATE 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Sid Fallaw’s sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the 12th inning drove in Chris Swauger from third base as The Citadel topped USC Upstate in a marathon day of baseball, 4-3, at a Riley Park crowd of 409.
The 12-inning game ended a 19-inning marathon on the day for the two teams as they completed the game halted by weather on Tuesday. The Citadel took that game, 10-1. The Bulldogs are now 3-0 in extra-inning games this season, with all three wins coming at Riley Park.
The Citadel (6-3) tied the game in the bottom of the eighth and again in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. USC Upstate (4-6) allowed the Bulldogs to put runners in scoring position in both the 11th and 12th innings.
Matt Reifsnider (3-0), last week’s Southern Conference Pitcher of the Week, recorded his third win in the Bulldogs’ last five games, throwing 4.0 innings and allowing only one run ? off a wild pitch ? while striking out four.
Justin Hayes (0-1) took the loss for the Spartans after pitching 4.2 innings and giving up three of the Bulldogs’ four runs in the game. Hayes allowed eight hits while striking out three and did not walk any Bulldog batters.
Upstate took the early lead in the first as Casey Rivers scored from third off a Phillip Morgan sacrifice fly to left field with one out.
The Spartans lone unearned run of the game came in the sixth as USC Upstate loaded the bases as Matt Arnold threw away a bunted ball to first with runners on first and second, giving Upstate bases loaded with no outs. Raymond Copenhaver relieved Chris McGuiness and allowed Eric Guillen a fielder’s choice to first with Upstate’s Andrew Runion scoring on an error by catcher Richard Jones.
The Citadel got on the board in the bottom of the seventh as Kyle Jordan hit an RBI single to left center, scoring Bryan Altman from second. The Bulldogs knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth as Sonny Meade hit his second home run of the day, a solo shot to left center field.
Upstate had runners on first and second with one out before successfully advancing them on a double steal. Reifsnider then caught Casey Rivers looking as Upstate faced two outs. Upstate sent Keith Bisgounis across the plate as a Reifsnider wild pitch allowed the Spartans to take a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, Altman lead off with a single to center. Matt Arnold laid down a sacrifice bunt to third base, sending Altman to second. Reifsnider then stepped to the plate and drove the first offering into center field for an RBI single as Altman scored from second.
AUBURN 8, DAVIDSON 7
AUBURN, ALA. ? Tony Caldwell drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to plate the game-winning run as Auburn scored three times in its last at-bat to squeak past Davidson 8-7 in baseball action at Plainsman Park Wednesday night.
With Auburn trailing 7-5, the heart of the Tigers’ order came up to face Davidson freshman reliever Mike Frongello in the bottom of the ninth. Justin Hargett led off the inning with a walk, and Mike Bianucci followed with a single up the middle.
The Wildcats recorded the first out of the frame on a fielder’s choice, but Joseph Sanders drove in Hargett with a single to make the score 7-6. After the runners moved to second and third following a double steal, Davidson freshman third baseman Matt Ray tried to come home on a Kevin Patterson ground ball, but his throw was errant, allowing Auburn to tie the score 7-7. Brian Fletcher was hit by a pitch to load the bases and set the table for Caldwell’s walk.
The ?Cats cut into a 3-0 Auburn lead in the top of the third inning. Ray walked and scored on a Hugh Eden double down the left field line. Brett Shore traded places with Eden on a double to right center field to make the margin 3-2.
The Tigers scored a run in the bottom of the inning, but Davidson notched five runs in the fourth to open a 7-4 cushion. Jay Honeycutt was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Tommy Piacenza stroked his first home run of the year to tie the score. After a pair of Auburn errors, Shore plated a run with a two-out single, and Zach Kayne followed with a two-run double to cap the rally.
After Auburn scored a run with a pair of doubles in the bottom of the fourth, Davidson freshman pitchers Mac Hunter, Matt Sliwiak and Frongello combined to retire 11 of the next 14 batters, allowing just three walks, to preserve the 7-5 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.
Meanwhile, Auburn’s bullpen did its job to keep the Wildcats scoreless for the final five innings. Davidson managed just three hits, all singles, with two coming from Weiss and one from Kayne. With Preseason All-SoCon closer Matt Webb on the shelf with an injury, the Wildcats tried to get one more inning out of Frongello.
Shore, Kayne and Weiss each collected two hits for Davidson, which returns to action Friday, March 7, when the Wildcats host Quinnipiac at 6 p.m. at Wilson Field.