SoCon Baseball Recaps for April 19, 2008
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 17, ELON 1
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Brandon Sizemore homered and drove in six runs and Jake Goldberg pitched eight strong innings as the College of Charleston cruised to a 17-1 win over Elon in Southern Conference baseball action before 524 at Patriots Point Stadium on Saturday.
Charleston improved to 26-13 overall and 9-5 in league play. The Phoenix fell to 29-12 and 13-4. The rubber game of the series is Sunday at 1:00.
Sizemore's two-out, three-run double in the first gave Charleston a 3-0 lead. Sizemore belted his eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot to center, in the fifth that stretched Charleston's lead to 7-1. His RBI single to left center in the sixth gave the Cougars a 9-1 advantage.
Goldberg (2-2) needed just 106 pitches to earn the win. Goldberg allowed a run on just four hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Daniel Britt (3-2) was the starter and loser for Elon.
Charleston's Austin Morgan led off the bottom of the seventh with his first homer of the season, a line drive to center that gave Charleston an 11-1 lead. Charleston's Jeremie Tice, who became the 12th player in school history to scored five runs in a game, was 3-for-3 with a pair of walks.
Mike Hentz collected three hits and Stuart Haywood and Morgan added two each as part of Charleston's 17-hit attack.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 20, DAVIDSON 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Kyle Kamppi allowed just two runs and struck out six in five innings to lead Georgia Southern to a 20-2 SoCon baseball victory over Davidson at Wilson Field Saturday afternoon.
A.J. Wirnsberger was 4-for-6 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs for the Eagles (20-17, 7-7 SoCon), while Ty Wright went 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.
Zach Kayne led the Davidson (9-24, 1-13 SoCon) offense with a 2-for-4 outing, and Danny Weiss collected two hits.
For the second straight game, Wright led off with a solo home run over the wall in left field, and Chris Shehan drove in a run with a triple. Shehan scored on a sacrifice fly by Jeremiah Parker as Georgia Southern jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
The Eagles added five in the second with a couple of good breaks to open an 8-0 cushion. After Phillip Porter plated Jeremy Beckham with a single to center field, Griffin Benedict drove in a pair of runs by fisting a ball into shallow left field with two outs.
Parker followed with an RBI double on a ground ball that kicked off second base and into left field. Wirnsberger capped the rally with a two-run homer over the right field wall.
Davidson picked up a run in the fourth inning as Chase FitzPatrick, Chris FitzPatrick singled with one out, and Tommy Piacenza followed with an RBI base hit. The Wildcats couldn't continue the rally and wound up leaving two runners on base in the frame.
After Wright delivered a two-run double in the top of the fifth, Hugh Eden led off the home half of the inning with a double, and Kayne scored him with a single to make the score 10-2.
A two-run homer by Wirnsberger, and Kevin Bowle's two-run bloop single with two outs helped provide the Eagles six runs in the sixth and a 16-2 cushion.
The Wildcats and Eagles will finish the series at Wilson Field Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
UNC GREENSBORO 9, THE CITADEL 3
GREENSBORO, NC ? The Bulldogs came out of the gate first with a two-run lead, but four-run rallies in the fourth and the ninth pushed UNC Greensboro out in front and onto an eventual 9-3 victory Saturday afternoon at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C.
Following the game two victory, the Spartans improved to an overall 24-13 record with a conference mark of 10-4. The Citadel dropped to 22-17 with a league record of 10-7.
The Citadel held a two-run lead heading into the fourth inning, but a four-run rally pushed UNCG past the Bulldogs, 4-2. Catcher Sean Snell drifted a high, fly ball just past the dirt in right center. The ball was touched, but uncaught as Greg Feltes safely crossed the plate. Two bats later, left fielder Drew Gehringer rocked a bases loaded triple to the right center warning track to give the Spartans the 4-2 lead.
UNCG upped their lead by one more in the sixth as second baseman Tim Carrier dropped into home off of a Gehringer sacrifice fly to left field.
In the home half of the seventh, the Bulldogs chipped the lead down by one with a Sonny Meade single to centerfield.
Already holding a 5-3 lead heading into the ninth inning, UNCG went on their second four-run rally of the game beginning with back-to-back walks. A wild pitch allowed Feltes to slide in home and then back-to-back singles by Carrier and Snell gave UNCG the six-run lead and the eventual 9-3 victory.
The Spartans Sean Snell was 1-for-3 with two runs and a pair of RBI. Drew Gehringer tallied a game high four RBIs ? three of which came off of his fourth inning triple. The Citadel’s Chris Swauger went 3-for4 with an RBI and a run.
UNCG starter Wes McCall (1-3) nabbed his first win of the season after 6.1 innings of work . While on the mound, McCall struck out three and walked just one. The Bulldogs’ Wes Wrenn (4-4) was handed the loss after giving up five of UNCG’s total nine runs. He struck out just one while walking four.
UNCG and The Citadel face-off once again on Sunday at 2pm at Riley Park for the weekend finale. The Spartans will remain at home all next week as they host Duke on Tuesday and NC State on Wednesday followed by a three-game weekend conference series with the league-leading Elon Phoenix.
FURMAN 6, WOFFORD 5 (10 innings)
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Matt Hemingway’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted Furman to a 6-5 win over Wofford in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday evening at Furman Stadium.
Hemingway’s game winning hit through the left side off Wofford’s Michael Gilmartin plated Chris Cowart from third base to give Furman (22-14, 8-6 SoCon) its sixth consecutive league victory and 10th triumph in its last 13 games.
Cowart, who had entered the game as a pinch runner following Reese Wade’s one-out single, advanced to second on Jay Jackson’s infield hit off Terrier reliever John Cornely and over to third after Jackson was retired on a force play at second base. Hemingway then stroked a grounder through the left side for the game winner.
The loss was the sixth in the last seven games for Wofford (20-19, 4-10 SoCon).
Hemingway’s decisive hit came after Wofford appeared primed to take the lead in the top of the inning. Neil Robinette led off the Terrier 10th with a triple to right center field, but he was stranded there after Furman’s Nick Karow fanned Mo Seay swinging and Emre Caglayan looking.
Paladin second baseman Marcus Rose then ranged far to his right to snare a sharp grounder off the bat of Josh McKinney to end the threat.
Wofford had tied the game at 5-5 in the ninth on Shane Kirkley’s sacrifice fly to center field that scored Kyle Behrendt.
The Terriers built a 4-0 lead behind the strong work of starting pitcher Ben Austin, who shut out Furman and limited the Paladins to just two hits over the first five inings. But the senior right hander ran into trouble in the sixth, surrenderinng a two-out double to Reese Wade followed by a three-run home run to right center field by Jay Jackson that made it a 4-3 game. Brian Harrision kept the inning alive with a double to right field, and later came around to score the tying run on the first of two Hemingway two-out RBI singles in the contest.
Furman took its first lead of the game in the seventh on Ryan Lee’s infield grounder that plated Rose.
Ian Parry, who came on in the fifth for Paladin starter Mason Smith, kept Wofford’s bats in check over 3 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out six. He was lifted for Karow in the ninth with a 5-4 lead, but Karow hit Behrendt to start the inning. After moving to second on an infield grounder and to third on a wild pitch, Behrendt scored the game tying run on Kirkley’s deep fly to center field.
Heminway topped Furman’s attack with a 3-for-5, two RBI performance. Rose, Wade, and Jackson followed with two hits each.
Wofford, which claimed a narrow 13-12 advantage in hits, was led at the place by Behrendt, Gilmartin, Caglayan, McKinney, and Sterling Dye with two hits apiece. Kirkley also contributed three RBI, inclulding two sacrifice flies.
Karow (3-0) picked up the victory, and the loss went to John Cornely (0-6).
Furman goes for the series sweep on Sunday in a 1:00 p.m. game.
APPALACHIAN STATE-WESTERN CAROLINA RAINED OUT
BOONE, N.C. - Saturday's baseball game between Appalachian State and Western Carolina has been postponed due to rain. The game will be made up on Sunday as part of a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at ASU's Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.