SoCon Baseball recaps for April 20, 2008
DAVIDSON 7, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 6
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Hugh Eden drove in Tommy Piacenza with a single to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and help lift Davidson to a 7-6 SoCon baseball victory over Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at Wilson Field.
Matt Ray ignited the rally with a single, and Brett Shore single with one out put runners on first and third. Eden's single gave the 'Cats a 5-4 lead, and Zach Kayne followed with an RBI single. Danny Weiss capped the rally with a sacrifice fly that plated Eden and made the score 7-4.
Georgia Southern loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the ninth and pushed two runs across. With runners on the corners and one out, Matt Webb induced a 6-4-3 double play from Eagle leftfielder Chris Shehan, who had three hits on the afternoon including a homer, to end the game.
Brant West gave up just six hits and three earned runs while striking out two in a quality start for Davidson (10-24, 2-13 SoCon). Andy Moye gave up five hits and two runs while fanning six for Georgia Southern (20-18, 7-8 SoCon).
Shore finished the game 4-for-4 and scored two runs, and Kayne was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Webb, who started the game at shortstop, got the victory on the hill and went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI from the plate.
Trailing 4-2, the Wildcats rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game. Shore led off with a single, and Kayne's one-out single put runners at first and third.
Weiss plated a run with a sacrifice fly, and Chase FitzPatrick put runners at second and third with a two-out double down the left field line. Webb followed by smacking a ball down the third-base line, where A.J. Wirnsberger made a diving stop but couldn't get the sophomore at first as Kayne scored the tying run.
Chris FitzPatrick led of the second inning with a walk, and Webb followed with a double. Sam Payne scored a run with a one-out single, and Piacenza drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to give Davidson a 2-0 lead.
The Eagles came back with four runs in the top of the third. Brian Pierce was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and Kevin Bowles followed with a double. After Ty Wright plated a run with a sacrifice fly, Shehan drilled a two-run homer with two outs to make the score 3-2. Jeremiah Parker added an RBI double after Griffin Benedict reached on an error, leaving the margin at 4-2.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 13, ELON 6
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Brandon Sizemore homered for the second straight day and Austin Morgan celebrated his 21st birthday with four hits as the College of Charleston downed Elon, 13-6, in the rubber game of its three-game Southern Conference series before 583 at Patriots Point Stadium on Sunday.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 27-13 overall and 10-5 in league play. Elon fell to 29-13 and 13-5. The Cougars play at nationally ranked Coastal Carolina at 6:00 on Tuesday. Elon plays host to Wake Forest on Tuesday at 7:00.
Sizemore, who collected seven hits and drove in 10 runs in the series, belted his ninth homer of the season with two outs in the fourth that gave Charleston the lead for good at 6-4.
Morgan had a single to right in the second and an RBI single to right in the third that closed Elon's lead to 4-3. He added a double in the fifth and a double off the left field wall in the seventh.
Clay McCord and Mike Hentz added three hits each for Charleston as part of its 15-hit attack. Hentz drove in four runs and Sizemore drove in three.
For Elon, Bennett Davis collected two hits including an RBI double, while teammate Harry Austin had two hits and scored two runs.
Danny Meszaros (3-3) picked up the win in relief allowing a run on just two hits with eight strikeouts over the final 4 2/3 innings. Kenneth Ferrer (3-3) suffered the loss surrendering six runs, five earned, on nine hits over the first 3 2/3 innings.
FURMAN 13, WOFFORD 9
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Matt Hemingway drove in four runs and Furman took advantage of five Wofford errors to plate five unearned runs en route to a 13-9 victory in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Furman Stadium.
The win completed the second consecutive three-game series sweep for Furman (23-14, 9-6 SoCon), which last weekend swept the College of Charleston. The Paladins have won seven straight league games and have gone 11-3 over the their last 14 contests.
The loss was the seventh in the last eight games for Wofford (20-20, 4-11 SoCon), which has dropped six straight in league action.
Hemingway’s two-run single highlighted a four-run Paladin second inning, and the junior catcher added another two-run single in a five-run eighth to help Furman break open a tight game and cruise to the win. On the weekend the Alpharetta, Ga., product went 7-for-13 at the plate and drove in eight runs.
Furman pounded out 15 hits in the series finale, with Reese Wade leading the way with a 3-for-3 performance that raised his team leading batting average to .474. Marcus Rose went 3-for-5 and scored two runs, and Jay Jackson, Furman’s Friday night winning pitcher, collected two hits, drove in a pair, and scored two runs. Connor Lind also had two hits, and Bobby Hubbard drove in three runs for the Paladins.
Wofford tallied 12 hits in the contest, led by Sterling Dye’s 3-for-4 performance. Josh McKinney drove in three runs on a three-run double to right center field in the sixth inning that tied the game at 7-7.
Chris Newell (2-3) earned in the win in relief of Paladin starter Kevin Gaid, who went 5 1/3 innings. Newell tossed 2 2/3 innings, surrendering four hits, a runs and three walks. The duo combined to record 11 strikeouts, which helped offset five walks.
The loss went to Terrier reliever Pete Noordsy (1-2), who was victimized by an error in the seventh leading to an unearned run that gave Furman an 8-7 lead.
The Paladins’ decisive five-run eighth came at the expense of Terrier right-hander Chip Hunt, who saw Furman register back-to-back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases with no outs. Facing a drawn in infield, Rob Fondu singled solidly to right field to plate the inning’s first run. Two batters later Jay Jackson stroked a two-run double down the left field line to strech the lead to 11-7, and with two outs Hemingway finished off the frame with a two-run single up the middle to make it 13-7.
Spencer Hale allowed a two-out, two-run home in the ninth to Mo Seay.
THE CITADEL 8, UNC GREENSBORO 7
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Sonny Meade hit a game-winning, walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the ninth scored Bryan Altman as The Citadel edged UNC Greensboro, 8-7, in front of 861 at Riley Park Sunday afternoon.
The Citadel (23-17, 11-7 Southern) narrowly avoided their first sweep at home to UNC Greensboro (24-14, 10-5 SoCon) since 1998 as the Bulldogs pulled out the win after holding a 6-1 lead early in the game after a pair of home runs by Chris Swauger and Chris McGuiness.
Matt Reifsnider (4-2) earned the win after not allowing a hit in one-third of an inning on the mound. Reifsnider entered for Matt Talley, who went 2.1 innings in relief and allowed one run on four hits.
James White (5-1) was credited with his first loss of the season after allowing the winning run on two hits, officially pitching 0.0 innings and facing both Altman and Meade in the ninth.
The Citadel took the early 6-1 lead through the first three innings of the hot bats of Swauger and McGuiness. McGuiness hit a three-run home run around the left field foul pole in the bottom of the first and Swauger sent his 34th career home run over the left field fence ? a two-run shot ? in the second inning.
McGuiness hit a one out double in the third and eventually scored off an RBI double to Matt Arnold to give the Bulldogs the 6-1 advantage.
UNC Greensboro stormed back, scoring three runs in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to take the 7-6 lead. Asher Wojciechowski allowed back-to-back RBI hits after walking two to load the bases with one out in the sixth prior as the Spartans cut the Bulldog lead to 6-4. Raymond Copenhaver then entered and forced the next two batters to ground out to end the inning.
Copenhaver allowed back-to-back base hits to start the seventh and eventually was relieve by Talley, who allowed one more run off an RBI single before getting out of the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Meade led off with a double to the right field corner. After McGuiness struck out, Richard Jones grounded out to second, allowing Meade to advance to third on the play. UNC Greensboro’s Warren Slack then threw a wild pitch in the dirt, allowing Meade to race home to tie the game.
The Spartans threatened in the top of the ninth as Tim Carrier laced a two-out double to center field off of Tally before Reifsnider entered. Reifsnider entered and had Sean Snell pinned to a 0-2 count before eventually walking the right fielder. Reifsnider then forced Corey Overholzter, who is hitting .339 on the season, to ground out to second to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Altman led off with a single to left field before Meade laced a double down the right field line on a 2-0 count to give The Citadel the win.
APPALACHIAN STATE 12, WESTERN CAROLINA 8
WESTERN CAROLINA 5, APPALACHIAN STATE 4
BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University baseball split Sunday’s doubleheader with Western Carolina, winning the first game, 12-8, and losing a heart-breaking nightcap, 5-4 in 10 innings, at ASU’s Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. With the split, Appalachian took the three-game Southern Conference series from its archrival, two games to one.
Appalachian (20-21, 5-10 SoCon) was just one strike away from its first-ever three-game series sweep over Western Carolina, but WCU rallied from a 4-0 deficit to salvage one game on the weekend. Back-to-back home runs from Wes Hobson and David Rubinstein in the fourth highlighted a mid-inning outburst that staked ASU to the 4-0 lead.
Thanks in large part to a spectacular effort on the mound from starter Josh Dowdy, the Mountaineers took a 4-1 advantage into the eighth inning. Western Carolina (18-20, 7-8 SoCon) rallied for two runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to 4-3 then put together a two-out rally in the ninth to knot it at 4-4.
Making his second appearance of the day and third of the weekend, ASU closer Garrett Sherrill retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth before walking WCU catcher Stephen Nataro. Sherrill then moved within one strike of closing it out against leadoff hitter Nick Liles, but Liles drilled a 3-2 pitch over Smith’s head in center field for a triple that brought in pinch-runner Matt Johns with the tying run.
The game went into extra innings and the Catamounts registered back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with one out in the 10th. WCU’s Jason Haynes then laid down a safety squeeze bunt that ASU first baseman Brett Stewart read perfectly, but WCU’s Reid Rollison barely beat Stewart’s throw to the plate to score the go-ahead run.
Western’s Chris Masters closed out a masterpiece in relief when he sat the Apps down in order for the fourth-straight inning in the 10th. Masters retired all 12 batters he faced out of the bullpen to move to 4-3 on the season. ASU’s Zach Quate suffered his second tough-luck loss of the week to fall to 3-2.
The heart-wrenching loss put a damper on an otherwise extraordinary weekend for the Mountaineers, who got a hit from every player in the order to thump the Catamounts in Sunday’s opener. Jason Altenhof led the Apps’ 15-hit explosion with a 3-for-4, two-run, two-RBI effort. Third baseman Isaac Harrow provided the big blast with a three-run homer in the fourth that gave the Mountaineers a 9-4 lead against preseason all-conference pitcher Drew Saberhagen.
Jason Rook picked up his first win of the season by limiting WCU to two runs and striking out four in three innings of relief.