SoCon Baseball Recaps for April 25, 2008
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 12, THE CITADEL 2
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- Righty Jake Goldberg equaled his career-high with eight strikeouts and Brandon Sizemore homered for the fourth consecutive game leading the College of Charleston to a 12-2 win over The Citadel in the opener of its three-game Southern Conference baseball series before 1,115 at Patriots Point Stadium on Friday.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 28-14 overall and 11-5 in league play. The Bulldogs fell to 23-18 and 11-8. Game two of the series is at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The Cougars scored four times in the third inning to grab a 5-1 advantage. Austin Morgan had a suicide squeeze bunt that drove in Stuart Haywood, Sizemore had an RBI double and Jeremie Tice capped the inning with a two-run single to center.
The Cougars added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, then scored three times in the sixth to take a 10-1 lead. The Citadel got a solo homer from Chris Swauger leading off the eighth that cut Charleston's lead to 10-2. It was his sixth homer of the season and it extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
Sizemore's two-run homer to left in the eighth was his 11th of the season and closed out the scoring. It was just the 15th homer allowed by The Citadel's pitching staff this season, the fewest of any SoCon team.
Goldberg (3-2) worked the first eight innings allowing two runs on just six hits with only one walk. Matt Crim (5-4) was the starter and loser for The Citadel surrendering 10 runs, six earned, on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings of work.
Sizemore, who earned SoCon Player of the Week honors last week, finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI. Haywood added three hits and scored three times.
The Citadel got two hits from Conrad Kellahan.
APPALACHIAN STATE 10, DAVIDSON 5
BOONE, N.C. ? Freshman Sam Payne was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, but Davidson (10-26, 2-14) dropped the opener of a three-game SoCon series 10-5 at Appalachian State (22-22, 6-10) Friday night.
Trailing 3-0, the Wildcats broke through with a run in the fifth, when Danny Weiss drove in Payne with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.
After the Mountaineers scored five runs in the home half of the inning to open an 8-1 lead, Davidson came back with two runs in the top of the sixth.
Chris FitzPatrick doubled, Tommy Piacenza walked and the runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. Payne singled in one run, and Hugh Eden singled in a second with two outs to make the score 8-3.
The ?Cats trimmed the lead to 8-5 with two runs in the seventh. Weiss led off with a double but was thrown out at third on a Chase FitzPatrick grounder. Matt Webb walked, and with two outs, Piacenza reached on an error that allowed FitzPatrick to score. Payne singled up the middle to score Webb.
The Mountaineers added an insurance run as Jason Altenhof doubled home Adam Beasley with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. David Towarnicky made the score 10-5 with an RBI double down the left field line in the eighth.
The teams will continue the series Saturday at 3 p.m. at Beaver Field.
FURMAN 4, WESTERN CAROLINA 2
CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- Jay Jackson recorded a career high 11 strikeouts over eight innings to propel Furman to a 4-2 series opening win over Western Carolina in Southern Conference baseball action Friday evening at Hennon Stadium.
Jackson, a junior right-hander from Taylors, S.C., allowed only two runs on just four hits and struck out seven of the final 11 batters he faced to claim his third consecutive victory and improve to a SoCon best 9-1 on the year.
The strong work by the Christ Church Episcopal School product helped Furman (24-15, 10-6 SoCon) claim its eighth straight SoCon win and lifted the Paladins into fourth place in the league standings, only a game and a half behind first place Elon and a game behind both second place College of Charleston and UNC Greensboro.
The victory was Furman’s third in its last four clashes with Western Carolina (19-22, 7-9 SoCon).
Jackson allowed a two-run third inning home run to Western Carolina’s Reid Rollison that cut Furman’s lead to 3-2, but that would be all the scoring the Catamounts could manage against the Paladin ace, who gave way to Nick Karow in the ninth. After Blake Murphy singled with one out in the Catamount ninth, Karow struck out Rollison and Matt Johns to end the game and notch his sixth save.
Furman used three Western Carolina errors, a hit batsman, and just one hit in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead off Catamount starting and losing pitcher Mike Tavernier (3-3).
After Tollison’s two-run blast to left center in the bottom of the second made it a 3-2 game, Furman pushed across a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Reese Wade to stretch its advantage to 4-2.
Wade, a freshman designated hitter who is hitting a team leading .481, had two of Furman’s five hits and the Paladins’ only RBI before surprisingly being lifted for pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Western Carolina managed just five hits in the contest.
The Paladins and Catamounts play game two of the series Saturday beginning at 6:00 p.m.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 15, WOFFORD 5
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? Georgia Southern plated seven runs in the fourth inning and cruised to a 15-5 win at Wofford Friday night (April 25) in the Southern Conference series opener. The Eagles improved to .500 in league play (23-18 overall, 8-8 SoCon).
Wofford threatened in the second, using a one-out error and double to put a pair of runners in scoring position. Drew Murray (LaGrange/LaGrange) struck out Neil Robinette on a called third strike then got a groundout off the bat of Josh McKinney to end the threat. From there the Eagles took off.
Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) lined a one-out single in the third. He stole second then Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) drew a walk. Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) lined a single off the foot of third base umpire David Pritchett. That hit forced the runners to advance just one base to load them up. A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) drew a four-pitch walk to bring home one run. David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) beat out a grounder fielder’s choice to plate another run.
The Eagles broke the game open in the fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate. Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) hit his 12th home run of the year, a 2-run blast. Benedict lined a RBI single up the middle then two batters later Wirnsberger ripped a 3-run homer over the left field fence. He moved into a share of the team-lead hitting number 14 this year. Richardson singled, stole second and eventually scored when left fielder Kyle Behrendt couldn’t field Brian Pierce’s (Roswell/Roswell) single, making it 9-0.
Keith Munns hit a 2-run double with two down in the sixth, but the Eagles got those two runs back and then some in their half of the seventh.
Benedict and Parker hit consecutive RBI singles. Two batters later Richardson hammered a 3-run blast to the left field gap, extending the lead to 14-2.
Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth. McKinney hit a 3-run homer in the ninth for the final margin.
Murray (6-1) allowed just two runs on five hits in six innings. His eight strikeouts were one shy of his personal-high to just one walk issued. Trent Franzago (Byron/Peach County) retired all six batters he faced, including striking out the side during the eighth.
Richardson finished with three hits and four RBI. Pierce, Benedict and Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) had two hits apiece. Wirnsberger matched Richardson for team-high honors driving in four.
Scott Summers (5-6) was charged for nine runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings. He walked four and struck out three. Munns had two doubles and two RBI.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday afternoon (April 26), first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
UNC GREENSBORO 10, ELON 6
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? UNC Greensboro handed Elon their first loss to start a weekend series as they nabbed a close, 10-9, game one, Southern Conference victory at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans out hit the Phoenix 15-6 to hold them to just two extra base hits ? both were home runs.
Three hits and two walks in the first gave UNCG an early 5-0 lead over Elon. Both teams continued to light up the board until the score stood at 10-4 in favor of the Spartans heading into the ninth. UNCG nearly lost control of the ballgame as the Elon lineup posted five runs, four of which were scored off of a Mike Lobacz grandslam, to bring the game within one. With the tying run on base the Spartan defense closed out the inning and held onto the win with their 41st double play of the year.
After grabbing an important conference win, UNCG improves to 26-16 overall with an 11-5 league mark. The Phoenix drop to 1 record of 31-14 and are now 13-6 in the conference.
Starting pitcher Greg Martin (5-2) nabbed the victory for the Spartans after 6.1 innings of work. After facing 26 batters, Martin allowed just three hits and gave up only two runs. Reliever Greg Smith (2-0) notched his second save of the season after coming to the rubber late in the ninth. Elon’s Steven Hensley (8-1) took his first loss of the season after giving up five runs in his one inning on the hill ? his shortest showing of the season.
The Spartans were led at the plate by Sean Snell who was 2-for-5 on the night with four RBI, a pair of doubles, and a run. The Phoenix were led by Mike Lobacz who was 1-for-2 with four RBI and one run, which was the ninth inning grand slam.
After taking Elon three up, three down to start the first, UNCG unloaded with five runs scored by all five seniors in the lineup. Matt Gaski reached on a left field double and extended his hit streak to ten. After a walk and a single loaded the bases, a left field single by Tim Carrier plated Gaski. In the next at-bat, Sean Snell ripped a dual RBI double to left field to bring about Greg Feltes and Ricky Orton. Moments later, sophomore Corey Overholtzer let loose a triple to right center to clear the bases and put UNCG up, 5-0.
It took until the fourth inning before Elon could put any sort of mark on the board and it wasn’t by their doing alone. Donny Jobe reached and then was pushed to second base with back-to-back walks. A right field single brought him over the third base and he was later brought across home plate due to a hit batter.
Holding a four-run lead, UNCG put up dual insurance runs in the fifth and the sixth.
The Phoenix chipped one away in the seventh as Dallas Tartleton smacked a solo homerun over the left field wall. His first home run of the season came off of Martin’s 113th pitch of the evening. They cut the lead by two more in the following inning by way of back-to-back walks.
In the home half of the eighth, Feltes was plated once more as Orton sent a double shot out to left field. The Spartans held onto a 10-4 heading into the final inning, but just five batters later, Elon had made it a one-run game.
A walk, a single, and a hit batter to start off the inning loaded the bases for Lobacz who had come into the cleanup spot in the seventh. With one away, a hit batter put the tying run on first, but the UNCG defense came through with a 4-6-3 double play to onto the 10-9 victory.
The Spartans and the Phoenix return to UNCG Baseball Stadium both Saturday and Sunday for 1pm games.