SoCon Baseball Recaps for April 27, 2008
ELON 4, UNC GREENSBORO 3
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? After heading into their fifth extra inning game of the season, UNC Greensboro dropped a tough 4-3 loss to Elon at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Phoenix held a three-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Donny Jobe and Cory Harrilchak tallied a run each as both players homered out to right field. A run scored in the bottom of the sixth by the Spartans and two more tallied in the eighth tied the game at 3-3. After no change through regulation, Elon’s Bennett Davis sent a high fly ball to right field. Once the ball was caught, Harry Austin got the go ahead home to score the game-winning run.
After dropping the series to Elon, UNCG falls to 26-18 overall and are now 11-7 in the Southern Conference. The Phoenix move to 33-14 on the season with a league record of 15-6.
Elon’s Thomas Girdwood (4-0) took the series finale victory after 2.2 innings of work. UNCG’s Kory Judd (0-2) was handed the loss after coming to the rubber midway through the ninth. Spartan starter Rob Gilliam (2-3) led both teams with five strikeouts. Reliever Alex Shelton added another four.
The UNCG lineup was led by Drew Gehringer who was 1-for-3 with a run and a double. The Phoenix were led by Donny Jobe and Cory Harrilchak who were both 1-for-3 at the plate with a home run.
The Phoenix grabbed a one-run lead in the opening inning as Cory Harrilchak slapped a solo home run over the right field wall. The hit was the team’s first of the game and Harrilchak’s fifth homer of the season.
Five innings later, Donny Jobe led off with a first pitch solo out to right field to up the Elon advantage. The long ball was Jobe’s second of the season. Three bats later, Dallas Tarleton drove a single to up the middle to bring around Bennett Davis from second and give thePhoenix the 3-0 lead.
In the home half of the sixth, freshman Drew Gehringer stretched a double out of a shot to left center and registered UNCG’s third hit of the game. Following two groundouts, Gehringer strolled across home plate to give the Spartans their first tally of the afternoon.
In the bottom half of the eighth, the Spartans knotted the game at 3-3 with the aid of the Phoenix. After reaching on a four pitch walk, senior Sean Snell raced down the third base line as Ken Ferrer’s pitch got away from him and sailed towards the backstop. Down by one with two away, a runner on third, and the count full, junior Pedro Leon slapped a hard ground ball through the left sided to allow sophomore Corey Overholtzer to cross the plate and tie the game heading into the ninth.
With neither team able to post a run in the final inning, UNCG went into its fifth extra inning game of the season.
Elon’s Harry Austin led off with a single to left center after stealing second, he was pushed to third by a sacrifice bunt. Two bats later, Bennett Davis sent a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Austin and give Elon the one-run lead. After taking UNCG three up, three down the Phoenix walked away with the 4-3 win and the 2-1 series victory.
UNCG’s Alex Shelton (4-3) racked up four strikeouts after coming to the hill in relief of starter Rob Gilliam
APPALACHIAN STATE 5, DAVIDSON 4
BOONE, N.C. - Aubrey Edens (Greenville, N.C./D.L. Conley) pitched eight strong innings and Brett Stewart (Niceville, Fla./Niceville) hit a three-run home run to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 5-4 win over Davidson on Sunday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. With the win, Appalachian (24-22, 8-10 SoCon) completed its first three-game series sweep of the season.
Appalachian scored all five of its runs in the second and third innings. Jerod Faggart (Concord,
N.C./Northwest Cabarrus) put ASU on the board with a solo homer in the second that knotted the game at 1-1. After Davidson regained the lead with two runs in the top of the third, David Rubinstein's (Charlotte, N.C./South Mecklenburg) RBI groundout and Stewart's three-run blast into the Davidson bullpen in right field accounted for a four-run bottom of the third that gave the Mountaineers the lead for good at 5-3.
From there it was all Edens, as he limited the Wildcats to just one run on four hits over his final five innings of work. The right-handed junior matched an ASU season high with his eight innings pitched on 124 pitches to move to 3-0 on the season.
Davidson (10-28, 2-16 SoCon) opened the ninth inning with a hit to put the tying run on base, but
Mountaineer reliever Adam Mills (Asheboro, N.C./Southwest Randolph) threw 14 strikes in 16 pitches in the ninth to nail down the victory and record his fourth save of the campaign.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 9, THE CITADEL 6
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -- The College of Charleston blasted a school-record four homers in the seventh inning that erased a two-run deficit and lifted the Cougars to a 9-6 win over The Citadel and a sweep of its three-game Southern Conference series before 817 at Patriots Point Stadium on Sunday.
Charleston, which improved to 30-14 overall and 13-5 in league play, has won 17 of its last 24 matchups with The Citadel dating back to 2003. It also marked Charleston's seventh straight season of at least 30 wins and marked the second straight season they've swept the Bulldogs in a three-game league series. The Bulldogs fell to 23-20 and 11-10.
Stuart Haywood's solo homer to right in the second and his RBI single to center in the third gave Charleston a 3-0 lead. The Bulldogs got two runs in the fifth, another in the sixth, and added a two-run homer by Matt Arnold in the seventh that gave the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Gabe Marchant led off with a towering homer to right, and one out later, Mike Hentz hit a solo homer to center that tied the game at 5-all.
Haywood followed with a single to right, stole second and scored on Austin Morgan's double to right. Brandon Sizemore, who's homered in five of the last six games, added his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot to left, that gave Charleston the lead for good at 8-5. Michael Harrington followed with his school record-setting 17th homer of the season, a blast to right that extended Charleston's lead to 9-5.
The Bulldogs got an RBI single by Arnold in the ninth to close out the scoring. Charleston righty Danny Meszaros got Sid Fallow to bounce into a game-ending double play with two on in the ninth.
Meszaros (4-3) picked up the win despite surrendering two runs over the final three innings with a strikeout. Matt Reifsnider (4-3) suffered the loss surrendering three runs on seven hits over 3 1/3 innings of work.
Harrington, who homered in the final two games of the series, eclipsed Brett Anderson's single-season home run mark of 16 set in 2004.
FURMAN 6, WESTERN CAROLINA 5
CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- Brian Harrison’s two-out, two-run triple in the seventh inning broke a 4-4 tie and lifted Furman to a 6-5 victory and series sweep of Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at Hennon Stadium.
Harrison’s decisive hit to right center field off WCU reliever Chris Masters scored Jay Jackson and Bobby Hubbard to put Furman ahead 6-4. Western Carolina’s Stephen Notaro’s solo home run in the eighth inning made it 6-5, but Furman’s Nick Karrow closed out the Catamounts in the ninth, stranding the potential tying run at second base by striking out pinch-hitter Ryan Mathews and inducing a comeback grounder off the bat of Reid Rollison to end the game.
The victory completed the three-game sweep for Furman (26-15, 12-6, SoCon), its first over Western Carolina (19-24, 7-11 SoCon) in Cullowhee since 2000, and marked the Paladins’ 10th straight SoCon win ? the longest in program history in a single season. Furman claimed 10 consecutive league victories over the 2005 and 2006 campaigns. The triumph also represented the fifth in the Paladins’ last six contests in Cullowhee.
Ian Parry (4-2) earned the victory in relief after coming on in the fourth and working a solid four innings, surrendering three hits, a run, and a walk while striking out two.
The loss was charged to Chris Masters (4-4), who worked 2 2/3 innings, yielding two hits and two runs. He walked three and struck out three.
With regular Sunday starter Kevin Gaid back in Greenville nursing a tender elbow, Furman called on Justin Holloway for a spot start, and the sophomore right-hander tossed 2 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and three runs, including two earned, before departing with the Paladins trailing 3-1.
Furman tied the game with two runs in a fourth inning that was interrupted with an hour and two-minute rain delay. Ryan Lee opened the frame with a double and later scored when Joey Rodgers was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. After the rain delay, Marcus Rose’s infield single plated Jay Jackson to knot the game at 3-3.
Western Carolina took a 4-3 advantage with a run in the bottom of the fourth against Furman reliever Spencer Hale, but the Paladins quickly tied it again in the fifth on Harrison’s two-out single to center field that scored Lee.
In the decisive seventh Hubbard led off with a walk and stole second with two outs. Following a Jackson walk, Harrison stroked a triple, the first of his career, into the right center field gap to drive home Hubbard and Jackson.
Karow allowed a leadoff single to Blake Murphy to start the ninth but recovered to get three straight outs to notch his second save of the series and seventh of the season.
Harrison paced Furman at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBI. Lee went 2-for-4 and scored two runs, and Rose and Hemingway also collected a pair of hits in Furman’s nine-hit attack. Jackson finished off a strong weekend by plating two runs for the Paladins. Notaro paced Western Carolina with a double and home run to highlight a 3-for-4, three-RBI outing.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 12, WOFFORD 6
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 19, WOFFORD 12
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? A day of offensive highlights keyed Georgia Southern’s sweep of Wofford Sunday afternoon (April 27), winning 12-6 and 19-12 at Russell King Field. Following the Southern Conference sweep, the Eagles improved to 25-18 overall and 10-8 in the league.
Head coach Rodney Hennon picked up his 400th career victory following the game one win, keyed by a grand slam from Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius). Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) pulled off another impressive feat, hitting for the cycle in four consecutive innings during game two.
Ben Austin would strike out the side in the first inning, but not before Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) hit a solo home run during the second at-bat. His blast to the left field gap was his fifth homer of the year.
Kyle Kamppi (Savannah/Benedictine Academy) needed just five pitches, including a strikeout of Sterling Dye, to retire the Terriers in the first. Austin struck out the side again, benefitting from two check-swing third strikes, in the second then Keith Munns lined a RBI single in the Terriers’ half to tie the score.
GS quickly regained the lead in the third. Kevin Bowles (Statesboro/Statesboro) drew a leadoff walk. Wright ripped a single back up the middle then Porter drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Two batters later Benedict nailed his first career grand slam, a shot to the right field gap. His 10th round-tripper of the year made it 5-1.
Two batters later A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) hammered a shot to straight away centerfield, his team-leading 15th homer. David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) hit a two-out double and scored on Brian Pierce’s (Roswell/Roswell) single as the Eagles batted around for a 7-1 lead.
Josh McKinney led off the third with his second homer of the series to make it 7-2.
The Eagles plated two more runs in the sixth. Porter singled to start the sixth. He stole second then on ball four to Benedict stole third. On the play Munns’ throw to third sailed into left field allowing Porter to score. Two batters later Wirnsberger ripped a RBI triple to the right field gap.
A passed ball on strike three with two outs in the sixth allowed Kyle Behrendt to score from third. Sterling Dye hit a leadoff homer in the seventh to make it 9-4.
An error and two doubles led to three more runs in the Eagles’ half of the eighth. Porter drew a leadoff walk and Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) reached on Michael Gilmartin’s error, putting runners at second and third. They scored on Benedict’s double. Pinch-runner Jake Ware (Statesboro/Statesboro) came home on Jeremiah Parker’s (Carrollton/Carrollton) RBI double.
Gilmartin hit a 2-run homer in the ninth for the final margin.
Porter had two hits and matched a career-high of four runs scored. Benedict set a personal-best with six RBI. Wirnsberger and Richardson had two hits apiece.
Kamppi improved to 4-2 on the year allowing three runs (two earned) off seven hits. He matched his career-high of six innings pitched, striking out four. Tony Chisman (Conyers/Salem) worked the final three innings for his first collegiate save.
Austin (4-4) was charged for seven runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. He walked five and struck out a career-high 10 batters.
The Eagles used two hits and two errors to plate four runs right off the bat in game two. After Wright hit a leadoff single he stole second. The throw from Munns sailed down to second and no one covered, allowing Wright to go to third. Shehan was at the plate with a 1-1 count when the umpires called a halt to the game after spotting lightning. After a nearly 45-minute rain delay Shehan walked. Benedict followed with a walk then Parker reached on Shane Kirkley’s fielding error. Richardson lined a two-out single to right scoring two.
That would be the first of four consecutive innings the Eagles scored.
Wofford (20-25, 4-14) hit three consecutive doubles to start its half of the first, cutting the Eagles’ lead in half. Wright launched a 2-run homer off the scoreboard in the second then Porter followed with a solo shot. Richardson added a RBI single later in the frame.
In the third Wright added a RBI triple. During the next frame he accomplished the rare feat during the fourth, but it was the second time this month an Eagle hit for the cycle in consecutive innings (Richardson at College of Charleston). The junior DH lined a 2-run double to center to cap a 5-run frame.
The Eagles batted around in the seventh, sending 11 to the plate. Richardson hit a 2-run double then Pierce delivered a sacrifice fly. Bowles and Porter hit RBI singles to make it 19-9.
Wofford followed suit scoring runs in each of the first five innings, cutting the Eagles’ lead to five, but the pitching staff blanked the Terriers in the sixth and seventh. A 3-run homer by Mo Seay capped the Terriers’ scoring.
Wright finished 5-for-5 with a hit by pitch before being lifted in the ninth for a pinch-hitter. His career-high hit total was one shy of tying the GS single-game hits record. He scored three times and drove in five.
“I knew going into the last at-bat I needed a double. I got a pitch I could drive and as soon as it went to the gap I was going for two,” said Wright. “This was a big conference series sweep for us as we return home for a nice homestand.”
Richardson added four hits in six at-bats with two runs and career-high tying five RBI. Bowles recorded career-highs of three hits and four runs scored.
Aaron Eubanks (Moultrie/Colquitt County) picked up the win in relief, improving to 5-1. Andy Moye (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) gave up four runs on eight hits in 2.1 innings.
Behrendt went 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Tom Dolinak (2-1) allowed 10 runs ? seven earned ? on 10 hits in three innings.