SoCon Baseball recaps for May 17, 2008
FURMAN 6, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 5
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Brian Harrison and Reese Wade both belted their first career home runs and Nick Karow delivered strong relief pitching in the eighth and ninth innings to lift Furman to a 6-5 win over Georgia Southern in the final regular season game of the season for both teams Saturday afternoon at Latham Stadium.
Harrison, a freshman third baseman from Hilton Head, S.C., gave Furman a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a solo shot over the center field fence and added an RBI single in the sixth. Wade, a freshman designated hitter from Dallas, Texas, stroked a two-run single in the third and ripped a solo roundtripper in the seventh for what proved to be the game’s winning run.
The victory gave Furman (31-22, 17-10 SoCon) the series victory two games to one and marked the Paladins’ ninth triumph in its last 11 games against Georgia Southern (32-23, 16-11 SoCon). The Paladins, who were picked to finish ninth in a preseason polls by SoCon head coaches, registered a third place finish and will now carry the No. 3 seed into next week’s SoCon Tournament, where they will face No. 6 seed Appalachian State on Wednesday in a 1:00 p.m. game at Charleston’s Joseph P. Riley Park.
Furman’s 17 conference wins this spring are the most by a Paladin squad in a 27-game league season. Furman won 18 conference games in a 29-game slate in 2001 and posted a 17-13 mark in 2003. The third place regular season finish ties the best finish set by three other Ron Smith-coached teams (1996, ?01, & ?06).
In the Georgia Southern series Furman’s pitching staff limited the Eagles, the nation’s top scoring team, to only 13 runs and a .262 batting average.
GSU came into the three-game set hitting .348 as a team, the second highest mark in the country.
In Saturday’s finale, Furman grabbed a 3-0 lead in the third on Harrison’s leadoff home run and Wade’s two-run single off Georgia Southern starting pitcher Andy Moye.
Griffin Benedict led off the fourth inning with a home run off the left field foul pole to make it a 3-1 game, but the Paladins answered with a run in the bottom of frame after Jay Jackson singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and came around to score on Connor Lind’s two-out single through the right side.
After an RBI single by Benedict in the fifth cut Furman’s lead to 4-2, the Paladins tallied single runs in the sixth and seventh. Matt Hemingway led off the sixth with a double and scored on Harrison’s second hit of the contest, a single to right field. In the seventh Wade deposited a two-out, Trent Franzago offering over the right field fence to stretch the advantage to 6-2.
In the Georgia Southern eighth, Chris Shehan and Benedict opened with a back-to-back singles and, after advancing on a wild pitch, scored on Jeremiah Parker’s two-run single up the middle off Paladin reliever Will Feemster. With one out Nick Karow came on relief of Feemster and after yielding an RBI single to David Richardson, struck out Brian Pierce and Jeremy Beckaham to preserve Furman’s 6-5 lead.
In the ninth Ty Wright led off with single and moved to second on wild pitch. Phillip Porter’s sacrifice bunt attempt, however, went back to Karow, who pivoted and threw out Wright at third base. Karow then struck out Chris Shehan, the SoCon’s leading hitter, and induced a force play at second base off he bat of Benedict to end the game.
Karow worked the final 1 2/3 innings, striking out three, to notch his SoCon leading ninth save.
The victory went to Spencer Hale, who pitched 2 1/3 innings of solid ball, allowing only one hit and a run.
Moye (3-5) was charged with the loss. He gave up nine hits and five runs over 5 1/3 innings
Furman claimed a slight 11-10 advantage in hits, with Wade, Harrison, Lind, and Jay Jackson registering two hits apiece.
Benedict paced Georgia Southern’s attack with a 3-for-4, two-RBI, two-run performance. Parker and Richardson also had two hits each for the Eagles.
WOFFORD 8, APPALACHIAN STATE 7
APPALACHIAN STATE 16, WOFFORD 6
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford College baseball team split a doubleheader with Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon at Russell C. King Field. The Terriers won the first game 8-7 on a walk-off home run by Emre Caglayan in the ninth. The Mountaineers won the second game 16-6, however the Terriers won the weekend series 2-1.
Wofford ends the regular season 23-33 overall and 6-21 in the Southern Conference, while Appalachian State wraps up the season 31-25 overall and 14-3 in conference play. The Terriers were led in by Michael Gilmartin with five hits on the day, while Tom Dolinak and John Cornely each had three strikeouts on the mound.
In the first game, the Terriers took the lead in the bottom of the second when Shane Kirkley led off with a single. Mo Seay then hit a home run to right center for a 2-0 advantage. The Mountaineers got one run back in the top of the third when David Towarnicky homered to right field.
Bu the Terriers fought back and in the bottom of the third added a run when Michael Gilmartin doubled down the right line to bring in Alex Lee. In the top of the fourth, the Mountaineers regained the lead. Jason Wallace hit a two-run homer to tie the game. Jason Altenhof then added a three-run homer to right center for a 6-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, another double by Michael Gilmartin scored two runs to make it a 6-5 lead for Appalachian State. After a scoreless sixth, the Mountaineers added a run in the top of the seventh on a solo home run by Wes Hobson.
After the Mountaineers left three stranded in the top of the eighth, Wofford opened the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run by Michael Gilmartin to make it a 7-6 Appalachian State lead. Shane Kirkley doubled, then advanced to third. On a single to left field by Mo Seay, Kirkley was able to tie the game at 7-7.
Appalachian State left two on base in the top of the ninth. Senior Emre Caglayan was first to bat in the bottom of the ninth, and on a 3-2 count blasted a ball over the left center fence to give the Terriers the dramatic 8-7 win.
Wofford starter Tom Dolinak went four innings with six hits, six runs and three strikeouts. Pete Noordsy went four innings with three hits and one run allowed. Drew Sheridan picked up one out and senior Chip Hunt (3-2) had the win in .2 innings with one strikeout.
For Appalachian State, starter Aubrey Edens threw 4.2 innings with five runs, five hits and five strikeouts. Jason Rook went 1.1 innings with one strikeout. Adam Mills threw 2.0 innings with three hits and two runs, while Garrett Sherrill (1-3) had the loss by giving up one run.
In the final game of the series, the Mountaineers scored three runs in the first inning on a home run by Jason Rook. Appalachian State added four more runs in the top of the second to take an early 7-0 lead. Wofford got two runs back in the bottom of the second when an error by the Mountaineers allowed Shane Kirkley to score and a ground out by Emre Caglayan scored Adam Kearney.
The game moved along quietly until the top of the sixth. Jason Rook hit a two run homer and David Rubenstein added a three-run shot as the Mountaineers sent 14 batters to the plate in the inning on the way to scoring nine runs for a 16-2 lead.
The Terriers got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth, as Michael Gilmartin reached on a single and scored on an error. Jake Williams singled and scored when Mo Seay grounded out to make it a 16-4 game. Wofford added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh as Kyle Behrendt hit a two-run shot over the right center fence for a 16-6 score.
In the eighth and ninth innings, the Terriers made a few line-up changes for the seniors, but were unable to score. Ben Austin played in right field, Sterling Dye moved to second base, Dawson Smith was on the mound with Keith Munns behind the plate as seven seniors played in the second game.
Wofford starter Jordan Mickleberry (3-4) lasted 1.2 innings with five runs on seven hits and one strikeout. John Cornely threw 3.1 innings with four hits, no runs and three strikeouts. Reid McElveen allowed two hits and six runs, while Ryan Conway went an inning with two hits and three runs allowed. Joe Haumacher threw the seventh with no hits. Senior Dawson Smith closed the final two innings with two hits, no runs and a strikeout.
For the Mountaineers, Josh Dowdy (5-6) went six innings with five hits, four runs and three strikeouts. Jason Rooke threw an inning with two hits and two runs with a strikeout. Zach Quate threw the eighth with no hits and Garrett Sherrill closed the game with no hits.
The games were the final home contests for eight seniors, all of whom played on Saturday. Next up for the Terriers will be the Southern Conference Tournament, which will begin on Tuesday at 3:30 at Riley Park against The Citadel. Wofford is the #9 seed, while the Bulldogs are the #8 seed.
WESTERN CAROLINA 13, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 12
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Sophomore Reid Rollison, who was a defensive substitution in left field for Western Carolina in the eighth inning, drilled a two out, walk-off double to left center field, scoring freshman Ryan Mathews from first base to cap a wild regular season finale as the Catamounts downed the College of Charleston, 13-12, Saturday afternoon at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium.
Western (28-26, 14-13 SoCon) answered the Cougars' two-run top of the first with an 11-run opening frame to stake themselves to a lead it held until a three-run Brandon Sizemore homer in the top of the ninth tied the game at 12.
With two outs, Mathews grounded a single up the middle just past the reach of shortstop Mike Hentz. Rollison then worked the count full before nailing the sixth pitch he saw into the gap in left center. Mathews, who was running with the pitch, slide home with no play at the plate to give Western the walk-off victory.
Senior left-hander Tyler Sexton (4-4) earned the victory after allowing five earned runs on three hits, including the long ball to Sizemore. The High Point, N.C., native, who was honored with his three classmates prior to first pitch, issued three walks and hit one batter, countering with five strikeouts.
THE CITADEL 11, PRESBYTERIAN 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Chris Swauger went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored while Conrad Kellahan recorded his first career triple in their last regular season game at Riley Park as The Citadel recorded an 11-1 win over Presbyterian in front of 859 on Senior Day at Riley Park.
Swauger hit his 10th home run of the season and 38th of his career with a shot over the right field wall in the fourth inning. That home run followed Kyle Jordan’s two-run shot ? his seventh of the season ? which gave The Citadel back-to-back home runs for the second time in a week.
The Citadel (28-27) scored 11 runs on 12 hits while finishing the regular season above .500. Due to the nature of the new conference tournament bracket, it is mathematically impossible for the Bulldogs to have a losing record this season.
Presbyterian dropped to 13-40 in their first year of Division I after scoring only one run, a solo home run by Steven Henry. Due to their probationary period in their transition to Division I, Presbyterian is ineligible for postseason play until the 2012 season.
Matt Talley (2-4) earned his second win of the year after allowing only one run on five hits while striking out three in 5.0 innings on the mound.
Zach Snipes (2-4) took the loss for the Blue Hose after allowing six runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings on the mound.
The Citadel took an early lead in the first after Richard Jones drove in Sonny Meade from first with a two-out RBI double to right field.
The Bulldogs added one run in the third before exploding for nine runs over the next three innings. With Matt Arnold on first after a Brian Shubsda sacrifice bunt, Kellahan ripped a triple to the right field corner to score Arnold. With Kellahan waiting on third, Jordan sent an 0-1 pitch over the scoreboard in left field for a two-run home run, putting the Bulldogs on top, 5-0. Swauger immediately followed with a solo home run over the right field wall.
In the sixth, The Citadel added five more runs, starting with Bryan Altman’s RBI double down the right field line, scoring Kellahan. Presbyterian walked Sonny Meade to load the bases and Richard Jones followed with a fly out to left field for the second out of the inning.
Chris McGuiness singled to right to drive in two runs and Blue Hose pitchers walked the next three batters to score two more runs.
Presbyterian’s lone run of the game came as Steven Henry hit a solo home run to left center in the fifth inning.