The Citadel 11, Elon 8
ELON, N.C. -- A six-run eighth inning propelled The Citadel Bulldogs to an 11-8 victory over the Elon Phoenix in the final game of a three-game Southern Conference series from Elon's Latham Park on Sunday. The loss dropped Elon to 10-9 overall and 2-4 in SoCon action. The Bulldogs improved to 14-5, 6-0.
Elon fell in all three games of the series, marking the first time that the Phoenix had been swept in a weekend series since 2007 at Western Carolina on April 20-22. It was also the first time Elon had been swept in a set at home since dropping three games to 20th-ranked College of Charleston on March 11-13, 2005.
Nick Orvin drew a four-pitch walk to begin the game before heading to second on a Brad Felder single. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners up a bag, Daniel Britt uncorked a wild pitch that let Orvin race home with the first run of the contest for The Citadel. Britt then struck out both Bryan Altman and David Greene to end the inning.
The Bulldogs put the first two aboard in the third when William Ladd put down a bunt single and Orvin walked for the second time. Felder then hit a soft single to center to drive home Ladd as The Citadel lead grew to 2-0. Matt Simonelli made Elon pay for an error on a dropped foul ball that extended his at bat with a ball back to Britt who fired to second to erase Felder. The attempt to double up Simonelli was late and Ryan Adams dropped the throw which let Orvin score as the Bulldogs went up 3-0 before a double play ended the inning.
Kyle Jordan increased the Bulldog lead to 4-0 when he hit a one-out solo homer to left in the fourth. It was the third of the year for Jordan.
Elon put its first two on in the bottom of the fourth with an Alex Swim single and a walk to Mike Melillo. The Phoenix then loaded the bases with a single off the bat of Neal Pritchard. Michael Clevinger then struck out Matt Hinson and got Seth Canipe to fly out before Adams suffered the same fate as Canipe, flying out to left to end the inning with the bases full.
For the second consecutive inning Elon loaded the bases as Justin Hilt was plunked ahead of singles from Ben Scott and Niko Fraser. A Swim ground out plated Hilt with the first Phoenix run of the contest. Melillo drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to reload the bases before a sac fly from Pritchard drove home Scott to make it 4-2. The ball was also deep enough for Fraser to tag and head to third. Hinson followed by walking on four straight to load the bases for Canipe who failed to deliver and grounded out to first to end the threat.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Pritchard followed a walk to Melillo by sending his third home run of the year out to center to tie the score at four.
The Citadel came back with back-to-back singles from Simonelli and Altman to start the eighth. David Greene dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, but the throw to first was short and rolled away, allowing Simonelli to score and leaving runners at first and second. Jordan then doubled home two with a liner just past a diving Scott at third. With one out, Legare Jones walked before a single from Ladd loaded the bases for Orvin. Orvin drilled a bases-clearing triple off the wall in center to push the Bulldog advantage to 10-4.
Jordan drove in another with a ground out in the ninth to plate the final Bulldog tally of the afternoon.
Down by seven in the bottom of the ninth, the Phoenix put its first three aboard with singles from Chris Bresnahan and Mike Melillo sandwiched around a walk to Matt Kirchner. Pritchard grounded into a double play that scored Bresnahan to make it 11-5 before David Wood drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Grant McCoury then made it 11-8 by belting his first career homer over the wall in left, a three-run bomb that scored both Kirchner and Wood. Adams and Hilt each singled to put runners on the corners, bringing Scott to the plate with the potential tying run. Scott grounded a 1-0 pitch to short and the Bulldogs forced Hilt at second to end the game and complete the sweep.
Both Pritchard and McCoury drove in three runs for Elon. Pritchard went 2-for-4 at the plate while Scott deleivered two hits in five at bats.
Jordan drove in four runs with a 2-for-5 performance. He also scored twice. Orvin finished with three RBI and two runs scored.
Britt (1-2) was charged with the loss after being charged with seven runs (five earned) on nine hits over 7.0 innings. He walked two and struck out four. Jim Stokes gave up three runs in his inning of work while Thomas Girdwood allowed one run in an inning.
Raymond Copenhaver (1-1) was the winning pitcher in relief of Clevinger. Copenhaver threw 1.2 scorelesss innings. Clevinger was charged with four runs in 6.1 innings, a career-long. He also posted a personal-best eight strikeouts while walking six. Nick Sprowls gave up four runs in two-thirds of an inning before Matt Reifsnider came on to record the final out.
Elon will hit the road for its next six games. The trip begins with a two-game set at Clemson at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. After playing the Tigers again on Thursday, the Phoenix visits Davidson for a weekend SoCon series.
Davidson 15, Furman 7
GREENVILLE, S.C. ? Andrew Barna went 4-for-5, homered twice, and drove in six runs to power Davidson to a 15-7 victory over Furman in Sunday’s Southern Conference series finale at Latham Stadium.
Barna delivered an RBI single in the first inning, a three-run home run in the third, a solo shot in the fifth, and an RBI single in the sixth to pace Davidson (12-7, 4-2 SoCon), which scored in seven of the nine frames and tallied 17 hits and four home runs on the afternoon.
Sam Payne homered and drove in four runs, and Danny Weiss went deep and scored three runs for the Wildcats. Drew Gadaire fashioned a 2-for-4, two-RBI performance and also score three times.
Gaidare’s RBI double in the first put Davidson on top 1-0, and two batters later Barna drove him home with a single through the left side.
After Furman (7-12, 2-4 SoCon) scratched for a run in the second, the Wildcats took advantage of a two-out, bases empty error in the third to score three more runs on Barna’s first round tripper of the contest, a blast over the left field fence off Paladin starter Kevin Gaid.
The Wildcats took total command in the fourth on a Sam Payne three-run home run to right field off Paladin reliever Barry Benton to stretch the advantage to 8-1.
Barna added a solo blast in the fifth, and the Wildcats put the game away in the sixth with three more runs on four consecutive hits, all of which came after two outs.
Furman was paced at the plate by Reese Wade, who went 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Will Owens knocked in three runs with a pair of hits.
The strong run support made a winner of Davidson starter Ryan Overcash (4-0), who allowed five runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out two.
Gaid (1-1) absorbed the loss after going just 3 1/3 frames and surrendering seven runs on six hits. He also fanned two.
Furman plays Presbyterian in Clinton on Tuesday in a 3:00 p.m. game.
Appalachian State 4, Western Carolina 4
BOONE, N.C. - Sunday's Southern Conference baseball series finale between Appalachian State University and Western Carolina ended in a 4-4 tie due to rain at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The game was halted in the top of the sixth inning and called after a 90-minute delay.
The tie results in a rare split of the three-game weekend series.
The game was played in a steady rain from start to finish but the precipitation picked up with Appalachian trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. With Western Carolina just one out away from making it an official game, ASU's Wes Hobson (Winston-Salem, N.C./North Forsyth) yanked a two-run home run down the right field line to knot the score at 4-4.
A single, two walks and two pitching changes later, the Mountaineers had the bases loaded with what wound up being the winning run just 90 feet from home plate but Catamount closer Daniel Ottone induced an inning-ending groundout to end the ASU threat and, as it turns out, the ballgame.
The rain intensified even more between innings and the umpires called for the tarp before the sixth got underway. The rain never let up and the game was called after at 4:52 p.m., nearly four hours after the contest's first pitch was thrown. The tie is the first for Appalachian (14-3-1, 2-3-1 SoCon) since 2006 and the first for Western Carolina (13-6-1, 1-4-1 SoCon) since 1996.
Hobson drove in three of ASU's four runs on the afternoon, going 2-for-3 to raise his batting average to .408. Jerod Faggart (Concord, N.C./Northwest Cabarrus) drove in the Mountaineers' only other run with a first-inning double and Hector Crespo (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) scored twice while going 2-for-2 to raise his season average to .404. Chris Alessandria (Ponte Vedra, Fla./Nease) also added two hits.
However, ASU's player of the game was pitcher Taylor Miller (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield), who entered the contest in the top of the fifth with runners on first and second base, nobody out and the Mountaineers facing a 4-2 deficit. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Miller struck out the next two batters to keep the deficit at two runs, setting up Hobson's game-tying homer in the bottom of the stanza.
Western Carolina managed only three hits during Sunday's five-inning affair, highlighted by Austin Schultz's solo home run in the second.
Appalachian closes a six-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts Ohio at Smith Stadium. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
College of Charleston 6, UNC Greensboro 5
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? UNC Greensboro scored one run in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying run on third, but wasn’t able to convert the opportunity as College of Charleston completed the series sweep over the Spartans, 6-5, on Sunday afternoon at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
Trailing 6-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, pinch hitter Drew Gehringer hit a single to right field. After advancing to second on a balk, Chris Barker was able to reach base on a throwing error by the pitcher, which allowed Gehringer to come around from second and score.
Harry Slade then stepped to the plate and was able to reach on a fielder’s choice. Slade advanced to second on a wild pitch and then moved to third on an infield single by Corey Overholtzer. With the tying run on third and the winning run on first, the Cougars were able to end the game by inducing a groundout to first base.
David Peterson picked up the win for the Cougars (17-5, 4-2 Southern Conference) after allowing three runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning as well. Tyler Hollstegge, making his first start of the season, was credited with the loss for UNCG (11-8, 0-3 SoCon) after pitching 4 2/3 innings and giving up four runs on seven hits.
Kris Richards went 2-3 for the Spartans at the plate with a run score, while Slade, Ed Jayjack and Zach Leach each had an RBI.
Jose Rodriguez had a nice day for the Cougars by going 4-5 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Rob Kral went 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for the visitors as well.
Neither team was able to generate any offense in the early going as the Cougars got on the board first in the top of the fourth with an unearned run. Kral reached on a two-base fielding error by the Spartans to lead off the inning. He advanced to third on a single and scored on Rodriguez’s single to center field.
The Cougars were able to extend their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth. Cole Rakar hit a one-out bunt single down the third base line and scored from first when Kral followed with a double to left center.
After a Cougar strikeout, Rodriguez hit a single down the left field line to score Rakar from second. Jesse Mesa then hit a double of his own to score Rodriguez from first and give the visitors a four-run lead.
College of Charleston made it a 5-0 game in the sixth inning when Matt Leeds hit a two-out single through the right side to score Jamie Holler.
The Spartans were finally able to get on the board in the bottom half of the sixth though to cut into the Cougar lead. Richards hit a leadoff single through the right side and Barker singled to left field and advanced to second on the throw to put runners on second and third. Slade then hit a chopper through the left side of the infield to score Richards from third and make it a 5-1 contest.
Slade was able to steal second on a Spartan strikeout and Barker made it a 5-2 game after scoring on a groundout. With Lloyd Enzor at the plate, Slade scored from third on a wild pitch to pull the Spartans within, 5-3.
UNCG made it a one-run game in the eighth inning after Enzor drew a two-out walk and Leach followed with a double to center field to allow Enzor to score.
The Cougars added a run though in the top of the ninth when Holler hit a two-out RBI double to make it 6-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
The Spartans end their 16-game homestand on Wednesday as they host No. 17 North Carolina at 6 p.m.
Samford-Minnesota Series Finale Cancelled
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University baseball team's Sunday game with Minnesota has been cancelled due to inclement weather.
After dropping the first game of the series on Thursday, the Bulldogs bounced back taking the next two games including a 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon.
The Samford baseball team will be back in action Tuesday night when they play host to Auburn. After Tuesday night's game, Samford will host its third-annual Diamond Dig, sponsored by Steed's Jewelers. Every woman in attendance at Tuesday's game will be given a spoon, and at the conclusion of the game, they will be able to dig for a diamond hidden somewhere in the infield.