Elon 3, Liberty 1
ELON, N.C. -- Ken Ferrer allowed just two hits while striking out five in eight scoreless innings while his teammates scored three runs in the eighth to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Liberty Flames from Latham Park on Tuesday evening. The win gave Elon the season series sweep over Liberty as the Phoenix improved to 27-16 overall. The Flames fell to 29-12.
In two starts against Liberty this season, Ferrer (7-4) did not allow an earned run in 14.0 innings. He gave up just seven hits and walked two while fanning 13. The win was the 20th of the junior's career and he is now just one victory shy of entering the program's career top-10 list for wins.
With the game scoreless and one down in the bottom of the eighth inning, Alex Swim doubled to right-center before heading to third on a Neal Pritchard single. Matt Hinson gave the Phoenix a 1-0 lead with a double off the wall in right which plated Swim. Liberty then intentionally walked Ryan Adams to load the bases for Scott Riddle. Riddle lined a ball to left for a sacrifice fly that scored Pritchard to make it 2-0. Seth Canipe's single to left followed and drove home Hinson with the third run.
Matt Williams led off the top of the ninth by sending a 2-1 pitch off of Elon closer Thomas Girdwood over the wall in left for his second home run of the season. Trey Wimmer drew a two-out walk before P.J. Jimenez floated a single to center. Girdwood then struck out Casey Brown to end the game to earn his fifth save of the season.
Cameron Giannini (3-3) was charged with the loss out of the bullpen. He gave up all three runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work. Liberty starter Dustin Umberger kept pace with Ferrer through his six innings. Umberger allowed six hits and struck out five while keeping Elon off the board.
Eight of Elon's nine starters collected at least one hit. Both Pritchard and Ben Scott had two hits apiece.
Matt Williams had two of Liberty's four hits.
Elon will take to the road for its next six contests, beginning with a Wednesday evening contest at North Carolina State. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. in Raleigh.
Georgia Southern 16, Kennesaw State 2
STATESBORO, Ga. ? Georgia Southern collected 16 hits, including Victor Roache’s second grand slam, en route to a 16-2 victory over Kennesaw State Tuesday night (April 27). The Eagles were held scoreless in only two innings of the contest. Chris Myers threw three complete innings allowing only one run as the Eagles pushed their record to 23-19 overall. KSU watched its record dip to 18-23 with the loss.
Myers (Gainesville, Fla.) ? who was listed as a catcher entering the season ? picked up his first collegiate win in his first collegiate start. The freshman recorded three innings allowing only one run on two hits, while striking out two. Myers, who only had one three-ball count in the outing, was the first of four Eagle pitchers in the contest.
“I pitched about 60 innings my senior year (in high school), and the biggest transition from catching to pitching is just being able to throw your off-speed pitches for strikes,” said Myers. “Coach (B.J.) Green has helped me a lot with my slider and my changeup and I think it’s getting better every day.”
Owl starter Kelly Holt only lasted one inning as the Eagles collected five runs on three hits and five walks to notch the only lead needed, despite KSU scoring in the first inning.
The second out of the game put the first run on the board as Kennesaw State’s Tyler Stubblefield hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield plating Ray Anderson who leadoff the inning with a single.
But the Eagles would begin the offensive attack in the bottom half of the frame with a walk to A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) rotating the loaded bases to score the first run. Roache (Ypsilanti, Mich.) then laced his second grand slam in as many days to left center to hand the Eagles a 5-1 lead through one complete. Georgia Southern used a walk, single and hit batsman to load the bases setting up the RBI walk by senior Wirnsberger. Roache followed in the next at-bat roping his fifth home run of the season.
Georgia Southern posted a trio of runs in both the third and fourth innings using six singles and a double for six runs.
A triplet of singles opened the third inning putting another run to the board. A Kevin Bowles (Statesboro, Ga.) groundball went through the legs of Owls third baseman and allowed a run to score unearned as GS took a 7-1 margin. Two batters later, Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) launched a single to left field plating the eighth run for the Eagles in Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.).
After holding KSU scoreless for the third consecutive inning, the Eagles responded with another three runs in the fourth frame. Roache drew a walk to leadoff and scored on a two-bagger by Randy J. Williams (Valdosta, Ga.) down the left field line. KSU picked up an out, but Bowles continued the inning with a two-out RBI single for an 11-1 ballgame.
Ross Tendler put the Owls back on the scoreboard with a solo home run to right center in the fifth inning as KSU chipped at its deficit for the first and last time since the first. The run was immediately taken back with the Eagles pushing its run tally to 12 when Wirnsberger doubled and scored on a Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) single to left.
Phillips picked up his fifth home run and 36th RBI of the season with a three-run home run to left field in the sixth inning. Phillips, behind in the count 0-2, hit the scoreboard giving the Eagles a 15-2 lead.
The 16th and final run of the contest for Georgia Southern came in the seventh inning as Phillips picked up his third hit of the ballgame. The sophomore shortstop used a single to plate Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and drive in a season-high fifth RBI of the contest.
For the game, Bowles, Payne and Phillips each recorded three hits. Amongst the trio were seven RBI and five runs scored. Williams was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBI with Roache driving in four RBI on his only hit in the contest.
The Eagles hit the road next for a Southern Conference series at Furman this weekend. GS and Furman will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon and a single contest on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Appalachian State 18, UNC Asheville 5 (7 inn.)
BOONE, N.C. ? Every batter in Appalachian State University baseball's starting lineup collected at least one hit, run and RBI in the Mountaineers' 30th win of the season, an 18-5 demolition of UNC Asheville on Tuesday night at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. The game, which was delayed for an hour and 21 minutes by rain, was called after six-and-a-half innings due to a 10-run mercy rule.
With the victory, Appalachian (30-8-1) reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth-straight season. Prior to 2007, ASU hadn't won 30 games in a year since the last of six-straight 30-victory campaigns in 1986. The win also upped Appalachian to 19-0 in non-conference action this season.
UNC Asheville (11-26) got on the board first with a run in the top of the second inning but the Mountaineers responded with eight runs in the bottom of the frame to take a commanding 8-1 advantage.
Eight of ASU's nine starters recorded a hit in the second inning alone with the Apps sending 12 batters to the plate in the stanza. Six of the eight runs came with two outs, as Appalachian strung together seven-straight hits, highlighted by a two-run double by Jerod Faggart.
The Mountaineers continued to pour it on, scoring four runs in the third, one in the fourth, four in the fifth and one in the sixth. Five Bulldog errors contributed to the onslaught, as seven of the Apps' 18 runs were unearned.
Doug Jones led the 17-hit attack, going 3-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. Faggart drove in three runs and junior Jack Myers went 2-for-5 with two RBI, three runs and his first career home run in the first start of his career. Wes Hobson, the Southern Conference's leading hitter with a .426 batting average coming in, extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single in the second.
Ryan Arrowood (5-2) allowed four runs over five innings and struck out seven to earn the win.
Mike Vaughn was UNCA's lone bright spot, going 3-for-4 with three double, three RBI and a run.
Appalachian returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Wake Forest for a 4 p.m. tilt at Smith Stadium.
#27 Auburn 11, Samford 4
AUBURN, Ala. - The Samford baseball team dropped an 11-4 decision at 27th-ranked Auburn Tuesday evening at Plainsman Park.
With the loss, Samford drops to 23-17 on the season. Auburn improves to 28-14 overall with the win.
Samford was led at the plate by Mason Meredeth, going 2-for-4. Tripp Swann hit a two-run home run in his only at-bat of the game. David Schulze extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a 1-for-4 performance.
Michael Gunter (2-1) pitched 2.0 innings, giving up three runs on three hits to take the loss for the Bulldogs. Charles Terry, Mark Lewallyn, Joshua VanFleteren, Dayne Cutrell, Andrew Jones and Lex Rutledge all saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.
For Auburn at the plate, Trent Mummey was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Ryan Jenkins was 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Justin Fradejas, Wes Gilmer and Casey McElroy had two hits each for the Tigers. Dan Gamache had a three-run home run in a 1-for-2 performance.
Stephen Kohlscheen (1-0) earned the win on the mound for the Tigers, pitching 2.0 innings, giving up no runs on two hits.
Auburn jumped on top first with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Gamache hit a three-run home run to center field with Fradejas and Hunter Morris on base for a 3-0 Auburn lead.
Auburn added a run in the bottom of the third inning to push its lead to 4-0. Brian Fletcher singled to drive in Mummey for a four-run Tiger lead.
Samford answered with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Bo Smith singled to drive in Meredeth for Samford's first run of the game. Michael Johnson later singled to drive in Schulze to make the score 4-2.
Auburn plated three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mummey hit a three-run home run with Fradejas and Jenkins on base to give Auburn a 7-2 lead.
Auburn added another run in the fifth inning to push its lead to 8-2. Jenkins singled to drive in Gamache for a six-run Auburn lead.
The Tigers plated two runs in the seventh inning to make the score 10-2. Kevin Patterson hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Gilmer for the first run of the inning. Justin Hargett later singled to drive in Jenkins for an eight-run Auburn lead.
After Auburn added a run in the eighth inning, Samford plated two final runs in the top of the ninth to make the final score 11-4. Swann hit a home run to right-center field with Davis Harrison on base for the final two runs of the game.
Samford will return to action Friday, April 30, when the Bulldogs open their Southern Conference series against The Citadel. The first pitch for Friday's series-opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.