Elon 12, Temple 3
ELON, N.C. -- David Whitehead allowed just two runs over seven innings while Alex Swim drove in four runs to lead the Elon Phoenix to a 12-3 baseball victory over the visiting Temple Owls from Latham Park on Sunday night. The Phoenix (8-4) concluded the Elon Invitational with a 3-1 record while Temple (3-5) went 0-2 on the weekend.
Whitehead (1-0) claimed the first victory of his career after giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits in seven frames. He also fanned four. The duo of Grant McCoury and Mitch Conner finished off the game for the Phoenix.
With Cyle Rasmus on second after drawing a one-out walk and stealing second, Swim lined a double to the gap in left-center to put the Phoenix on the board with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Temple broke through with a two-spot in the top of the fifth to grab a 2-1 lead. After Will Remillard reached on a fielder's choice and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, Byron McKoy singled on a line drive knocked down by Rasmus at second. On the play, Remillard scored to tie the game and McKoy took second on an errant throw to the plate. Adrian Perez followed with a single through the left side of the infield to drive home McKoy with the second Owl run.
The Phoenix answered immediately in the bottom of the fifth, scoring once when a Rasmus ground out plated Harry Austin from third.
Walks to McCoury, Neal Pritchard and Seth Canipe loaded the bases with one out for Elon in the sixth. A balk then allowed McCoury to trot home with the go-ahead run. With two away, Austin ripped a single to left to knock in both Pritchard and Canipe to give the Phoenix a 5-2 advantage. Jake Luce made it Phoenix runners on the corners with a single to right and then Elon pulled off a double steal that made it a 6-2 game.
Ryan Ferguson drove a 3-2 pitch over the center field fence to lead off the Temple eighth to trim the Owls' deficit to 6-3.
With the bases full in the bottom of the eighth, Swim ripped a two-out double to right-center to clear the bags and stretch the Elon edge to 9-3. Swim then raced home from second on McCoury's infield single with the 10th Phoenix tally of the evening. Pritchard made it a 12-3 game by crushing his second homer of the year over the wall in left.
Swim ended the evening with four RBI and a run scored while going 2-for-5. Pritchard scored twice and drove in two while Luce went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Luce has now had multi-hit outings in three consecutive games.
Temple's McKoy recorded three of the Owls' eight hits while scoring one run and driving in another.
Steve Nikorak (0-1) took the loss in relief of starter Brant Norlander. Nikorak allowed four runs on two hits and four walks in three innings. Norlander lasted just four frames after he walked seven hitters and surrendered two runs. All told, four Temple pitchers issued 12 walks, a season-high for the Phoenix.
Elon will play again on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C. as the Phoenix takes on the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Wofford 6, Pittsburgh 1
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Wofford baseball team defeated Pittsburgh 6-1 Sunday afternoon at Russell C. King Field after being forced to push the game to a 5:00 p.m. start due to rain. The Terriers posted five runs in the first three innings, scoring three in the first inning and a single run each in the second and third. Wofford grabbed their sixth run in the seventh run and beat the Panthers, 6-1 after only allowing Pittsburgh one run in the third inning.
Wofford is now 7-4 on the season, while Pittsburgh drops to 3-2. The Terriers were led by Josh McKinney with two runs scored and Landon Bennett with three RBI's. David Roney led the team in hits with two. The Panthers were led by John Schultz with three hits and Anthony Defabio accounted for their only run scored.
The Terriers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first as two hits and an error by the Panthers led to three runs scored. James Foster led off and reached first on an error by Pittsburgh's shortstop, Derik Wilson. Taylor Rozier singled and McKinney loaded the bases after reaching first off a wild pitch on the last strike. Bennett batted all three base-runners in off a double to right center field, giving the Terriers a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Wofford left one on base at the end of the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, Matt Moore singled off a hit to right field, Lee reached on a walk and Foster loaded the bases off a well-placed bunt. Doyle reached on a fielder's choice, but Moore was forced out at home. With the bases still loaded, Diamaduros batted in Lee off a sacrifice fly. The Terriers ended the inning with two left on base and a 4-0 lead.
Pittsburgh tallied their only run of the day in the top of the third inning. Pittsburgh's Kevan Smith singled up the middle, but was forced out when Anthony Defabio hit into a fielder's choice. With Defabio on first, Toole advanced his teammate on a walk. Pittsburgh's Wilson singled up the right side to right field and pushed in Defabio. Toole tried to score on the play as well, but was thrown out off the relay from Wofford's Alex Lee. The play ended the inning and put the score at 4-1 Wofford.
Wofford added their fifth run in the bottom of the third. McKinney reached first after being hit by a pitch. Bennett hit the ball to the second baseman and reached first off the fielder's choice. The Panthers tried for the double play off Bennett's hit and were successful in getting McKinney out, but the second baseman threw a wild throw to first, allowing Bennett to reach second. Roney earned the RBI after batting Bennett in off a double to the left field line. The Terriers ended the inning with one left on base, but had improved their lead to 5-1.
The next three innings were scoreless and Wofford added their final run of the afternoon in the seventh inning. Wofford put McKinney, Bennett and Roney on off of walks to load the bases. Moore earned the RBI after he was walked as well, giving the Terriers a 6-1 score. The Terriers left three on base at the end of the seventh and there were no more runs scored for the remainder of the contest, ending the game with a 6-1 final score.
Wofford starter Cash Collins (3-0) threw six innings with one run allowed on seven hits and three strike outs. Bobby Streisel went two innings and only allowed one hit with three strikeouts. John Cornely pitched the final inning and didn't allow any hits with one strikeout.
For the Panthers, starter Matt Iannazzo pitched 6.1 innings with seven hits and six runs allowed. Five of the runs were earned and Iannazzo finished with five strike outs. Jeff Kelly came in and allowed two walks before being replaced by Cole Taylor. Taylor threw 1.2 innings and didn't allow any runs or hits.
The Terriers finish the weekend series against the Panthers, 1-1, after being forced to cancel one of the scheduled games due to weather conditions. Wofford will travel to second-ranked Vanderbilt on Wednesday, March 8. The game is set to start at 5:00 p.m. ET.
#18 College of Charleston 24, New York Tech 4
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Junior RF Marty Gantt (North Augusta, S.C.) hit an inside-the-park-home run and added four RBIs, while redshirt-junior 3B Matt Leeds (Boca Raton, Fla.) went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs as #18 College of Charleston used a 13-run fourth inning to rout New York Tech 23-4 Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point in the CofC Classic. The Cougars improve to 10-2 on the season, while New York Tech falls to 0-3.
New York Tech jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, scoring on a passed ball and a RBI groundout to first. Charleston took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the second on only three hits as senior CF Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) knocked a RBI single to right and Bears C George Carroll committed a two-out fielding error, allowing a pair of runs to score. Leeds followed up with a two-run homer to right for the three-run advantage.
After New York Tech scored another run in the top of the third, the Cougars plated four more runs in the bottom of the frame for a 9-3 lead. Redshirt-freshman Daniel Aldrich (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) led off the inning with a solo round-tripper to right and Gantt drove in sophomore LF Dre Watts (Laurens, S.C.) with a RBI double down the left-field line. Gantt later scored on a throwing error by New York Tech P J.C. Costa.
The Cougars exploded for a record-tying 13 runs in the fourth inning to pull away to a 22-3 lead. The output set the mark of the most runs scored in the fourth inning and ties the program mark for most runs in any inning, set in a fifth inning of a 27-9 win over Furman in 2009. Highlighting the frame was a three-RBI effort by senior 2B Jesse Mesa (Mirimar, Fla.) and the inside-the-park home run to deep center by Gantt.
Charleston plated a run in the fifth on a RBI single by freshman PH Brandon Murray (Nassau, Bahamas) and the teams traded single runs in the eighth, with the Cougars scoring on a RBI groundout by redshirt-senior RHP Travis Stewart (Laurel, Md.).
Junior RHP Rob Harding (Columbia, S.C.) picked up the victory for the Cougars, tossing a perfect 1-2/3 inning in relief. Senior starting RHP Josh Salay (Rock Hill, S.C.) went 3-2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts. The Cougars pounded out 18 hits and were aided by eight New York Tech errors.
The Cougars return to action Tuesday evening against USC Upstate at Patriots Point. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m.
Samford 10, Toledo 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Samford sophomore pitcher Lex Rutledge pitched 6.0 no-hit innings to lead the Bulldog baseball team to a 10-0 win over Toledo Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
In his 6.0 innings of work, Rutledge (2-1) struck out 10 batters while walking just two. Andrew Jones pitched 2.0 innings, allowing two hits and C.K. Irby pitched the final inning, allowing no hits to close the game out.
Brandon Miller went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI to lead Samford at the plate. Michael Johnson went 3-for-5 with two RBI. Stephen Ballard went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Kevin Putkonen was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
For Toledo, Lincoln Rassi took the loss on the mound, pitching 4.0 innings and giving up seven runs on eight hits. James Miglin and Matt Delewski had the two hits for the Rockets.
Samford got the scoring started with a run in the third inning. Tyler Filliben reached base on an error and later scored from third base when Johnson grounded out to shortstop to give Samford a 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs broke the game open with four runs in the fourth inning and three more runs in the fifth to push their lead to 8-0.
Miller hit a home run to left-center field with one out for the first run in the fourth inning. Brad Moss drove in two runs and Johnson drove in another in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Miller, Putkonen and Ballard drove in a run each for an eight-run Samford lead.
Samford added a run in the seventh inning and another run in the eighth to make the final score 10-0. Filliben hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Putkonen for the run in the seventh inning. Byron Soler singled up the middle to drive in Johnson in the eighth inning for the game's final run.
With the win, Samford improves to 8-5 on the young season. The Bulldogs are now 8-1 at home. Toledo drops to 3-6 with the loss.
Samford will return to action on Tuesday night when the Bulldogs travel to Jacksonville, Ala., to take on in-state rival Jacksonville State. The game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start from Rudy Abbott Field.
St. John's 7, Georgia Southern 3
STATESBORO, Ga. - St. John's (5-4) took the series win with another stellar pitching effort, winning 7-3 over Georgia Southern (7-5) on Sunday afternoon, March 6th. Brendan Lobban allowed only one run in 6.1 innings, and the Red Storm scored single runs in the first three innings to come back from a 4-3 loss on Friday night for its first series win of the year.
Steve Cochrane (Mooresville, N.C.) drove in two of the Eagles' three runs and launched his third home run of the year. The senior first baseman picked up RBIs in his final two plate appearances and plated a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly.
The top five batters in Georgia Southern's order combined for seven of the Eagles' eight hits. Freshman Ben Morgan (Evans, Ga.) had the only hit outside of the top half of the lineup, a double to lead off the seventh inning. The Eagles used the double and a two-out RBI single from Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) to score a run in the seventh inning.
St. John's opened the game with runs in the first three frames and held Georgia Southern scoreless until the sixth inning. A two-out walk by Joe Panik in the first inning led to the first run of the ballgame. Panik stole second base and scored on a single by Paul Karmas.
Back-to-back hits in the second inning plated a second run. Joe Witkowski singled in Matt Wessinger, who doubled with one out in the inning. The Red Storm used a hit by pitch, a double and a ground out to drive in the third run of the contest. Panik was hit by Andy Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.), who started the game for the Eagles, and scored on a ground ball hit up the first base line.
Moye was tagged with his first loss of the 2011 campaign after allowing three runs on six hits in four innings of work. Lobban, who started for St. John's, earned his second win of the year after allowing one earned run and six hits in 6.1 innings.
Georgia Southern broke open the shutout with a single run in the sixth inning and cut the lead to just two runs late in the game. The Eagles scored in three-straight innings, but the Red Storm posted two runs in both the seventh and eighth to extend its advantage to four runs.
GSU hits the road again, bound for the state of Florida on Tuesday. The Eagles will face the top-ranked Florida Gators at 7 p.m. Georgia Southern returns home to J.I. Clements Stadium following the single game to open Southern Conference play against Furman on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Final Game of the Davidson-Furman Series Rained Out
DAVIDSON, N.C. -- The final game of the Davidson-Furman SoCon Baseball series has been cancelled due to rainy conditions at Wilson Field.
Play was suspended in the second game of yesterday's doubleheader and scheduled to be resumed today at 2 p.m. But the game has been cancelled and will not be made up.
Davidson won the opening game, 1-0, behind an 11-strikeout, complete game from junior LHP Chris Lamb. Furman evened the series with an 8-2 win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
Davidson will return to action Wednesday when they travel to South Carolina for a 7 p.m. game at Carolina Stadium.
Furman visits East Tennessee State Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in non-conference action.
Western Carolina-Ohio State Cancelled
Inclement weather cancels the Forest City Tournament.
FOREST CITY, N.C. - The Western Carolina - Ohio State baseball game scheduled to begin at noon on Sunday has now been cancelled due to steady rain that has fallen over the Forest City area over the last 24 hours.
The Catamounts will be in action this Wednesday against former WCU head coach Jack Leggett and the Clemson Tigers. First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m. at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium in Cullowhee.