Furman 7, The Citadel 6
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Will Muzika lashed a two-out, ninth inning bases loaded single down the third base line to drive home Aaron Thompkins and give Furman a 7-6 victory over arch-rival The Citadel in the second game of a three-game Southern Conference series Saturday afternoon at Latham Stadium.
Muzika's game winning hit, which came off Bulldog reliever T.J. Clarkson, capped a two-run Paladin rally that was aided by two Citadel fielding errors, part of a four-error afternoon for the Bulldogs, who committed seven defensive miscues in Friday night's 12-3 Furman triumph.
The win gave Furman (19-18, 9-7 SoCon) the series win over The Citadel (13-22, 7-13 SoCon) heading into Sunday's 1:00 p.m. finale and marked the second come-from-behind ninth inning victory for the Paladins in successive weekends.
With The Citadel holding a 6-5 lead with one out in the botton of the ninth, Bulldog shortstop Matt Simonelli misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Will Owens. Aaron Thompkins followed with a walk and moved to second on a double steal. Reese Wade was intentionaly walked to load the bases with one out, after which Clarkson was summoned from the bullpen. The first batter he faced, Will Miller lifted a fly ball into short right field, but the Bulldogs' Will Ladd dropped the ball, allowing Owens to race home for the tying run. Clarkson rallied by striking out Alex Abrams for the second out but couldn't get Muzika, whose sharply hit grounder hugged the inside of the line into left field, allowing Thompkins to score the game winner.
Muzika's game deciding hit hit capped a solid performance for the second baseman and 2010 SoCon Freshman of the Year, who went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The Spartanburg native had entered the series hitting just .188 over his previous 20 games.
Muzika's home run, his third of the season, came in the fourth against Bulldog starter Austin Pritcher and followed a solo shot by Abrams, the first of his career, to give the Paladins a 4-1 lead.
Furman made it 5-1 in the sixth, scoring an unearned run on an Owens single to left field that plated Hunter Burton.
The Citadel turned the game around in the seventh by scoring five runs on six hits to take at 6-5 lead.
Brad Felder's double off Paladin starting pitcher Daniel Stallsmith got the inning going, and Legare Jones' sacrifice fly drove home Felder to make it 5-2. Nick Orvin followed with an RBI double, his third of four hits in the contest, to cut the Paladin lead to 5-3. Stallsmith then hit Blake DeKerlegand and was lifted for Drake Brown, who yielded three straight hits, including an RBI single by Simonelli, a Justin Mackert single, and a two-run single by Ladd that finished off the five-run rally.
Furman pitcher Nate Smith, who came on to get the final out in the Bulldog seventh, worked a scoreless eighth, and managed to keep it a one-run game after allowing the first two Citadel batters to reach base in the ninth.
Smith (3-4) worked the final 2 1/3 innings and was credited with the victory, allowing two hits while recording a strikeout.
Jeremy Long (3-4) took the loss for The Citadel, with the two Bulldog ninth inning errors leading to both runs, both unearned.
The Bulldogs forged a 14-9 advantage in hits, with Orvin leading the way with a 4-for-5 performance. Simonelli, Ladd, Felder, and Joe Jackson also had two hits each for The Citadel.
Muzika and Thompkins had two hits apiece for Furman, which collected nine safeties in the contest.
Samford 5, Appalachian State 4
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University baseball's furious ninth-inning rally came up just short in Saturday's 5-4 loss to Samford at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Appalachian (21-16, 7-10 SoCon) trailed 5-0 going into the bottom of the ninth but sent nine batters to the plate in its final at-bat. ASU cut the deficit to one run on Lawrence Pardo's (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) pinch-hit grand slam and put the winning run on base before Samford (22-14, 10-7 SoCon) was finally able to seal the victory.
Samford starter Charles Basford (4-3) cruised into the ninth inning with an eight-hit shutout but hit Daniel Kassouf (Lexington, N.C./North Davidson) with a 3-2 pitch to lead off the frame. Zack Briggs (Lexington, N.C./Central Davidson) followed with what looked like a double-play groundball but SU shortstop Tyler Filliben made a low and outside throw to second base, seemingly pulling teammate Michael Johnson off the bag and allowing Kassouf to slide in safely. However, Kassouf was ruled out on the play.
The controversial call at second became a huge storyline in the game when Basford and Samford closer Andrew Jones walked the next two batters to load the bases for Pardo, who blasted a 3-2 pitch from Jones over the right center field wall for his first career home run, cutting the ASU deficit to 5-4.
After Hector Crespo (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) popped out for the second out of the inning, Tyler Zupcic (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) and Trey Holmes (Rockwell, N.C./East Rowan) both singled to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base. However, Samford's third pitcher of the ninth inning, Grant Sides, struck out Jack Myers (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) on yet another full-count pitch to end the game.
Basford and Samford right fielder Brandon Miller were almost solely responsible for Appalachian facing a five-run deficit in the final inning. Despite running into trouble in the ninth, Basford was charged with just two runs on eight hits, issued only one walk and struck out a career-high 10 in 8.1 innings of work.
Miller provided four of the Bulldogs' five runs with a pair of home runs, a solo shot in the first inning and a three-run blast in the fifth that upped his season total to 14. Brad Moss drove in SU's only other run when he followed Johnson's leadoff triple with an RBI single in the first.
Appalachian outhit Samford, 11-8, but ASU issued five walks and left eight men on base in the loss, which snapped a season-best five-game winning streak. Zupcic led the way for the Mountaineers with a 3-for-5 performance. Holmes, Myers and Jeremy Dowdy (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) chipped in with two hits apiece.
The Mountaineers and Bulldogs play the rubber game of their three-game weekend series on Sunday at noon. Sunday is Baseball For Babies Day at Smith Stadium, with free admission to both the game and the subsequent High Country March For Babies with a donation to the March of Dimes. ASU athletics hopes to set a Smith Stadium attendance record in conjunction with the March For Babies event, which will feature appearances by a wide range of Mountaineer coaches, student-athletes and cheerleaders and a plethora fun-for-the-whole-family activities in an effort to raise money for the March of Dimes.
Wofford 7, Davidson 6 (10 inn.)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - In the second game of the weekend series, the Wofford baseball team downed Davidson 7-6 in ten innings at Russell C. King Field on Saturday afternoon. The Terriers scored four runs in the first, but the Wildcats tied the game at six in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the tenth with the bases loaded, Clark Wise hit a single to drive in the winning run.
Wofford is now 16-20 on the season and 4-10 in the SoCon. Davidson is 16-18 overall and 8-11 in conference play. The Terriers were led by Clark Wise with four hits and the game-winning RBI. The pitching staff combined for 15 strikeouts, the most in a game since 1973. Davidson was led by Calvin Sigelbaum with two hits and two RBIs.
In the top of the first, Wofford loaded the bases on an error and singles by Clark Wise and Mac Doyle. A single by Konstantine Diamaduros scored the first run of the game. Josh McKinney had a ground out RBI to make it a 2-0 score. Landon Bennett added a single to center field to score two more runs and push the lead to 4-0.
Davidson left two runners on base in the top of the second inning. The Terriers had a hit by Clark Wise in the bottom of the second. In the top of the third, Davidson loaded the bases on a double, hit by pitch and error. Brandon Yarusi then struck out three straight to end the scoring chance for the Wildcats.
With two out in the bottom of the third, Wofford had a single by David Roney and a double by Landon Bennett but both runners were stranded. In the top of the fourth, Michael Zeblo doubled and a home run by Calvin Sigelbaum made it a 4-2 game.
The Wildcats added two more singles in the top of the fifth to put runners on the corners with one out, but two strikeouts ended the inning. In the top of the sixth, Davidson left two more runners on base. David Roney opened the bottom of the sixth with a triple off the left center wall. A single to left by Matt Moore scored Roney for a 5-2 lead.
In the top of the seventh with one runner on base, Andrew Barna hit a home run over the fence in center field to make it a 5-4 game. Wofford had two runners on base when a single up the middle by Konstantine Diamaduros score Clark Wise from second base for a 6-4 lead.
Davidson added a run in the top of the eighth with two outs when Forrest Brandt reached on an error and a runner scored from second to make it a 6-5 game. Drew Gadaire hit a single to right field to score Brandt and tie the game at 6. Wofford led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, but the runner was stranded.
After Davidson was retired in order in the top of the ninth, Wofford led off with a walk to Clark Wise. Konstantine Diamaduros was intentionally walked with one out. A ground out moved the runners to second and third with two out and an intentional walk to David Roney loaded the bases, but all three were stranded to end the ninth.
The Wildcats went down in order in the top of the tenth on three strikeouts. Wofford's Matt Moore reached base on an error when a collision in the outfield resulted in the ball being dropped and Moore moved to second. Stephen Cantrell bunted and the throw was made to third, but Moore was safe giving Wofford runners on the corners with nobody out. An intentional walk to James Foster loaded the bases. Clark Wise hit a ball in shallow right field that fell in for a base hit and the winning run scored for a 7-6 victory.
Wofford starter Brandon Yarusi went five innings with seven hits and two runs allowed along with seven strikeouts. Bobby Streisel threw two innings and allowed two runs on one hit with two strikeouts. Drew Sheridan went two-thirds of an inning. Ryan Traylor allowed one run. John Cornely (2-1) went 2.1 innings and allowed on hit with five strikeouts.
Davidson starter Ian Horkley threw five innings and allowed eight hits and five runs with two strikeouts. Mike Frongello went 1.1 innings with one run on two hits. Andy Bass (2-1) threw 2.2 innings and allowed three hits and one run with four strikeouts.
The game was the fourth extra inning contest of the season for Wofford and the Terriers are 2-2 in extra innings. The fifteen combined strikeouts by the Wofford pitching staff were the fourth most in school history, behind sixteen in 1973 against Piedmont.
The Terriers will conclude the series with Davidson on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., but Wofford has secured their second series win this season. Next week, Wofford will travel to UNC Asheville on Wednesday and to Western Carolina on Friday for the start of a three-game series.
Elon 5, College of Charleston 4
ELON, N.C. -- The Elon Phoenix rallied for five runs over the final two innings and claimed its ninth win of the season in its final at bat as Harry Austin singled home Eric Serra in the bottom of the ninth to push the Phoenix past the College of Charleston Cougars by a 5-4 margin on Saturday night in Southern Conference baseball action.
The win was number 498 for Elon skipper Mike Kennedy who is in his 15th season at his alma mater.
Elon (24-12, 14-3 SoCon) found itself down 4-0 heading into the last of the eighth before rallying to tie the score. Garrett Koster led the inning off with a double down the left field line and went to third on a ground out. With two down, Niko Fraser drew a walk before Neal Pritchard laced a single to right-center to plate Koster. Alex Swim followed with a double to left that drove home Fraser to close the Phoenix's deficit to 4-2. Sebastian Gomez then bounced a ball to third, but beat the throw to first for a single that scored Pritchard. The throw to first was dropped by the Cougar first baseman which allowed Swim to race home to knot the game up at four.
In the ninth, Serra started things off with a pinch-hit single and took second on a wild pitch. After swiping third with one out, Austin grounded a ball between the drawn in first and second basemen for the game-winning hit.
College of Charleston (22-14, 7-7) took advantage of a two-out error in the top of the first inning and scored two runs in its first at bat. After Rob Kral reached on an error, Matt Leeds grounded a single between first and second. With the runners on second and third following a wild pitch, Jose Rodriguez lined a double into right-center to drive home both runners.
The Cougars tacked on a third unearned run when Kolby Epley's two-out single to center plated Leeds from third.
Leeds began the Charleston fifth with a double down the left field line, moved to third on a ground out and then scored when Daniel Aldrich lifted a sacrifice fly to left-center to make it a 4-0 game.
Jared Kernodle (5-1) was the winner for Elon after tossing five shutout frames out of the bullpen in relief of starter Dylan Clark. Kernodle allowed just two hits while fanning four. Clark gave up all four runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits in four inning.
Kyle Owings (0-3) suffered the loss after surrendering one run on two hits in just two-thirds of an inning. Cougar starter Josh Renfro kept Elon off the board until the eighth and finished the night being charged with four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 7.2 innings. Renfro struck out seven.
Swim and Koster both finished the night 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Leeds led the Cougar attack, picking up three of the team's eight hits. He also scored three of the four runs.
Elon will look to complete the sweep at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Georgia Southern 8, Western Carolina 7
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina fell behind 5-0 through the first two innings including allowing a four-spot in the top of the first inning before rallying to within a run on Saturday afternoon. However, the rally fell short as Georgia Southern held on for the 8-7 victory in Southern Conference action at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
The series rubber match is scheduled for 2:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. Fans can follow all of the action online with live GameTracker, or through the Georgia Southern radio broadcast with play-by-play announcer, Ryan Chambers, with a 2:30 pm air time.
Georgia Southern (21-15, 10-4 SoCon) sent 10 batters to the plate in the opening frame to score four runs including a three-run homer by Victor Roache to take the early lead. Roache tied the NCAA lead entering the day with his 17th round-tripper of the season - and his second of the series - in a 1-for-3 showing. The Eagles led 5-0 before WCU pushed across its first run in the third inning Tyler White drove home Matt Johns with a single up the middle for a 5-1 margin.
GSU took the run back half an inning later with a sacrifice fly by Roache for his fourth RBI of the game.
Freshman Aaron Attaway circled the bases in the bottom of the fourth to give WCU its second run. The Morganton, N.C., native doubled to deep right center field where GSU's Shawn Payne circled behind the ball for the relay back to the infield. However, the rainy conditions that bumped the start of the game back an hour caused the ball to slip from Payne's hand on the throw which squirted into centerfield. The throwing error allowed Attaway to circle second and round third for home, scoring on the play to cut the deficit back to 6-2.
A Michael Burruss RBI triple in the sixth followed by an RBI ground out plated a pair of runs for the Eagles in the top of the sixth before WCU answered in the home portion of the frame. Austin Schultz drove in two on a two out RBI double down the left field line to get the runs back, 8-4.
In the seventh, a single and an error put two aboard for White, who welcomed reliever Matt Murray to the game with a RBI single through the right side to cut the GSU lead to three, 8-5. Following a perfectly executed double steal, Stephen Notaro drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run game, 8-6. White was then able to rumble home on a wild pitch that darted back to the backstop to make it a one-run game, 8-7.
However, Murray was able to strike out Attaway in the seventh to end the rally at three runs. Then, in the eighth, Schultz drew a leadoff walk - one of three on the afternoon - and then stole second to put the tying run two bases away. After a slash ground out by Cameron Dullnig, the Eagles intentionally walked Ross Heffley, who saw his 15-game hitting streak ended after a 0-for-3 performance, to put two aboard. Murray then recorded a strikeout and a ground out up the middle to end the threat before fanning two in the ninth to secure the three-inning save.
Heffley was 0-for-3 with a pair walks and a strikeout while Schultz matched White's two RBI.
WCU starter Jordan Smith (4-4) was touched up for eight runs on 10 hits through five innings in the start, allowing five runs through the first two frames before settling down into a rhythm. The freshman struck out five with two walks in taking the loss.
Western Carolina threw four combined pitchers including three out of the bullpen with the relievers limiting Georgia Southern to one run over the final four frames to enable the comeback. Preston Hatcher struck out four against one walk with one hit in three and two thirds out of the pen for WCU.
Georgia Southern's Andy Moye (4-1) was credited with the victory, striking out four against four walks while holding WCU to two runs - one earned - on three hits. Joe Lower tossed two and two thirds with a walk and a strikeout while Murray struck out four in three innings.
Four Eagles recorded multi-hit games as GSU outhit the Catamounts, 11-to-8. Both squads stranded 10 runners on the afternoon.
UNCG 4, James Madison 3 (12 inn.)
GREENSBORO, N.C. - For the second time in as many days, UNCG and James Madison played 12 innings, but this time the Spartans came out on top as they defeated the Dukes, 4-3, on Saturday night at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.
After UNCG (18-15) tied the game in the seventh inning, the teams battled to a 3-all tie until the bottom of the 12th inning. Drew Gehringer led off the inning with an infield single that bounced over the pitcher's head and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.
After an intentional walk to Trevor Edwards, Eric Brindle grounded into a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners. Pinch hitter Joe Hager then stepped to the plate and took the first pitch he saw right back up the middle to easily score Gehringer and give UNCG the 4-3 walk-off victory.
Colby Hyatt, the normal Sunday starter for UNCG, came in to pitch the final six innings of relief to pick up his fourth win of the season as he allowed just one run on five hits.
James Madison (24-12) reliever Trent Cundiff was credited with the loss after allowing one run on two hits in just 2/3 of an inning.
Coming off an impressive 5-for-5 performance on Friday, Gehringer went 2-5 on Saturday with an RBI and two runs scored. Edwards also added an RBI on a sacrifice fly and drew a walk in the contest.
Leadoff hitter Johnny Bladel had a nice night for the Dukes as he went a perfect 4-4 at the dish with two RBI and a walk. Ian Haynes also went 2-5 with an RBI and run scored in the losing effort.
The Spartans were able to take the early lead as Gehringer led off the bottom of the first with an eight-pitch walk. A single by Bobby Martin advanced him to third and Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field to score Gehringer and put UNCG in front, 1-0.
The Dukes came right back in the top of the second to tie the game when Matt Tenaglia drew a one-out walk. He then proceeded to steal second before scoring on a two-out single up the middle by Haynes.
James Madison took its first lead of the evening in the fifth inning when Billy Logan hit a two-out double down the left-field line and Bladel followed with a single up the middle to give the Dukes a 2-1 advantage.
The Dukes would stretch it to 3-1 in the top of the seventh when Haynes singled to lead off the inning and later scored on another RBI single by Bladel.
UNCG responded, though, in the home half of the seventh with a two-out rally. Chris Barker came in to pinch hit and slapped a single to right field and John Hein followed with a single to left field. Gehringer then singled up the middle to score Barker and move Hein over the third. On the first pitch to Martin, the Dukes reliever threw it to the backstop, which allowed Hein to come home and tie the game at three.
UNCG had a chance to take the lead in the eighth inning when it loaded the bases, but couldn't come up with a run until Hager's single in the 12th inning.
The Spartans and Dukes will meet in the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.