College of Charleston 5, Western Carolina 4
Cullowhee, N.C. - Trailing by two runs entering the bottom of the final frame, Western Carolina mounted a ninth inning rally to claw back within a run with the bases loaded on Friday night in its Southern Conference series opener against the College of Charleston. However, the Catamounts were only able to bring home one run, falling 5-4 at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
Charleston's Daniel Aldrich drove in all five Cougar runs on a career-high three home runs as CofC extended its current winning streak to six-straight on the season. WCU senior Ross Heffley nearly matched him swing for swing, belting two home runs as he closed to within four base knocks of matching the school record for career hits (332 going to 336 held by Barrett Shaft, 2005-08).
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for a 1:00 pm first pitch on Saturday afternoon. The game will be broadcast online with streaming audio (free) and video through Catamount All-Access (subscription required).
Entering the bottom of the ninth down 5-3, pinch hitter Luke Gragg wore a David Peterson inside fastball to bring the tying run to the plate. Sophomore Julian Ridings then laced a seeing-eye single through the right side for his team-high third hit of the day, moving pinch runner Garrett Brown all the way around to third base.
Ridings, who finished 3-for-4, stole second ahead of classmate Dykota Spiess who drew a one-out walk to load the bases for the Catamounts, sending it back to the top of the batting order. On the first pitch of his at bat, freshman Bradley Strong drew a second HBP in the frame to drive in WCU's fourth run, trimming the Cougar lead to one, 5-4, and bringing Heffley to the plate. However, the senior from Snellville, Ga., struck out looking on a pitch off the outer half for the second out.
With the bases still loaded, sophomore Cody Jones grounded one to the right side in between first and second base. Cougar first baseman Rob Harding played the ball, but stumbled as he went to make the turn back to first. He tossed the ball to Peterson who had sprinted to cover the bag with the relay just beating the head-first slide of Jones to the bag for the game's final out and negating Ridings who had easily touched home from third base with the would-be game-tying run.
Peterson picked up his 10th save of the season as Cougar starter Christian Powell (8-2) scored the win for the visitors. Powell held WCU to three runs on seven hits, pitching around two walks with five strikeouts in the win.
Catamount starter Jordan Smith did not factor into the decision, also tossing seven complete innings of three-run baseball, limiting the Cougars to just five hits. The Liberty, N.C., native walked three but fanned six. Reliever Vance Chavis (0-1) took the loss after giving up the third home run to Aldrich, tossing one inning out of the bullpen.
Aldrich provided most of the offense - and all the run production - for the Cougars. The redshirt sophomore from Mt. Pleasant, S.C., hit a solo home run in the second inning and added two-run shots in the third and eighth with the latter proving to be the game-winner for the College of Charleston (30-12, 18-7 SoCon).
For the fifth time in the last six games, Western Carolina (26-16, 10-9 SoCon) jumped on top in the first inning. Heffley belted his fifth home run of the season with a one-out bomb over the middle section of the "Purple Monster" in left off to hand the Catamounts the 1-0 lead. The next batter, Jones, drew a walk with Tyler White pushing his team-leading 15th double down the left field line to move the runners to second and third. Then, with the bases loaded, freshman Jacob Hoyle picked up his 38th RBI with a sacrifice fly to deep right field to plate Jones.
The Cougars answered in the top of the second on Aldrich's first homer, a shot over the right field fence to bring CofC back within a run, 2-1. Aldrich notched his second home run of the game in the third inning with the two-run shot handing the Cougars a 3-2 lead on a hit that again carried over the right field fence to also bring in Marty Gantt who reached on a walk.
Not to be outdone by Aldrich, Heffley hit a lead-off bomb over the left-centerfield fence for his second of the evening to tie the game at three to end the fifth inning.
Aldrich's third home run of the game coming in the top of the eighth inning drove in two for the 5-3 edge, setting up the ninth inning heroics.
Game two is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Samford 16, Davidson 6
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-The Samford baseball team plated 16 runs on 13 hits on its way to a 16-6 win over Davidson in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series Friday night at Wilson Field.
With the win, Samford improves to 27-16 overall and 14-8 in Southern Conference play. Davidson drops to 16-23 overall and 7-15 in league play.
Samford was led at the plate by Phillip Ervin, going 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Tommy Corbin went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Saxon Butler went 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Zeth Stone was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Charles Basford (7-1) pitched 5.1 innings, giving up five runs in seven hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Tyler Vanderheiden, Michael Gunter and Gil Walker also saw time on the mound for Samford.
For Davidson at the plate, Jake Berman went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while Drew Gadaire went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Henry Sisson (3-2) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits to take the loss for the Wildcats.
Samford jumped on top early with four runs in the top of the first inning. Stone walked and Brad Moss singled to start the inning. Stone then moved to third base and Moss to second on a ground out by Butler. Stone scored the first run of the game when Ervin reached base on an error.
With two outs in the first inning, Moss scored when C.K. Irby reached base on another Davidson error. Corbin then singled to drive in Ervin to make the score 3-0. Christiaan Durdaller then singled to drive in Irby for a 4-0 Samford lead.
The Bulldogs plated two more runs in the top of the second inning to make the score 6-0. With one out, Stone was hit by a pitch and then moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Moss. Stone then scored on a single by Butler for the first run of the second inning. Ervin then doubled to drive in Butler for a six-run Samford lead.
Davidson got on the scoreboard with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Berman doubled to drive in Daniel Gerow for the Wildcats' first run of the game. Gadaire later doubled to drive in Berman and Calvin Sigelbaum to cut the Samford lead to 6-3.
The Wildcats added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the Samford lead to 6-5. Michael Zeblo and Ryan Lowe both scored on bases-loaded walks to bring Davidson to within one run.
Samford came back with two runs in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead to 8-5. Stone singled to lead off the inning and later scored the inning's first run on a wild pitch. Butler scored the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Miller.
The Bulldogs took control of the game with six runs in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 14-5. Butler, Irby and Corbin drove in a run each in the inning. Moss scored on a passed ball, and Corbin and Matt Frederick both scored on an error for Samford in the eighth inning.
Davidson added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the Samford lead to 14-6. With two outs in the inning, Sigelbaum was hit by a pitch. Berman then singled, moving Sigelbaum to second base. Forrest Brandt then singled to drive in Sigelbaum for Davidson's final run of the game.
Samford plated two final runs in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 16-6. Allison singled to lead off the inning and then scored on a double by Stone. The game's final run was scored when Ervin singled to drive in Stone for a 10-run Samford lead.
The same two teams will resume their three-game series with a game Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). Fans can follow the game online via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.
The Citadel 4, Georgia Southern 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Austin Pritcher allowed one unearned run and struck out four over seven innings as The Citadel used three Georgia Southern errors to score four unearned runs and defeated the Eagles 4-1 in Southern Conference action Friday evening at Riley Park. The Bulldogs improve to 18-24 overall and 8-11 in the SoCon.
Pritcher scattered six hits over the seven frames and walked one to improve to 5-3 on the season. Ryan Hines induced the final two fly outs of the game to earn his fourth save. Justin Mackert led the Bulldogs with two base hits, his 13th multi-hit effort of the year.
Chris Beck was the hard-luck loser for Georgia Southern (23-20, 10-9), falling to 4-5 on the season. Beck allowed four runs - all unearned - on four hits with seven strikeouts against three walks in his fourth complete-game of the season. Ben Morgan had two hits for the Eagles.
The Bulldogs opened with a single run in the bottom of the second, but Georgia Southern quickly knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the third. Joe Jackson reached on a fielding error by Eric Phillips at short and advanced to third on a single up the middle by Bo Thompson. Jackson then scored on a RBI fielder's choice by Drew DeKerlegand for the opening run of the game. The Eagles tied things up on a RBI single by Tyler Avera.
The Citadel took advantage of another Georgia Southern error in the bottom of the third, scoring three unearned runs off Beck for a 4-1 lead. Hughston Armstrong walked to lead off the frame and a fielder's choice by Nick Orvin gave the Bulldogs a runner at first with one out. Orvin stole second and moved to third on an infield single by Mason Davis. Davis stole second and Justin Mackert drew a full-count walk to load the bases with one out for Jackson. Jackson chopped a lazy grounder to third, but Avera's throw for the force out at home was off line and went past Eagles catcher Chase Griffin, allowing a pair of unearned runs to cross the plate. A sacrifice fly to left by Thompson plated Mackert who had moved to third on the error for the fourth Citadel run.
Saturday's first pitch of game two is set for 5:00 p.m. and can be heard on Sports Radio 1450 AM with Danny Reed handling the play-by-play.
Elon 6, UNCG 4
ELON, N.C. -- John Antonelli tossed four scoreless innings in relief to earn his first career win as the Elon Phoenix grabbed an important game-one victory over visiting Triad rival UNCG on Friday night at Latham Park.
Antonelli (1-0) allowed just two hits and struck out three in relief of starter Kyle Webb who went four innings and allowed three runs on eight hits while fanning five. Nate Young came on to pick up his sixth save of the year as Elon improved to 24-20 overall and 14-8 in Southern Conference play.
The Phoenix scored in each of its first five trips to the plate and led 6-3 after those at bats. Alex Swim singled in the game's first run in the bottom of the first and Garrett Koster belted his 10th homer of the year on the first pitch of the second inning. In the third, a Sebastian Gomez sac fly plated a run.
Elon scored twice in the fourth as Casey Jones tripled home a pair to break a 3-3 tie with two outs. The final tally for the maroon and gold came on a Ryan Kinsella single in the fifth.
UNCG (21-19, 6-13) tied the game at one in the second on a sac fly and then evened the score at three in the top of the fourth. In that inning Back-to-back doubles from Thomas Troelstrup and Christian Wolfe were followed by a TJ Spina single to center. After a walk loaded the bases, Bobby Martin singled home the Spartans' third run of the game.
The score remained 6-3 until the ninth when Troelstrup single plated Trevor Edwards.
Max Povse (2-3) took the loss after surrendering five runs on four hits in four innings.
Of UNCG's 13 hits, six were doubles.
Elon and UNCG will face off in game two of this SoCon series at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
Wofford-ASU Rained Out
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Due to rain, the Wofford baseball game against Appalachian State that was schedule for Friday, April 27 at 6:00 p.m. has been postponed. The two teams will play a double header on Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m.
The Terriers and Mountaineers will play the third game of the series on Sunday, April 29 at 1:00 p.m.