Appalachian State 8, Georgia 5

ATHENS, Ga. – Appalachian State broke open a close game by plating five runs in the top of the sixth inning and went on to defeat Georgia, 8-5, on Wednesday afternoon at Foley Field.

With the victory, Appalachian State (9-5) earned a split of the two-game midweek series at Georgia (8-9) and moved to 6-4 in its last 10 matchups versus opponents from the powerful Southeastern Conference.

After scoring three runs in the top of the first inning, Appalachian State was limited to just one hit over the next four stanzas and was clinging to a 3-2 advantage when it came to the plate in the sixth. However, highlighted by a two-run double by Josh Zumbrook, the Mountaineers exploded for four hits en route to the five-run sixth, which turned the one-run lead into a commanding 8-2 advantage.

Georgia made it interesting with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and one in the eighth but Taylor Thurber finished off four innings of impressive relief by inducing a 4-6-3 double play to seal the victory in the ninth.

Four Appalachian State pitchers combined to limit UGA’s powerful offense, which was hitting .315 as a team coming into the afternoon, to just three earned runs on five hits. Jeffrey Springs got his first win of the season with two innings of no-hit relief and Thurber allowed one run on three hits over the final four frames to pick up the first save of his career.

Offensively, seven different players had hits and six drove in runs for the Mountaineers. Zumbrook led the charge, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Hector Crespo, Preston Troutman and Will Callaway also had two hits apiece for Appalachian State, while Dillon Dobson added a pair of RBI on a towering two-run homer in the first.

Appalachian State returns home for the first time in more than two weeks this weekend when it hosts a three-game series versus Cornell. The weekend set begins with a doubleheader on Saturday at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. First pitch for the twinbill is set for 1 p.m.

 

Elon 4, Virginia Tech 3

ELON, N.C. – Elon’s pitching limited a hot-hitting Virginia Tech team to just four hits and the Phoenix plated four runs in the seventh inning to knock off the Hokies 4-3 in baseball action from Latham Park on Wednesday afternoon.

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, Elon (8-8) began its comeback with a Chris Schaedel single into center. Both Blaine Bower and Quinn Bower attempted sacrifice bunts but beat throws to first as the Maroon and Gold loaded the bases for Joey Tomko. Tomko delivered the first Phoenix marker, as his sacrifice fly to left-center drove home Schaedel. With two away, Ryan Kinsella delivered the big blow as he connected on the first pitch he saw from Hokie reliever Eddie Campbell for a three-run homer over the tall wall in left that put the Phoenix on top for good, 4-2. It was Kinsella's team-leading fifth homer of the season.

Virginia Tech (13-5) would get one back in the eighth when Chad Pinder scored on an Elon throwing error. The Hokies put one on in the ninth, but never really threatened as Nate Young closed it out for his fourth save of the season.

Virginia Tech, which entered the game hitting .304 as a team, got on the board first by plating two in the second. The first run was walked in while the second scored on an Elon error.

Brandon Kacer (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory with 1/3 of an inning out of the bullpen. Kacer came on in the seventh and struck out Sean Keselica with a runner on third.

Elon starter Jacob Baker was solid, giving the Phoenix five innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) on just one hits. He fanned four.

Campbell (1-2) was the losing pitcher. He was charged with all four Elon runs and gave up four hits in just one inning.

Quinn Bower matched his career high with three hits in five at bats. Both Wil Leathers and Blaine Bower posted two-hit days for the Phoenix.

Elon will return to Southern Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at UNCG. Friday's first pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

 

The Citadel 9, Akron 3

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Johnathan Stokes knocked out a career-high four hits and connected for his first career home run, helping The Citadel complete a two-game sweep of Akron with a 9-3 victory Wednesday at Riley Park.

The Bulldogs (12-6) won for the seventh time in their past eight games, the best stretch since winning 13 in a row near the end of the 2010 season. The Citadel is also six games over .500 for the first time since wrapping up that campaign with a record of 43-22.

Akron dropped to 1-13 on the season with all 14 games coming on the road.

Bret Hines also went deep for the first time in his brief collegiate career, and Bo Thompson hit his sixth of the year and fourth in the past five games. The Citadel had 15 hits, one shy of its season high, and has recorded 11 hits in a game in nine of 18 contests so far this season.

The three home runs give The Citadel 16 on the season, only three shy of the total from the entire 2012 campaign. Thompson matched the total that Justin Mackert had when he paced the Bulldogs in that category a year ago.

Stokes went 7-for-9 with five RBI against Akron and raised his average from .262 entering the series to .329. The sophomore shortstop batted just .212 as a freshman in 2012.

Austin Livingston, the third of five Bulldog pitchers in the game, worked two innings of two-hit, shutout ball with a pair of strikeouts and earned the victory to improve to 2-0. Skylar Hunter came in with one on and one out in the eighth and didn't allow a hit the rest of the way to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Calvin Orth doubled in a run in the second and Thompson had an RBI single in the third, but The Citadel still found itself down 3-2 after the Zips’ Matt LaRocca homered off Kevin Connell to lead off the fourth.

That changed in the home half of the fifth when Thompson and Stokes blasted solo shots off of Akron starter Michael Steensen. The Bulldogs added another run in the frame on an RBI single by Hughston Armstrong, who extended his hitting streak to a career-long seven games and is 15-for-24 (.625) over that span.

Stokes lined a single to center to score Drew DeKerlegand in the sixth. Hines, a defensive replacement in the seventh and appearing in just the sixth game of his freshman season, drove one inside the foul pole in left for a three-run shot in the eighth to put the finishing touches on the win.

The Citadel returns to Southern Conference play this weekend with a trip to Spartanburg to face Wofford. The first game of the series is Friday at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs are 2-1 in the SoCon after taking two of three from defending conference tournament champion Samford last weekend at Riley Park.

 

Western Carolina 11, Eastern Kentucky 7

CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Western Carolina pushed four runs across in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn an 11-7 win over Eastern Kentucky Wednesday evening at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.

The teams combined for 14 runs in four innings before a pair of relievers, Matt Lynch for EKU and Jonathan Waszak for WCU, calmed the game until the Catamounts brought in four in the bottom of the eighth to pick up their 10th win of the season.

The teams traded blows in the first inning, with Eastern Kentucky striking first with the Colonel leadoff man Demetrius Moorer hitting a double down the left-field line. After Moorer advanced to third on a fly out to center field, designated hitter Shaun Ball drove him in with an RBI single.

The Catamounts answered with two runs in the bottom of the first frame as WCU loaded the bases following back-to-back singles by the first two men in the order, Aaron Attaway and Cody Jones, and a walk by Tyler White. Jacob Hoyle did his job by bringing in Attaway with a sacrifice fly to right with Austin Neary doing the same to score Cody Jones from third to give WCU an early 2-1 lead.

With one out in the top of the second, Doug Teegarden hit a line drive up the middle of the infield to plate the Colonels’ third run of the game. A walk to Moorer loaded the bases for Matt Phipps. Phipps hit a grounder to Catamount shortstop Aaron Attaway, who attempted to turn the 6-4-3 double play but was late in getting Phipps out at first, bringing across another run for EKU.

The Colonels were not done with two outs in the inning as Shaun Ball hit a deep fly ball to right center that rolled to the fence to clear the bases, scoring two runs to give EKU a 6-2 second inning lead.

Bradley Strong hit a two-out single through the right side to become WCU’s first base runner of the second. After a stolen base and a wild pitch moved Strong to third, Attaway hit a dribbler between the third baseman, short stop and the pitcher to pick up an infield single, which scored Strong from third to bring the Catamounts within three.

The Colonels scored in their third consecutive inning with a blast over the center-field fence by catcher Sean Hagen, his first of the year.

Down 7-3 to start the bottom half of the third, the Catamounts picked up three runs to claw back within one, two of which came off a triple to left-center by Julian Ridings. Catcher Adam Martin followed Ridings with an RBI single through the right side to score Ridings from third, making the score 7-6 at the end of three.

After reaching on a double, Tyler White scored off a two-out single through the right side by Austin Neary to knot the game at 7 through four innings.

Hunter Brister entered the game with a 3-2 count with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Brister threw one pitch to tally a strikeout on Teegarden to get the Catamounts out of the jam and put Brister in position for his second win of the season.

The Catamounts blew open the 7-7 tie in the bottom of the eighth, beginning with a one-out single by Attaway to right field. Jones picked up his second hit of the night with a single up the middle that put runners on the corners. Lynch got Tyler White to pop up, bringing up WCU pinch-hitter Bryant Noteboom.

EKU went to its bullpen to Myles Scott, who threw a wild pitch to bring in Attaway from third and move Jones to second with two outs. Noteboom then delivered with an RBI single – advancing to second on the throw. Austin Neary then picked up his third hit of the day, an RBI double down the left-field line. Neary moved to third on the second wild pitch of the inning before Martin brought in the final run of the game for Western Carolina with an RBI single.

After starting pitcher Taylor Sandefur and reliever Hoyle gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings, relievers Waszak and Brister went 6 1/3 innings while not giving up any runs on just three hits. EKU used five pitchers in the loss, with reliever Matt Lynch giving up the loss, his first of the season.

The Catamounts notched a season-high 19 hits with Attaway going 4-for-5 with an RBI and Neary going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Julian Ridings (2-for-4) also had three RBI on his bases-clearing triple in the third.

Western Carolina (10-7) heads to Charleston, S.C., to face College of Charleston for its second SoCon series of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

 

Rhode Island 18, UNCG 8

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Rhode Island sent 13 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the first inning Wednesday, cruising to an 18-8 victory over the UNCG baseball team at the UNCG Baseball Stadium.

The Rams improved to 3-11 overall, while the Spartans dropped to 8-7 heading into Southern Conference play.

Rhode Island racked up 18 hits against the UNCG pitching staff, while also committing five errors. The Spartans also reached double figures in hits with 10 as sophomore outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch and redshirt freshman infielder Nin Marrero were responsible for two base knocks each. Additionally, junior catcher Cambric Moye tallied his team-leading fifth home run of the season – a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the second.

UNCG sophomore left hander Brandon Browne was tagged with his first loss of the season, completing just a third of an inning while giving up six earned runs on two hits and four walks. In all, the Spartans used eight pitchers in the game with sophomore RHP Adam Boghosian throwing 2 2/3 innings and facing 16 batters. He gave up five runs (four earned), walked three batters and struck out two.

Tim Caputo led off the game with a single through the right side before moving to second on a wild pitch. Jeff Roy walked and Mike LeBel popped up to leave runners at first and second with one out. Browne then uncorked two wild pitches to score Caputo, and Chase Livingston walked to load the bases. Shane O’Connell then delivered a big blow, tripling to right-center and clearing the bases to make the score 4-0.

Derek Gardella proceeded to walk before Boghosian replaced Browne on the mound. Connor Foreman added another run on a RBI single and the Rams used a passed ball, a two-RBI single and a run-scoring triple to cap the nine-run frame.

UNCG fought back in the bottom of the second, as Moye led off with a solo bomb that cleared the batter’s eye in dead center field. The next two Spartan batters poked singles through the middle and right side before junior infielder Sean Guite reached on a fielder’s choice play to load the bases. Rhode Island’s defense broke down on the next play as Marrero took first on an error by the second baseman before the Rams threw the ball around the park – allowing Kalbfleisch and senior infielder TJ Spina to cross home safely and cut the visitors’ lead to 9-3.

The Rams added two runs in the top of the third, but the Spartans answered with three in the bottom of the fourth. A pair of errors aided in helping UNCG pull within 11-6. Senior outfielder Christian Wolfe reached on an error by the Rhode Island second baseman, which plated Guite for the first run before a groundout by senior outfielder Zach Leach scored the second tally. Senior infielder Lloyd Enzor was safe at first on an error at short with two outs, which allowed junior outfielder Cole Harrison to score. Harrison had come on to pinch-run for Wolfe.

Despite the Spartans’ attempt to rally, the Rams put the game out of reach by netting seven runs over the next four innings while UNCG could only manage a single tally. The Spartans closed out the scoring in the bottom of the ninth when Kalbfleisch grounded out and plated junior infielder Shawn Hendon.

The Blue and Gold opens SoCon play this weekend, hosting local rival Elon for a three-game series at the UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans and Phoenix will open the set Friday at 6 p.m.

 

No. 5 South Carolina 12, Davidson 4

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Freshman Sam Foy went 3-for-5 at the plate while Andrew Barna and Michael Zeblo drove in the runs for Davidson in a 12-4 loss to No. 5 South Carolina in nonconference baseball action Wednesday night in Carolina Stadium.

Foy and third baseman David Daniels led the game off with base hits for Davidson (6-8), but they were the lone hits for the Wildcats until the eighth inning. South Carolina (15-2) scored 11 runs before the ‘Cats got on the scoreboard in the eighth and ninth innings, in which first baseman Andrew Barna (1-for-4) and shortstop Michael Zeblo (1-for-4) drove in two runs each.

First baseman LB Dantzler drove in half of the Gamecocks’ runs on a pair of homers and a sacrifice fly in a 3-for-3 day at the plate. Starting RHP Joel Seddon yielded just the first two hits and two walks, while striking out six in four innings of work. RHP Curt Britt (1-0) earned the win after two near-perfect innings, as the first batter he faced reached on error.

Dantzler hit a two-run home run in the first inning with two outs, and then the Gamecocks added two more in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Graham Saiko (1-for-2, BB) and a base hit to center field by Max Schrock (2-for-3, BB) for an early 4-0 lead. Dantzler and Grayson Greiner both hit sac flies in the fifth inning for a 6-0 lead, and then Dantzler slugged a three-run home run in the sixth inning following an RBI single by Joey Pankake (1-for-2, BB), for an 11-0 advantage.

Davidson got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning when Zeblo hit an RBI single to drive in Barna. George Iskenderian scored from third on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the frame for USC’s final run, and then Barna drove in two with a double to right center and Zeblo hit into an RBI groundout with the bases loaded in a three-run ninth inning for Davidson.

Of Davidson’s six pitchers used in the game, four were freshmen. Rookie RHP Rob Caudill (0-1) took the loss after yielding four runs in two innings. Sophomore RHP Nick Neitzel did the best, allowing just one hit and striking out three in two innings of work.

Davidson will return to Wilson Field for games Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. versus Southern Conference foe Furman. The final game of the series will be played Sunday at 2 p.m. at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., as part of the College Baseball Series presented by BB&T.

 

Presbyterian 3, Wofford 1 (10 inn.)

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford baseball team fell to Presbyterian 3-1 in 10 innings Wednesday night at Russell C. King field. The Terriers had the tying run at first, but the game ended on pop fly.

Wofford fell to 7-11 after the loss, and the Blue Hose improved to 11-7. The Terriers were led by Alec Paradowski, who drove in Wofford’s lone run. Nathan Chong had two hits and two RBI to lead PC.

In the first inning, Wofford loaded the bases after Brett Byrum hit Paradowski, Josh Hyman singled and Eric Brenk walked. However, all three were stranded after James Plaisted popped up to center to end the inning.

With the game still scoreless, the Terriers threatened again in the bottom of the third but left runners at the corners when Brenk struck out looking.

After Wofford left two more runners on base in the bottom of the fourth, PC took the lead in the top of the fifth. Jay Lizanich scored on Chong’s double to left after reaching base with a leadoff walk.

The Terriers tied the game in the seventh when Paradowski drove in Demetrius Jennings from second. Jennings was hit by Brett Byrum then advanced to second on Matthew Kaskow’s sacrifice bunt.

In the ninth, the Blue Hose loaded the bases but a double play ended the frame with the score still tied 1-1. In the Wofford half of the inning, Matthew Ramsay reached first on a wild pitch after striking out, then advanced to second on Luke Feisal’s sacrifice bunt and stole third. However, he would remain there as a pop fly to right and another strikeout ended the inning.

In the top of the 10th, PC opened the frame with a walk by Aaron Preston. He was moved to second with a sacrifice bunt by McRae. The Blue Hose loaded the bases after another walk and an error. A perfect bunt down the first-base line by Lizanich scored Preston to give PC a 2-1 advantage. The Blue Hose added a run to make it 3-1 on Chong’s sacrifice fly to center.

After two quick outs in the Wofford half of the 10th, two walks put the tying run at first and the winning run at the plate. However, after a pitching change, a pop fly to second ended the game.

Wofford starter Dominick Del Monte went 6 2/3 innings and gave up one unearned run on four hits. Josh Simpson (0-1) took the loss for the Terriers.

PC starter Byrum pitched seven innings and only gave up one run on five hits. Chad Sanders (1-1) earned the win after two scoreless innings of work with two strikeouts. Michael Ricchi earned his third save after recording the final out with two runners on base.

Wofford returns to the field on Friday when it hosts The Citadel in the team’s first Southern Conference home series. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Russell C. King Field.