Wofford 5, The Citadel 4

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford scored two runs on an infield single by Eric Brenk in the bottom of the seventh, and the bullpen shut down The Citadel over the final two frames in a 5-4 Terrier victory in the opening game of a Southern Conference series Friday at Russell C. King Field.

The loss was just the second in the past nine games for the Bulldogs (12-7, 2-2 SoCon), while Wofford (8-11, 1-3) snapped a six-game losing streak in its first conference home game of the season.

Austin Pritcher allowed only four hits in 6 1/3 innings but was charged with his first loss of the season after starting the year 3-0. The senior right hander allowed three runs (only one earned) in the first inning before blanking Wofford over the next five innings as The Citadel took a 4-3 lead into the fateful bottom of seventh.

Demetrius Jennings led off the decisive inning with a bloop single to right. Matthew Kaskow bunted between the mound and first base line, and Pritcher's throw to second to force Jennings was late, putting Terriers at first and second with nobody out.

Pritcher struck out Alec Paradowski and was then relieved by Zach Sherrill, who was making his SoCon-leading 14th appearance of the season. A wild pitch and a walk loaded the bases with one out, and Sherrill struck out Seth Neely to put the Bulldogs on the verge of escaping the inning.

Brenk worked the count to 2-2 and then hit a grounder behind the bag at second. Citadel shortstop Johnathan Stokes made a great diving stop but his flip to Mason Davis covering second was late. Jennings scored from third and Kaskow raced all the way home from second to give Wofford its eventual game-winning run.

Joe Jackson led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, and Wofford closer Eric Eck fell behind 3-0 to Bo Thompson. Two pitches later, Thompson hit a grounder to third that resulted in a 5-4-3 double play, and Tyler Griffin struck out to end the game. Matthew Milburn, the second of four Terrier pitchers, worked a perfect seventh to improve to 2-0, while Eck picked up his third save.

The Citadel scored in the first on a single by Davis, a passed ball and an error by Jennings at second that allowed Davis to come across.

Wofford answered the bottom of the first when Paradowski singled down the left-field line and Josh Hyman walked. Neely tied the game with a single to left to score Paradowski, who slid in just ahead of the tag. Hyman scored when Brenk reached on an error, and Matthew Ramsay gave the Terriers a 3-1 lead with a safety squeeze to score Neely.

The Citadel rallied against Wofford starter Brandon Yarusi in the third, tying the game on a single by Jackson and a two-run homer to center by Griffin, his fifth of the year. The Bulldogs have 17 round-trippers on the season, just two shy of their total from the entire 2012 campaign. The Citadel took the lead in the fifth when Thompson doubled and scored on an error.

Pritcher, meanwhile, settled down after the shaky start, retiring 12 in a row until Paradowski singled with two outs in the fifth. He was in trouble in the sixth when Neely singled and Brenk reached on an error but responded by striking out Ramsay and Luke Feisal and getting Clark Wise to line out to short.

Game two of the series takes place on Saturday at 3 p.m. with sophomore left hander James Reeves pitching for The Citadel against Wofford junior right hander Jesse Morris.

 

Furman 7, Davidson 1

DAVIDSON, N.C. –  Nate Smith recorded 10 strikeouts to match a career high, and Will Muzika homered in his second straight game to lead Furman past Davidson, 7-1, in the opening game of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series Friday evening at Wilson Field.

In earning the victory, Smith (2-0), a senior left-hander and the SoCon’s reigning pitcher of the week, fanned 10 Davidson batters over six innings, and Ben Carlson followed with three innings of shutout ball, including three strikeouts, to record his third save of the season for Furman (14-4, 5-2 SoCon), which won for the seventh time in its last eight games.

The win was the Paladins’ fourth straight over Davidson (6-9, 2-5 SoCon).

Muzika, who homered in Furman’s 7-3 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, belted a solo shot to left field in the eighth to extend the Paladins’ lead to 6-1.  In the ninth, Alex Abrams’ RBI double scored Paul Nitto, who reached on an error to finish the game without a hit in four at-bats, halting his Division I-leading hitting streak at 25 games — the second longest streak in program history.

Smith got all the run support he would need early as Jordan Simpson and Muzika opened the third inning with back-to-back doubles off of Davidson starter Ryan Lowe (2-2), and Muzika scored on a Taylor Johnson infield single — his second of four hits in a 4-for-5 performance — to give Furman a 2-0 lead.

Smith loaded the bases in the third with a hit and two walks but got out of the jam by striking out Lee Miller and Andrew Barna.

Jarrod Rickman’s RBI double in the fourth plated Chris Ohmstede for a 3-0 lead, and the Paladins added a run in the sixth after pinch-runner Heath Burton stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error before coming in to score on a Simpson sacrifice fly.

Davidson registered its only run in the sixth on Michael Zeblo’s solo home run to left-center field to make it a 4-1 game.  Furman, however, responded by plating single runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth to nail down the victory.

Seven of Furman’s 12 hits were doubles.  Muzika went 2-for-5 and, in addition to cracking his 24th career home run, drove in two runs, scored twice and stole a base.  Johnson also swiped two bags for the Paladins.

Carlson relieved Smith to begin the seventh and retired the Wildcats in order.  He yielded back-to-back singles in the eighth but rallied to get the next three batters, including two by strikeout.  The Mauldin, S.C., product finished off his solid relief performance with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.

Barna and Zeblo both went 2-for-4 to lead Davidson, which finished with seven hits.

Saturday’s game is set for 2 p.m. at Wilson Field.

 

Western Carolina 5, College of Charleston 4

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston and Western Carolina combined for four runs in the final two innings and the final out of the game was made on an intense play at the plate as the Catamounts took a 5-4 win over the Cougars on Friday night.

Western Carolina (11-6, 3-1) broke a 4-4 tie with a sacrifice fly from Bradley Strong in the top of the ninth, scoring J.D. Long from third base. College of Charleston (10-8, 2-2) nearly tied it up in the bottom of the ninth inning after a double from Tyler Jackson and an infield single from Blake Butler. Pinch-runner Devon Reed advanced to third on Butler’s hit and rounded third for the potential tying run but was called out at home for the final out of the game.

The Cougars tied the game with an RBI hit from Brandon Murray in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring Ben Boykin from first. Murray originally went to third base but was called back to second after the play was ruled a ground-rule double after discussion.

Murray advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Bradley Goodson but was tagged out after his foot came off the bag. The Catamounts got out of the eighth inning with a strikeout-throw-out double play.

Tyler Powell (1-0) picked up the win for Western Carolina after pitching the eighth inning, while Preston Hatcher picked up his fourth save as he pitched the ninth inning.

Michael Hanzlik (1-2) was tagged with the loss, coming into the eighth inning after Cody Jones hit a go-ahead two-run home run, the first runs of the game since the third inning. Hanzlik’s only allowed run was unearned as he struck out three. Matt Pegler had his fourth no-decision of the season after the Cougars tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Murray led the Cougars’ offense with a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate with two doubles and one RBI. Ryan Welke hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth inning that scored Murray. Jackson finished with two hits and an RBI.

Western Carolina’s Jones led the Catamounts with two hits and a two-run homer. Julian Ridings hit a solo home run back in the second inning to open the scoring.

Friday night’s game was the Cougars’ sixth one-run game this season and the third that was decided on the final at-bat.

The teams will return to the diamond on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Left-hander Jake Zokan will start for College of Charleston, while Western Carolina will counter with left-hander Morgan McKinney.

 

Elon 14, UNCG 8

GREENSBORO, N.C. – A seven-run, sixth-inning outburst by the Elon offense erased a 4-1 deficit as the Phoenix knocked off UNCG 14-8 in game one of a Southern Conference baseball series on Friday evening.

Trailing 4-1 heading into the top of the sixth inning, Elon (9-8, 3-4 SoCon) began its rally with a Ryan Kinsella double to left.  A one-out double off the bat of Wil Leathers drove home Kinsella to make it 4-2.  After a walk, pinch-hitter Joey Tomko grounded a ball through the right side of the infield to plate Leathers.

A Blaine Bower bunt single loaded the bases for his twin brother, Quinn Bower, who delivered a bloop single down the left-field line to tie the game at 4.  The Phoenix took its first lead of the game when Alex Swim sent a sacrifice fly to center that scored Tomko.  With the Bower brothers on the corners, Elon pulled off a double steal to make it 6-4 before Antonio Alvarez crushed his third homer of the year over the wall in left-center to cap the seven-run outburst.

The Spartans (8-8, 0-1) scored first as Cambric Moye singled home Ray Crawford in the last of the first.  After Elon tied it in the second on Kinsella's sixth homer of the year, UNCG put up three in the second. 

The Spartans tacked on three runs in the bottom of the second to race in front 4-1. Redshirt freshman infielder Nin Marrero doubled to left center with one out, moving sophomore outfielder Eric Kalbfleisch to third base. Junior outfielder Cole Harrison proceeded to fly out to left, which plated Kalbfleisch for UNCG’s second run. Crawford and senior outfielder Zach Leach followed with a pair of doubles to account for the other two tallies.

Elon added three to its total in the seventh as Tomko doubled home two and later scored on a Blaine Bower ground out.

UNCG mounted one last rally in the seventh, scoring four runs on four hits and taking advantage of two Phoenix errors to cut its deficit to 11-8. Crawford began the inning by reaching on an error at short and advanced to second on a passed ball with one out. Senior infielder Lloyd Enzor laced an RBI single to right field before Moye followed with an infield single. Kalbfleisch and senior infielder TJ Spina added RBI base knocks and Enzor crossed home on the other error to give the Spartans life.

After UNCG scored the four unearned runs, the Maroon and Gold plated another three in the eighth on a bomb from Leathers, his first of the season.

Dylan Clark (2-1) was the winning pitcher as he settled in after the second, allowing just two hits in his final four innings of work.  Clark went six and evened his career high with eight strikeouts.  John Antonelli picked up his first save with 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

The loss went to Dylan Hathcock (2-2), who gave up four runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning in relief of starter Max Povse, who threw 5 1/3 innings and struck out a career-high eight batters. He allowed four runs on six hits while also walking two.  UNCG pitching allowed three homers to the Phoenix, matching the total its staff had allowed all season.

Elon's offensive attack saw both Kinsella (3-for-5, two runs, one RBI) and Leathers (3-for-4, three runs, four RBI) just miss the cycle – Kinsella was a triple shy, while Leathers needed just the single.  Tomko was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI off the bench for the Phoenix.

Game two of this series will be played at 2 p.m. on Saturday at UNCG Baseball Stadium.

 

Samford 6, Georgia Southern 2

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – C.K. Irby threw 8 1/3 strong innings and allowed five hits as Samford defeated Georgia Southern 6-2 at Joe Lee Griffin Field on Friday night.

Irby (3-2) held Georgia Southern (10-7, 3-1) in check for most of the game and survived a ninth-inning rally attempt to earn the win for Samford (12-7, 3-2).

Robbie Dodds tripled with one out in the ninth and later scored a run on a double from pinch-hitter Garren Palmer. Stryker Brown followed with a single, but Arthur Strauss got a double play to end the ball game.

Samford took an early lead after scoring three runs in the third inning off of five hits and a walk. Christiaan Durdaller broke open the inning with a two-RBI single. Sam Howard was able to leave the bases loaded after striking out Richard Greene and coaxing a fly out from Fankie Navarrete.

Howard (3-2) threw a solid game but was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs – three earned – on nine hits. The sophomore left-hander struck out six batters and walked three over 4 2/3 innings.

The Bulldogs tallied 14 hits, left 13 base runners stranded and left the bases loaded three times. Tommy Corbin recorded four hits and drove in a pair of runs. Phillip Ervin recorded a pair of hits and scored a run, while Caleb Bryson tallied two hits and a RBI. Chase Griffin led the Eagles with two hits and drove in a run.

Samford led 4-0 before Georgia Southern struck for its first run in the sixth inning. Ben Morgan tripled over the head of a diving Ervin to lead off the inning. Griffin plated the run a batter later with a single into left center.

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the seventh inning. Caleb Bryson led off the frame with a solo home run over the batter's eye in center field. Evan Challenger followed with two quick outs before Frankie Navarrete singled. Zeth Stone moved the runner into scoring position with a bunt single before Corbin drove in the second run on a base hit.

The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m. The Eagles will send freshman left-hander Jason Richman to the mound to face Eric Wright.