Western Carolina 9, Georgia Southern 3
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – A seven-run second inning lifted the Western Carolina Catamounts to a 9-3 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles in the opener of a three-game Southern Conference series on Friday.
Jeremy Null (4-2) settled down after allowing three runs over the first three innings and earned the win with a quality start. Null struck out a career-high 14 batters over eight innings and allowed just three runs.
Julian Ridings led the Western Carolina (24-16, 13-6 SoCon) offense, who tallied nine hits, with two hits and three RBIs. Aaron Attaway added three hits, a run and a RBI. For Georgia Southern (21-17, 10-9 SoCon), Tyler Avera had two hits and scored a run.
Justin Hess (3-4) suffered the loss after allowing nine runs – two earned – on seven hits. Hess struck out 10 batters over 5 2/3 innings, while walking a pair. Clint Taylor tossed the final 2 1/3 innings and did not allow a run.
Hess worked around a leadoff walk in the first inning and struck out a pair of batters after Griffin threw Attaway out at second base. The senior right-hander retired the side in order in the third inning and worked around an error in the fifth inning after allowing a single run in the fourth.
The Catamounts sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored seven runs on four hits. The inning started after Jacob Hoyle reached base on a wild pitch after striking out. Bradley Strong plated the first two runs in the inning with a double in the left-field gap. Ridings capped off the inning with a three-run homer down the line in right field.
In the top half of the frame, T.D. Davis homered off the high left-field wall to give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead. GSU answered WCU's big inning with two runs in the third inning. Stryker Brown plated a leadoff single by Avera with a triple, and Chase Griffin plated a two-out run with a single.
The Catamounts added onto their 7-3 lead with single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.
Ridings scored from third base on a wild pitch in the fourth inning. He doubled with one out and reached third base on the Hoyle fielder's choice. Hoyle struck out in the sixth inning but the ball got away from the catcher Griffin, allowing Ridings to score from third base.
The three-game Southern Conference series continues Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Citadel 6, Appalachian State 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Calvin Orth clubbed the first pitch of the bottom of the seventh over the fence in left to spark a four-run inning, breaking a 2-2 tie and sending The Citadel on its way to a 6-3 victory over Appalachian State in the opening game of a Southern Conference series at Riley Park.
The Bulldogs (22-17, 10-6 SoCon) equaled their season-high winning streak of five while taking their fourth in a row in conference play. Appalachian State lost for only the third time in its past nine SoCon games and is 21-13 overall and 10-8 in the conference. The Bulldogs have won eight in a row over the Mountaineers at Riley Park.
The series continues Saturday at 3 p.m., an hour later than the originally scheduled time, and wraps up Sunday at 1 p.m.
Orth put The Citadel ahead to stay when he hit his sixth home run of the season and fourth in the past four conference games off of Mountaineer starter Jamie Nunn. Before the inning was over, the Bulldogs would add five more hits and three two-out runs to take a 6-2 lead.
Bret Hines singled with one out and Mason Davis and Hughston Armstrong had consecutive RBI doubles with two down to give The Citadel a 5-2 lead. Armstrong moved to third on a single by Joe Jackson and scored when Bo Thompson dropped a run-scoring single into shallow right field to cap the frame.
Orth hit three home runs last weekend against Georgia Southern and continued his power surge on Friday. Prior to the series against the Eagles, the Bulldog junior first baseman had hit only three round-trippers in his career. Davis extended his hitting streak to nine, two shy of his career high, while Thompson ran his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 38.
James Reeves worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth, and Skylar Hunter retired the final two batters with the bases loaded in the ninth for his ninth save of the year.
The game featured a matchup of two of the top starting pitchers in the league, and it lived up to that billing through six innings. Senior right hander Austin Pritcher blanked the Mountaineers for the first four innings while The Citadel scored single runs in the first and fourth to take an early 2-0 lead.
Davis walked to start the game and raced all the way to third on a bunt single by Armstrong. With one out, Armstrong was thrown out trying to steal but Davis was able to cross the plate for the first run of the game. Drew DeKerlegand walked, stole second and scored on a wild pitch and passed ball in the fourth for a two-run Citadel margin.
Pritcher allowed leadoff singles in the first two innings but got double plays in each frame to avoid any serious danger. Appalachian State added another hit in the third before Pritcher worked a 1-2-3 fourth.
The Mountaineers broke through in the fifth on RBI singles by John Kincaid and Hector Crespo to even the game at 2. The hit was the second of the game and season for Kincaid, who was playing in only his sixth game and making his first start of the year.
The tallies ended a string of consecutive innings without giving up an earned run in SoCon play for the Bulldog pitching staff at 39 1/3, dating back to the series finale against Elon on April 7. The Phoenix failed to score in the final 5 2/3 innings of that game before The Citadel allowed just two unearned runs in 29 innings in a sweep at Georgia Southern last weekend.
Pritcher, who entered the game ranked third in the conference with an ERA of 2.75, allowed a two-out double in the sixth and a triple with two down in the seventh before being replaced by Zach Sherrill, who got Crespo to fly out to left. Sherrill was credited with the win when the Bulldogs broke the tie in the bottom of the seventh.
Pritcher allowed a total of seven hits, walked one and struck out two in 6 2/3 innings in taking a no-decision. Nunn took the loss for the Mountaineers and fell to 7-3 on the year. The sophomore right-hander leads the SoCon in wins and began the weekend sixth in the SoCon with a 2.92 ERA.
Reeves issued consecutive walks with one out in the ninth. Hunter started shaky, giving up a single to Crespo for his third hit of the day and then walking pinch-hitter Michael Pierson to put the tying run on base and bring up the No. 3 and 4 hitters in the Mountaineer order.
But Hunter settled down and retired Jaylin Davis on a foul out to Orth and Will Callaway on a grounder to third to wiggle out of the threat.
Samford 7, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team plated five runs in the first inning on its way to a 7-1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the first game of a three-game series Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Samford pitcher Alex Milazzo (6-0) pitched six strong innings, giving up no runs on four hits, and tying a season high with seven strikeouts, to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Milazzo allowed just one walk in the win. Parker Curry and Patrick Maronde combined to pitch the final three innings for the Bulldogs.
At the plate, Samford was led by Christiaan Durdaller, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. C.K. Irby, Caleb Bryson, Tommy Corbin and Damon Waller had one RBI each.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s Jaron Gold (2-6) gave up five runs, just two earned, on three hits without recording an out, to take the loss on the mound for the Golden Lions. Mike Wieland went 2-for-3 at the plate for UAPB, while Jacob Whitney drove in the Golden Lions’ lone run of the game, going 1-for-1.
Samford plated five runs in the bottom of the first inning to jump out to an early lead. Zeth Stone singled to lead off the inning and then moved to second base when Austin Allison reached base on a UAPB error. After moving to third base on a wild pitch, Stone scored the game’s first run on a single by Irby. Phillip Ervin then walked to load the bases. Durdaller then doubled to center field to drive in Irby and Allison for a 3-0 Samford lead. With one out in the first inning, Corbin reached base on another UAPB error, and Ervin and Durdaller both scored on the play to make the score 5-0.
The score remained 5-0 until Samford struck for two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Durdaller doubled to lead off the inning. Bryson then singled to right field to drive run Durdaller to make the score 6-0. With one out, Richard Greene singled to center field, moving Bryson to third base. Waller then doubled down the left-field line to drive in Bryson for a 7-0 Samford lead.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff plated its lone run of the game in the top of the eighth inning. With two outs in the inning, Wieland was hit by a pitch and then stole second base. Isias Alcantar then walked. Whitney then singled to center field to drive in Wieland to make the final score 7-1.
With the win, Samford improved to 20-19 on the season. Arkansas-Pine Bluff dropped to 14-23 with the loss.
Samford and Arkansas-Pine Bluff will continue their series with a game Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CT) at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Furman 9, College of Charleston 7 (susp. 8th inn.)
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston’s series-opening game against Furman was suspended in the bottom of the eighth inning due to weather moving through the area. Furman is currently leading 9-7 in a game that will resume on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s originally scheduled game will begin around 30-45 minutes after the end of the first game.
The game’s first 7 1/2 innings featured eight total home runs as both teams benefitted from sustained winds over 20 mph that were blowing out to left field.
All but one of CofC’s runs and all but three of Furman’s runs came off of homers, as CofC tied its season high in home runs in one game.
Furman jumped on top with a solo homer from Taylor Johnson in the first. Brandon Murray responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run bomb that cleared the batter’s eye in center field. It was Murray’s fourth homer in the last five games.
Greg Harrison hit a two-run homer in the second inning to retake the lead for Furman, but the Cougars retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning after a solo shot from Carl Wise and a run scored by Cody Martin on a wild pitch.
Furman went back up with a two-run homer from Alex Abrams and a two-run shot from Johnson, his second of the game, in the fifth inning.
Charleston rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning after Martin hit a two-run homer and Morgan Phillips hit a solo shot, his third home run in the last four games.
Furman retook the lead against CofC reliever Michael Hanzlik with a two-run double from Abrams for his fourth RBI of the game.
College of Charleston will look to rally from a 9-7 deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning when the game resumes tomorrow at 3 p.m. Martin, Ryan Welke and Phillips are due up for the Cougars.
Wofford at Elon (ppd.)
ELON, N.C. – Due to the threat of inclement weather, the Elon baseball game scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Wofford at Latham Park has been postponed. The two teams will now play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. The second game will not begin earlier than 6 p.m.
UNCG at Davidson (ppd.)
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Davidson’s Friday night game against UNCG has been pushed to Saturday due to severe weather. The teams will now play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. at Wilson Field.