The Citadel 7, College of Charleston 1
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Austin Pritcher made his final Riley Park appearance a memorable one, allowing six hits and blanking College of Charleston over the final seven innings in a 7-1 victory over the Cougars on Friday afternoon.
With the win, the Bulldogs (29-21, 16-9 SoCon) kept their hold on second place in the Southern Conference and snapped a six-game regular-season losing streak to the Cougars. College of Charleston dropped to 26-23 and 14-10 in the conference. The series continues with games on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Pritcher (7-2) threw his second complete game of the season and won his fourth straight decision while lowering his ERA to a Southern Conference-leading 2.40. The senior right-hander walked one and struck out four to earn his 21st career victory, the most by any active SoCon pitcher.
Should Pritcher finish first in the conference in ERA, he will become the 10th different Bulldog pitcher to lead the league in that category since Fred Jordan became head coach in 1992. Pritcher has not lost in his last six starts and improved his standing as a leading candidate for SoCon Pitcher of the Year.
The Bulldogs had 13 hits, including three by Mason Davis, whose bunt single ignited a two-run third that gave The Citadel the lead for good. Joe Jackson, Calvin Orth and Bret Hines added a pair of singles each, with Orth extending his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest by a Bulldog this season.
Jake Zokan, who entered the game second only to Pritcher in the SoCon ERA race, allowed eight hits and four runs before exiting after hitting Jackson with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Zokan dropped to 3-2 on the year.
College of Charleston took a 1-0 lead in the second on a double by Brandon Murray and sacrifice bunts by Cody Martin and Bradley Goodson. The Cougars got hits in each of the next five innings, but Pritcher induced three double-play grounders and another runner was caught stealing to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
Davis and Hughston Armstrong had bunt singles with one out in the third. Jackson followed with a ground single to right to score Davis, and Armstrong stole third before coming across on a groundout off the bat of Bo Thompson.
Jackson raised his batting average to .355 and the RBI was his team-leading 51st of the season. Armstrong's hit enabled him to extend his streak of consecutive games reaching base by a hit, walk or hit by pitch to a career-long 28 games.
Orth led off the fourth with a single, moved to third on a base hit by Hines, and came across when a blooper by Mason fell just behind the mound and past the outstretched reach of Zokan. Stokes doubled in two runs and two more scored on a throwing error by catcher Ryan Welke in a four-run Bulldog fifth that blew the game open.
Stokes has now driven in at least one run in 16 of the past 21 games with a total of 30 over that stretch. The sophomore shortstop has 47 on the year, second on the team only to Jackson, after knocking in only five as a freshman a year ago.
The Bulldogs only need one more win to reach 30 for the 18th time in 22 years under Jordan and can earn their 20th victory at Riley Park for the 14th time in 16 full seasons at the facility with a victory over the Cougars either Saturday or Sunday.
Elon 10, Samford 8
ELON, N.C. – Making the first start of his career at Elon, senior Nate Young picked up the victory as the Phoenix defeated the visiting Samford Bulldogs 10-8 in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference baseball series at Latham Park on Friday night.
Samford (25-25, 10-14 SoCon) got to Young for two first-inning runs. With one out, both Phillip Ervin and C.K. Irby walked ahead of a Christiaan Durdaller double that plated the first run. Irby then scored on a groundout.
Elon (26-26, 17-10) came right back with three in the last of the first to grab the lead for good. Quinn Bower led things off by sending an 0-2 pitch back up the middle before both Alex Swim and Ryan Kinsella walked to load the bases. With one away, a passed ball allowed Bower to race home with the first Phoenix tally. Another walk reloaded the bases before Casey Jones bounced one up the middle for a two-out, two-RBI single that made it 3-2.
The Phoenix took control in the last of the fourth. The Maroon and Gold began the inning with five consecutive hits. Among them was a three-run homer off the bat of Kinsella, his 19th of the season (tied for third on Elon's single-season chart) and 32nd of his career (seventh in program history). With runners on the corners and one out, Jones reached on a fielder's choice to first that scored Chris King as Elon built a 7-2 edge. The eighth run of the game would come home on a balk before a wild pitch allowed Elon's ninth run of the contest to cross the plate.
Samford tried to get back in it in the fifth by scoring three times. With one aboard, Zeth Stone ripped a two-out triple to right-center to make it 9-3. He then scored on an Ervin single. An Irby single would then plate Ervin to make it 9-5.
The Bulldogs closed their deficit to 9-6 with a run in the seventh only to see the Phoenix put one of its own up in the bottom half.
In the ninth, Samford had closed the gap to 10-8 and had the tying run on second with two outs before Andrew MacDonald fanned Patrick McGavin to end the game and secure the win for Elon.
Young (2-1) allowed five runs on four hits in five innings to earn the win. He struck out three and retired 13 hitters in a row at one point. MacDonald tossed the final four innings to garner his fourth save of the year.
Irby (7-5) was handed the loss after allowing eight runs on nine hits in three-plus innings. He struck out seven.
Kinsella finished the night with four RBIs, giving him 70 on the season, which ranks as the third-highest single-season total in Elon history. Jones' three RBIs were a career best.
For Samford, Ervin went 2-for-4, scored two runs and drove in three.
Elon and Samford are scheduled to play game two of this series at 4 p.m. Saturday.
UNCG 16, Furman 4
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Zac MacAneney and Christian Wolfe both went 4-for-5 as UNCG pounded out 21 hits en route to a 16-4 victory over Furman in the opening game a Southern Conference baseball series Friday at Latham Stadium.
MacAneney doubled and drove in two runs while also scoring four times, and Wolfe also had doubled and scored twice in helping the Spartans (22-27, 9-16 SoCon) claim their third consecutive league victory.
The loss was the fourth straight for Furman (26-23, 12-16 SoCon), which remains in seventh place in the SoCon standings, just percentage points ahead of eighth-place Samford (10-14 SoCon), which also lost on Friday at Elon.
The top eight teams qualify for the SoCon Championship, scheduled for May 22-26 at Fluor Field.
Nin Marrero registered three hits and three RBIs for UNCG and was joined by Eric Kalbfleisch, who went 3-for-5 and scored three runs.
The Spartans wasted little time in grabbing control of the game, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning off of Furman starting and losing pitcher Jacques de Gruy (2-3).
A Marrero RBI single in the second made it 3-0 before Furman got on the board in its second at-bat when Alex Abrams sent a solo home run over the right-field fence.
UNCG answered with its own power display in the third inning against Paladin reliever Jake Wolff, getting a solo home run from Trevor Edwards, his 11th of the season, and two-run shot to left field by Cambric Moye. Cole Harrison finished off the outburst with a two-out, RBI single that plated MacAneney for a 7-1 lead.
Furman cut it to 7-3 in the fifth with Will Muzika’s 28th career home run, but that would be as close as the Paladins would get as the Spartans responded by scoring a run in the sixth, three in the seventh, one in the eight, and four more in the ninth against the Paladin bullpen.
The Spartans’ big offensive display provided more than enough support for starting pitcher Max Povse (4-4), who cruised to the win after allowing three runs on eight hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out five.
The two teams will meet for game two Saturday at 4 p.m.
Western Carolina 6, Wofford 1
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Sophomore starter Jeremy Null recorded his fourth double-digit strikeout performance of the season, striking out 10 batters in helping Western Carolina secure a 6-1 victory over the Wofford Terriers on Friday night in its Southern Conference series-opener at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium.
Null (7-2) limited Wofford to a run on just two base hits in working a career-long 8 1/3 innings on the mound. Meanwhile, junior Dykota Spiess jumpstarted the Catamount offense in the home half of the fourth with his fourth home run of the season as a part of a 2-for-3 showing at the plate as WCU outhit the Terriers, 10-2.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday evening with a special start time of 6:30 p.m. to accommodate commencement ceremonies on the WCU campus.
Western Carolina (34-17, 19-6 SoCon) stretched its current seasonal winning streak to seven while also claiming its 12th consecutive league victory. The current 12-game SoCon win streak is the second-longest in school history.
Wofford (20-22, 10-18 SoCon) jumped out to the early lead in the top of the fourth inning with a single run as James Plaisted grounded out to the right side with runners at the corners to drive home Alec Paradowski for the 1-0 advantage. The lead was short-lived, though, as the Catamounts responded in the bottom of the inning to open a stretch of six unanswered runs over the final five frames it took swings.
Spiess belted a leadoff home run over the fence in right-center field to tie the game at 1 in the home portion of the fourth inning. The rally continued as Bradley Strong drew the first of two walks he charted in the win before taking second on a wild pitch. Junior Aaron Attaway handed the Catamounts the lead on a sharp single to left field, with Strong racing around third to score from second base as WCU took a 2-1 lead.
Attaway's base hit stretched his current hitting streak to 12 games. He was one of four players with a two-hit night, including Spiess, Hoyle and Julian Ridings, who was 2-for-5.
The Catamount lead remained just one until the sixth inning, when WCU loaded the bases on a hit batter and back-to-back walks. Cody Jones drove in his 17th run of the season on a deep sacrifice fly to center field, with Spiess tallying his second run of the game.
In the seventh, Jacob Hoyle laced a one-out single up the middle ahead of Strong, who plated the run on a single to left field to stretch the advantage to three, 4-1. The evening's scoring was capped in the eighth as Jones scored on an infield throwing error following an Attaway single to left. Ridings collected his second hit of the game with an RBI single to right to plate Attaway and provide the final tally, 6-1.
Senior Preston Hatcher closed the ninth inning by retiring the final two batters, tallying his SoCon-leading 26th game finished this season.
Combined, WCU stranded 10 runners while Wofford left six. The Terriers, who lead the SoCon and NCAA in stolen bases entering the weekend, were held without a theft as catcher Adam Martin gunned down two would-be base-stealers, including one at second and another at third base.
Wofford starter Luke Leftwich (2-5) held the potent Catamount lineup to just two runs on five hits through five innings before giving way to reliever J.D. Osborne, who surrendered four runs on five hits. Both Terrier hurlers struck out four and combined for five walks.
No. 15 Clemson 7, Georgia Southern 1
CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson’s Daniel Gossett held the Georgia Southern Eagles to one run and two hits in a 7-1 victory for the 15th-ranked Tigers at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Friday night.
Gossett (8-3) struck out 12 batters and walked just two over 7 1/3 innings to earn the win. The sophomore right-hander retired the first 10 batters he faced before allowing a single to Ben Morgan in the fourth inning.
Justin Hess (4-5) took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits. Hess allowed seven walks and struck out six batters over five innings.
The big blow for Clemson (35-15) came in the fourth inning. After a run scored on a fielder's choice, Hess walked Thomas Brittle with two outs before Mike Triller doubled in a pair of runs.
Georgia Southern (25-24) only had a combined two base-runners over the first five innings before scoring a run in the sixth inning. Morgan drove a ball back up the middle to score Scooter Williams from second base and give the Eagles their second hit of the game.
The Tigers started the scoring with a single run in the first inning. Garrett Boulware hit a hard shot off the shoulder of third baseman Brent Pugh to plate a leadoff walk in Maleeke Gibson. Hess bounced back after allowing the run to strand a pair of runners in the second inning and faced the minimum in the third inning.
Clemson loaded the bases with three walks in the fifth inning and scored a run on an RBI groundout by Jon McGibbon. The Tigers added their final two runs in the seventh inning. Boulware plated the first run with a single to left field and Jay Baum drove in the other with a triple.
The Eagles loaded the bases in the eighth inning but were unable to score a run. Two different Clemson pitchers walked three batters before Matt Campbell came on in relief to record the final two outs in the frame with a strikeout and a line out.
The teams will meet Saturday for game two of the series at 6:30 p.m.