College of Charleston 5, Georgia Southern 3
STATESBORO, Ga. – The College of Charleston Cougars scored two runs in the eighth inning and held on to win 5-3 over the Georgia Southern Eagles on Wednesday night.
Ryan Welke led off the eighth inning with a double and scored two batters later on a single from Bradley Jones, putting College of Charleston (28-13) up 4-2. Champ Rowland provided another insurance run with a RBI fielder's choice.
Georgia Southern (27-16), which had trailed 3-0 since the fifth inning, scored two runs in the seventh inning and pulled to within a run of tying the game on a pinch-hit double off the bat of Hunter Thomas. Thomas scored a two-out double in C.J. Brazil and a walk of Cal Baker.
Down three runs in the ninth inning, the Eagles got a solo home run from Stryker Brown to lead off the frame but were unable to pull any closer.
Eric Bauer held GSU to just three hits and no runs for his third win of the season. Bauer (3-0) pitched into the seventh inning and struck out six batters on 83 pitches.
Michael Hanzlik allowed the solo home run in the ninth and a one-out walk before ending the game with a fly out to left field. Hanzlik picked up his ninth save on the season.
Will Jackson held the Cougars scoreless for three innings before allowing two hits and walking a batter in the fourth inning. A leadoff single in Nick Pappas came around to score on a ground out to first base by Brandon Glazier.
Jackson (2-1) took the loss after allowing five hits, one run and two walks. The freshman right-hander struck out one batter and tossed 3 1/3 innings on 48 pitches.
CofC finished with 10 hits and had five batters record multi-hit games.
GSU returns to action this weekend at Wofford. First pitch in the series is set for 6 p.m. on Friday.
Gardner-Webb 10, Appalachian State 6
BOONE, N.C. – Gardner-Webb scored six runs over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to hand Appalachian State a 10-6 defeat on Wednesday evening at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Appalachian State (15-24) trailed 4-0 after two innings but rallied to take a 5-4 lead with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Tyler Zupcic kick-started the five-run fourth with a leadoff double and came around to score the Mountaineers’ first run on an error. Matt Brill provided the biggest hit of the stanza with a two-run double and William Head and Zach Hummel added two-out RBI singles to give Appalachian its first lead.
Gardner-Webb regained a 6-5 advantage with two runs in the top of the sixth but App State answered with a single tally in the bottom of the inning to knot the score at 6-6. Brill led off the Mountaineers’ half of the sixth with his second double of the ballgame and scored the tying run three pitches later when Bradley Morton brought him home with an RBI single.
However, the game would not remain deadlocked for long, as GWU took an 8-6 lead with two runs in the seventh and stretched the advantage to 10-6 with two more in the eighth. In all, three different Appalachian State relievers surrendered two runs apiece to allow the Bulldogs to pull away. Taylor Thurber was responsible for both runs in the seventh and fell to 0-6 on the season.
Appalachian pounded out 11 hits in the loss. Brill, Morton, Head and Preston Troutman led the 11-hit effort with two apiece.
Gardner-Webb catcher Collin Thacker, who came into the evening hitting just .111 with no RBIs on the season, went 1-for-4 and drove in three runs to pace the Bulldogs. Andrew Massey (1-2) earned the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief.
Appalachian State (8-6 SoCon) continues a five-game homestand this weekend when it hosts a pivotal three-game Southern Conference series versus first-place Davidson (23-11, 13-3 SoCon). Game times are set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Smith Stadium.
Presbyterian 5, Wofford 4 (10 innings)
CLINTON, S.C. – The Wofford College baseball team was defeated 5-4 in 10 innings by Presbyterian College on Wednesday afternoon at the PC Baseball Complex. The Terriers had a 4-1 lead after eight innings, but the Blue Hose scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 4-4. After Wofford left the bases loaded in the top of the 10th, a two-out single scored the winning run for the Blue Hose.
Wofford is 21-20 on the season, while Presbyterian is 13-26-1 overall. The Terriers won two of the three games in the series against the Blue Hose this season. Eric Brenk was 3-of-6 for Wofford, with two RBIs. Josh Hyman was 3-of-4 and had two doubles. Brandon Paul led Presbyterian with three hits.
Kody Ruedisili led off the top of the third with a walk. Brenk then hit a ball over the fence in left field to give the Terriers a 2-0 lead.
The Terriers led off the sixth with a double by James Plaisted and he moved to third on an error. A sacrifice fly by Matt Ramsay drove in Plaisted for a 3-0 lead. Hyman added a double and Matt Pelt walked. After a double steal, Hyman scored on a wild pitch for a 4-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff walk was followed by an RBI double by Brad Zebedis for a 4-1 score.
Brenk led off the ninth with a single and Alec Paradowski reached on an error to give the Terriers runners on the corners. A play at the plate ended the top half with the Terriers leading 4-1.
Presbyterian led off the bottom of the ninth with a back-to-back singles. A single by Weston Jackson drove in a run for a 4-2 score. A walk with one out loaded the bases. A wild pitch plated a run to cut the lead to 4-3 and a fielder’s choice tied the game at 4-4. With the bases loaded after a walk, a strikeout and ground out ended the ninth.
In the top of the 10th, Josh Hyman singled and moved to second on a passed ball. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases with one out. An infield fly and a strikeout ended the Wofford scoring opportunity. The Blue Hose had a one-out single, and with two outs a single put runners on the corners. A single to left field by Jay Lizanich scored the winning run in a 5-4 final.
Wofford starting pitcher Connell Anderson threw six innings and allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts. Jacob Condra-Bogan went an inning and retired three straight batters. Will Stillman threw an inning with two strikeouts. Eric Eck (0-2) went 1 2/3 innings and gave up four runs on six hits with four strikeouts.
Presbyterian College used seven pitchers in the game, with Paul Sanders starting. Michael Trebendis went the final two innings and did not allow a run to earn the win.
This weekend the Terriers will host Georgia Southern for a three-game weekend series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.
No. 20 Clemson 11, Western Carolina 3
CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson sophomore left-hander Zack Erwin struck out a career-high 13 batters to lead No. 20 Clemson to an 11-3 victory over Western Carolina at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Catamounts (26-13), who defeated Clemson in Cullowhee, N.C., on March 4, split the home-and-home season series with the Tigers (25-16).
Erwin (3-2) earned the win by tossing seven strong innings in a starting role. The Duluth, Ga., native limited the potent Catamount offense to just four hits – two for extra bases – and three runs with two walks along with his 13 strikeouts. Erwin's previous career-high total for strikeouts was seven, accomplished three times.
Catamount starter Bryce Danielson (0-1) suffered the loss in his first collegiate start. He was the first of eight WCU pitchers on the night. Freshman Korey Anderson tossed a career-long three innings, collecting his first collegiate strikeout in the fourth inning.
Much like the first meeting in Cullowhee, only in reverse, the early innings proved profitable for the Tigers, who prevented what would have been just the second two-game series sweep all-time by WCU with the victory. Clemson scored seven combined runs in the first four innings. Steve Wilkerson's two-run double in the second inning highlighted the uprisings.
The Catamounts, who entered the game with a SoCon-leading .393 on-base percentage, scratched with three runs in the fifth inning coming on a pair of run-scoring doubles. J.D. Long squeezed a two-base hit inside the bag down the third-base line to drive home Dykota Spiess, who broke-up Erwin’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the top of the fifth. Two batters later, Bradley Strong drove his sixth double in the past five games to left-center field, plating two to move into second on the team with 37 RBIs this season.
Clemson, which scored in six of its eight innings at the plate, added three runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach.
Western Carolina returns to Southern Conference action this weekend with a three-game road trip to Birmingham, Ala., to face the Samford Bulldogs (25-16, 9-6 SoCon). The Bulldogs have won four of their last five games, including taking 2-of-3 on the road over Georgia Southern last weekend. Samford is 16-7 at home this season.