Western Carolina 5, Georgia Southern 4
STATESBORO, Ga. – J.D. Long drove home Luke Gragg with the game-winning run on a high bouncing shot to the left side of the infield in the top of the ninth inning as Western Carolina erased a four-run deficit with five consecutive runs over the final four frames to take Friday's Southern Conference series opener over Georgia Southern, 5-4, at J.I. Clements Stadium.
With the win, Western Carolina improved to 33-14 overall on the season, 17-4 in SoCon play, maintaining its hold on first place in the conference as second-place Davidson is idle this weekend.
Tied at 4 apiece, Gragg led off the decisive final frame with a hot-shot hit to third that was misplayed, allowing the senior to reach base. The Moravian, Falls, N.C., native quickly took second on a wild pitch offered off the submarine side-arm delivery of Eagle reliever Jason Richman before being sacrificed further into scoring position on a perfectly executed bunt by Matt Smith.
Long then chopped the first pitch of his at bat deep in the hole at short, drawing a play at the plate as Gragg steamed home, sliding in ahead of the throw with the go-ahead run.
Senior T.J. Fussell (5-2) then capped his four-inning relief outing by bookending a perfect ninth by striking out two looking and flashing the leather on a line drive sent back to the mound to secure the victory. All told, Fussell – the third WCU pitcher of the series-opener – tossed four hitless, scoreless innings out of the bullpen, silencing the Eagles to enable his squad to mount the five-run rally. The Asheville, N.C., native struck out four, including the two in the final frame, against two walks.
Sophomore Colton Davis struck out one in two innings in his first weekend start, allowing two runs on three hits. Freshman Bryan Sammons tossed the next three innings out of the pen, fanning a pair against a walk and two runs allowed on three hits.
Georgia Southern (31-20, 13-12 SoCon) jumped out to a four-run lead with three runs in the home half of the third and another marker in the fifth inning. Meanwhile, the Catamounts had been limited to just two base-runners and just one hit in the same span. However, WCU got things rolling in the sixth to start the rally.
Reece Strong reached on an error before Adam Martin drew a two-out walk to put two aboard. Junior Jacob Hoyle then delivered his ninth double of the season – fourth in the last four games – plating the first run for the Catamounts, as Strong came home. Senior Dykota Spiess then laced a two-RBI single up the middle to claw WCU back to within a run, 4-3.
In the eighth inning, Martin squared things with his 11th home run of the season, blasting a 0-1 pitch over the fence in left field to tie the game at 4 and setting up the ninth-inning heroics. The round-tripper was the first homer hit outside of Cullowhee, N.C., for the Marietta, Ga., native, who leads the SoCon with 56 RBIs.
Junior Bradley Strong led the seven Catamounts that combined for eight base hits in the win, finishing 2-for-5 with a pair of singles. He was the only player in the game with multiple hits. Spiess paced the team with the two RBIs on his sixth-inning drive up the middle.
GSU's Richman (5-1) took the loss after allowing the go-ahead run to WCU in the ninth, striking out two against two hits in an inning and two thirds. Starter Josh Wirsu factored in the no-decision after scattering six hits through 7 1/3 innings, giving up four runs, only one of which was earned, with four strikeouts.
Ben Morgan drove home two on a 1-for-3 showing at the plate with a sacrifice fly for the Eagles, while Garrett Chapman opened the scoring with a third-inning solo home run on a 1-for-4 outing.
Game two of the final three-game SoCon is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
Wofford 5, UNCG 4
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a single by Alec Paradowski propelled the Wofford College baseball team to a 5-4 win over UNCG on Friday night at Russell C. King Field.
The Spartans led 4-1 after seven innings, but the Terriers tied it at 4 in the eighth inning. The comeback was complete in the bottom of the ninth to give Wofford a win in the first game of the weekend series.
Wofford is 26-25 on the season and 8-13 in the Southern Conference. UNCG is 21-22 overall and 8-11 in league play. The 26 wins for the Terriers are the most since the 2007 season. Paradowski and James Plaisted each had two hits for Wofford, while Conor Clancey had a 2-run homer. Sean Guite led the Spartans with two hits.
In the top of the fourth, the Spartans loaded the bases after a single, hit by pitch and a walk. Back-to-back RBI singles gave UNCG a 2-0 lead and two runners were left on base. The Terriers had singles from Plaisted and Matt Ramsay in the bottom of the fourth with two outs. With the runners on the corners, a double steal scored a run for a 2-1 game.
In the top of the seventh, the Spartans had runners on second and third with one out. A single by Eric Kalbfleisch drove in both runners for a 4-1 lead.
Eric Brenk was hit by a pitch to open the bottom half of the eighth. Clancey then hit a ball over the left-field fence to cut the lead to 4-3. Paradowski walked and Seth Neely reached on a catcher’s interference. A single to right-center by Plaisted drove in a run to tie the game at 4-4. The Terriers left two runners on base at the end of the eighth.
After the Spartans were retired in order in the top of the ninth, the Terriers had two runners on base after a single by Brenk and a walk by Clancey. A walk to Matthew Kaskow with two outs loaded the bases. With a full count, Paradowski drove a single to shallow right field that scored Brenk for a 5-4 win.
Wofford starting pitcher Jesse Morris threw 6 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. With three strikeouts on the night, Morris moved into third place in school history with 243 career strikeouts.
Will Stillman (4-2) threw the ninth and did not allow a hit with one strikeout.
Ryan Clark started for UNCG and went 7 2/3 innings with three runs allowed on four hits and four strikeouts. Tyler Frazier (1-2) threw the final inning and gave up one run on three hits with one strikeout.
Wofford and the Spartans continue the series on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
UNCW 2, The Citadel 0
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jordan Ramsey and two relievers combined to blank The Citadel on eight hits as UNCW evened the series with a 2-0 victory on Friday at Riley Park.
After taking Saturday off for graduation ceremonies, the teams will conclude the series on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Wilmington, N.C. The Citadel opened the set with a 1-0 victory on Friday.
Ramsey went the first six innings, allowing four hits while striking out four and picked up his second win of the season. Cory Gantz got the first two outs of the seventh before Kelly Secrest went the rest of the way for his fourth save, including a strikeout with the potential tying runs on base.
Austin Mason took the loss for the Bulldogs (20-30) despite surrendering only five hits and one unearned run in six frames. He walked one and struck out three. Zach Lavery worked 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and one run with a pair of strikeouts.
Drew DeKerlegand had three of The Citadel's eight hits to raise his team-leading batting average to .347. The senior left fielder has hit safely in 17 of the last 18 and 26 of the last 30 games, going 43-for-106 (.406) over the latter stretch, and has reached base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in 31 consecutive contests.
The Seahawks (24-24) scored bookend runs in the first and ninth and worked around several Citadel threats. UNCW tallied the only run it would need in the first when Steven Linkous walked, moved to third on a wild throw on a pickoff attempt and a ground out and scored on a base hit by Luke Dunlap.
Dunlap had three hits and has six in the first two games of the series.
The Bulldogs had several chances to tie or take the lead, with the biggest threat coming in the fourth. Bo Thompson, Tyler Griffin and DeKerlegand all singled with one out to load the bases, but Ramsey was able to wriggle out of trouble.
Two innings later, Hughston Armstrong led off with a walk and Thompson sent a rocket right at third baseman Linkous, who turned it into a 5-4-3 double play. DeKerlegand singled and was sacrificed to second in the seventh but was stranded, and a Thompson line drive to the warning track in left resulted in more Bulldog frustration.
In all, The Citadel left eight runners on base, including five in scoring position.
The Seahawks tacked on an insurance run in the ninth on an RBI single by Ryan LaGrange. In the bottom of the inning, DeKerlegand recorded his third hit of the day and Calvin Orth blooped a base hit in front of second baseman Terence Connelly with two outs before Secrest shut the door.
Samford 16, Appalachian State 10
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team scored 16 runs on 15 hits on its way to a 16-10 win over Appalachian State in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Samford was led at the plate by outfielder Brandon Powell, who went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs. Powell hit a two-run home run in the second inning and a solo shot in the fifth inning.
Samford catcher Drew McWhorter also homered in the game, going 2-for-5 with a home run, a double and three RBIs. First baseman Caleb Bryson went 2-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs. Outfielder Heath Quinn went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and third baseman Tripp Martin and second baseman Frankie Navarrete contributed two hits each for the Bulldogs.
Alex Ledford (9-2) pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up 10 runs, nine earned, on 13 hits to pick up the win on the mound for Samford. Parker Curry pitched the final three innings, giving up just one hit to earn his second save of the season.
For Appalachian State, Tyler Stroup went 4-for-5 with two RBIs to lead the Mountaineers at the plate. Jaylin Davis and Dillon Dobson each went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Alex Leach and Brian Bauk also had two hits each for App.
Sean Mason (1-2) took the loss on the mound for the Mountaineers. Mason pitched 2 1/3 innings, giving up 10 runs on eight hits. Mason struck out five batters in the losing effort.
Appalachian State took an early lead with three runs in the top of the first inning. Samford, however, answered with two runs in the bottom of the first on McWhorter’s two-run homer to left field to make the score 3-2.
After App pushed its lead to 4-2 with a run in the top of the second inning, Samford took control of the game with five runs in the second inning and five more in the third. In the second inning, Powell hit a two-run homer for the first two runs. Tyler Filliben and Quinn also drove in a run each, and Navarrete scored on a wild pitch. In the third inning, T.J. Dixon drove in two runs with a triple and later scored on a wild pitch. Bryson also drove in two runs with a double to give Samford a 12-4 lead.
Samford added to its lead with three runs in the fourth inning. McWhorter and Bryson drove in a run each, and Navarrete scored on an error to push Samford’s lead to 15-4.
Appalachian State scored two runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 15-6. Dobson and Davis drove in a run each in the inning for the Mountaineers’ fifth and sixth runs of the contest.
Samford plated its final run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Powell led the inning off with his second home run of the game, and his third of the season, to make the score 16-6.
The Mountaineers scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to make the final score 16-10. Michael Pierson drove in two runs and Stroup drove in one run in the inning. Preston Troutman also scored on a balk in the inning for Appalachian State.
With the win, Samford improved to 30-21 overall and 13-9 in Southern Conference play. This marks the seventh time in the last nine seasons that Samford has won at least 30 games. Appalachian State fell to 16-30 overall and 9-12 in SoCon play.
The teams will continue the series with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Elon at Furman suspended
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Friday’s Furman-Elon Southern Conference series-opening baseball game has been suspended in the middle of the fifth inning due to rain and will be resumed Saturday at 10 a.m..
Furman led 4-0 when the game, whose start was delayed 36 minutes due to weather, was suspended at 7:57 p.m., and the decision to resume the contest on Saturday was made at 8:57 following a one-hour delay.
The Paladins took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jordan Simpson sprinted home from third on a wild pitch.
Furman bumped its lead to 3-0 in the third on Jake Jones’ two-run home run to right field and stretched it to 4-0 in the fourth on an Andrew MacLatchie sacrifice fly off Elon starting pitcher Lucas Bakker.
Paladin starter Matt Solter allowed only one hit, a fourth-inning single, in five innings of work before the suspension, facing only one batter over the minimum.
The suspended game will be followed by Saturday’s regularly scheduled contest.