Furman 7, VMI 2
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Matt Solter pitched seven strong innings to lead Furman past VMI, 7-2, in the opening game of a Southern Conference baseball series Friday evening at Latham Stadium.
The Paladins (13-15, 3-4 SoCon) and Keydets (7-16, 2-5 SoCon) will conclude the series with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
Solter (1-2), a senior right-hander from New Bern, N.C., surrendered five hits and an unearned run while striking out eight. He did not walk a batter in notching the victory, his first of the season.
Solter encountered difficulty only twice over his seven frames but extracted himself both times. In the second, he yielded back-to-back singles before recovering to post a pair of strikeouts to vanquish the threat, and in the fourth, he faced runners at second and third with no outs but limited the Keydets to only one unearned run by recording an out at the plate and striking out VMI’s Will Malbon to end the inning.
He received early run support from Griffin Davis, who staked the Paladins to a 2-0 lead with a two-run, first-inning home run that cleared the left-field fence, just out of the reach of VMI’s Will Connerley.
VMI cut it to 2-1 with a run in the fourth, but the Paladins answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning against Keydet starting pitcher Austin Heenan (0-3). Chris Ohmstede drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a Jordan Simpson single. Blake Chisolm followed with an RBI single into right-center field, and Brandon plated Simpson with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-1. Cameron Whitehead capped the inning with a solo home run to left field, his second of the season, giving Furman a 6-1 lead.
Jake Jones stretched the Paladin advantage to 7-1 with an RBI single in the seventh to complete a 2-for-4 performance at the plate.
The Paladins only managed six hits, with half of them coming in the decisive four-run fourth.
Heenan matched Solter by going seven innings, but the Keydet left-hander was charged with seven runs, six of which were earned, on six hits. He walked four and fanned three.
David Geary and Matt Winn had two hits apiece for VMI.
Mercer 4, The Citadel 3
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Mercer University baseball team scored four straight runs to even its Southern Conference series with The Citadel, recording a 4-3 victory on Friday night at Riley Park.
Mercer (19-13, 6-2 SoCon) did most of its damage in the middle innings, recording eight of its 12 hits from the fourth to sixth innings en route to its ninth win in its last 11 contests. Matt Meeder led four players with multiple hits, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate to go along with his SoCon-leading 26th walk of the year. Trey Truitt added two hits and a team-best two RBIs, while Howard Joe and Jackson Ware also had a pair of hits on the night.
Grant Papelian won his second straight Southern Conference start, giving up three runs on six hits in six innings of work. Dimitri Kourtis got the final four outs of the game for his second save of the year, moving within just two saves of tying Andrew Urena for the program's career record.
The Citadel (15-14, 1-3 SoCon) scored the game’s first two runs in the bottom of the second, thanks to four consecutive two-out hits, including RBI hits from William Kinney and Jacob Watcher, for a 2-0 advantage.
After threatening in each of the previous two innings, Mercer finally broke through for a run in the fourth inning. Truitt picked up the Bears’ third hit of the frame with a single to center field that plated Ware to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
Mercer tied the game one inning later, as Ware’s double to left-center scored Devin Bonin to put the teams on even terms, 2-2, in the fifth. The Bears would take their first lead of the game in the sixth, as Truitt and Meeder each plated runs for a 4-2 advantage.
The Bulldogs cut the lead in half on Drew Ellis’ home run, but Papelian would get out of the inning with the lead intact for his second straight quality start. Mercer’s bullpen took care of the rest, as Mitchell Wade, Austin Lord and Kourtis combined for three scoreless frames to close out the team’s sixth league win.
The Bears conclude their SoCon series with The Citadel on Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. at Riley Park.
Wofford 11, Western Carolina 8
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – In the opening game of a weekend conference series, the Wofford College baseball team defeated Western Carolina 11-8 on Friday night at Hennon Stadium. With the game tied at 2-2 after the fifth inning, the Terriers plated seven runs in the top of the seventh inning. The Catamounts battled back and had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth before a strikeout ended the contest.
Wofford is 24-9 overall, with a 3-1 record in the Southern Conference. Western Carolina is 12-14 overall and 4-3 in the SoCon. The two teams combined for 30 hits in the game. Wofford had five players with two hits each, with Derek Hirsch and Conor Clancey also driving in a pair of runs. The Catamounts had six players with two hits each, with Danny Bermudez driving in three runs.
Western Carolina took the early lead with two runs in the home half of the third inning as Matthew Koehler plated Austin Atwell, who reached on a one-out single. Matt Smith then drove home the second run to score Koehler for the 2-0 advantage.
Two innings later, the Terriers were able to pull even with a 2-spot. First baseman Conor Clancey led off with a solo homer, and James Plaisted later reached on a fielder’s choice and an error in the middle of the diamond to allow the tying run to score. WCU was able to curtail the rally to keep the game deadlocked at 2 through five innings.
Wofford took control of the game in the seventh, scoring seven runs on seven hits and taking advantage of two Catamount errors to pull ahead, 9-2. The Terriers sent 12 players to the dish in the frame with pinch-hitter Mack Nathanson delivering one of the big swings.
Nathanson cleared the bases with a triple to right-center field, eventually scoring on the play on a WCU error.
The Catamounts chipped away at the Terrier advantage, answering with a three-run bottom of the seventh inning. WCU had five hits in the inning, four coming with two out in the inning. Jacob Hoyle, Bermudez and Kramer Ferrell each delivered run-scoring singles in the frame as the Wofford lead was trimmed back to four, 9-5.
Wofford answered, though, pushing across two runs with a two-out rally of its own in the top of the eighth inning to stretch its lead back to six, 11-5. With the bases loaded, shortstop Derek Hirsch dropped a double into shallow center field, just out of the reach of WCU second baseman Bradley Strong, allowing two runs to come home.
The Catamounts managed a second three-run frame in the home half of the eighth. Jason Smith led off with a pinch-hit single, with pinch-runner Garrett Brown scoring on Hoyle’s second RBI single. Bradley Strong, who reached on a walk, and Hoyle both eventually scored on a double to left-center field by Bermudez to provide the final tally, 11-8.
In the ninth, junior Reece Strong led off with a double to the fence in right field, with freshman Brett Pope drawing a walk to bring the game-tying run to the plate. However, Terrier set-up man Jacob Condra-Bogan finished off striking out the side to end the threat and the game, collecting his first save of the season.
Starter Matthew Milburn (7-0) stayed perfect on the season, scattering 11 hits through 6 2/3 innings. He allowed five earned runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Condra-Bogan struck out three with the one hit and one walk allowed in an inning of scoreless relief.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for Saturday with first pitch at 2 p.m. Fans can follow the action with live audio and GameTracker through CatamountSports.com, with live video through the SoCon Digital Network.
Samford 7, UNCG 4 (game one)
UNCG 5, Samford 0 (game two)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team split a doubleheader with UNCG to open the teams' Southern Conference series Friday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford won the first game, 7-4, but fell in game two by a score of 5-0.
In game one for Samford, Austin Edens went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBIs. Hunter Swilling, Heath Quinn and T.J. Dixon each went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Alex Lee also homered for Samford in the win, going 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Jared Brasher (1-2) pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Brasher struck out five batters and allowed just one walk. Andres Gracia pitched the final inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.
For UNCG in game one, Zac MacAneney, Tyler Long and Eric Kalbfleisch had two hits each. Aaron Wright hit a home run in the game for the Spartans, going 1-for-3 with three RBIs. Ryan Clark (5-2) pitched six innings, allowing six runs on nine hits to take the loss for the Spartans.
UNCG struck first in game one, plating two runs in the top of the third inning to take an early 2-0 lead. Samford, however came back to take the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the third inning. Swilling and Quinn drove in one run each for Samford in the inning, and Lee hit a two-run homer to give Samford the 4-2 advantage.
Samford plated a run in the fifth inning, one run in the sixth inning and another run in the seventh inning to push its lead to 7-2. In the fifth inning, Edens doubled to drive in Quinn for the run. In the sixth inning, Dixon singled to drive in Robert Perteet for Samford's sixth run of the game. The run in the seventh inning scored when Edens hit a solo home run to left field.
UNCG plated two final runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 7-4. Wright hit a two-run home run to right field for the game's final two runs.
In game two for Samford, Quinn went 2-for-4 to lead the Bulldogs at the plate. Danny Rodriguez and Frankie Navarrete added one hit each in the second game. Alex Ledford (3-3) pitched eight innings, giving up five runs, just three earned, on eight hits. Ledford struck out nine batters and walked just two.
UNCG's Ryne Sigmon and Jake Hall had two hits each. Collin Woody homered for the Spartans in game two, going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Andrew Wantz (5-0) pitched five innings, giving up no runs on two hits to earn the win on the mound. Tyler Frazier tossed the final four innings for UNCG to pick up his second save of the season.
UNCG took the early lead again in the second contest, this time in the top of the first via a Woody two-run blast to left field. The Spartans added a run in the top of the second when Eric Kalbfleisch raced home from third following a wild pitch. He reached on an error to begin the frame and moved to third on consecutive sacrifice bunts by junior Ricky Guile and freshman Tripp Shelton.
With two away in the top of the third and Sigmon on second after a single and groundout, junior catcher Jake Hall roped a ball to left field for an RBI single that extended the UNCG advantage to 4-0.
UNCG plated one final run in the eighth inning to make the final score 5-0.
Samford moved to 13-16 overall and 5-3 in the Southern Conference with the split. UNCG is now 13-14 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Samford and UNCG will conclude their series with a single game Saturday afternoon. The contest is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. CDT at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Saint Louis 11, ETSU 4
ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis broke a tie game by plating seven runs in the sixth inning and the Billikens clinched the series with an 11-4 victory over ETSU on Friday night at the Billiken Sports Complex.
Miscues haunted ETSU (12-17) midway through the game as an error in the bottom of the fifth inning snapped Lee Haeberle’s shutout bid as two unearned runs came home, while a dropped pop out with two outs in the sixth allowed three more unearned runs crossing the plate.
Haeberle (2-5) suffered the loss as he surrendered six runs (four earned) on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of work, while Saint Louis (20-10) reliever Thompson Geron (1-1) picked up the win. Geron allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits in one inning of relief.
The Bucs – who have dropped 10 of their last 11 – were out-hit by the Billikens, 11-6.
Senior Zach Thompson – who scored the first run of the game in the top of the fifth – went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI, while fellow senior Jordan Sanford was 1-for-3 with a run scored and junior Andrew Lasure had a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh.
With Haeberle hanging goose eggs in the first four innings, the Blue and Gold rewarded the Buccaneer hurler with the lead when Thompson was hit by pitch to leadoff the fifth and scored on Chris Cook’s RBI ground out.
The lead didn’t stand long as Josh Bunselmeyer reached on a throwing error by Cook to start the bottom of the inning and he later scored on an RBI single by Michael Bozarth, while Parker Sniatynski – who walked earlier in the frame – came in on Mike Vigliarolo’s two-out infield single, giving the Billikens a 2-1 advantage.
After ETSU pulled even at two in the top of the sixth, Saint Louis responded with its seven-run inning to go ahead, 9-2. After the Billikens plated four runs earlier in the frame, Saint Louis poured more salt into the Buccaneer wound as Jake Henson – who was given an extra at-bat when Doug McFarland dropped a two-out pop up in foul territory – laced a three-RBI double to right-center to cap off the inning.
The Bucs scratched across two runs in the seventh when Lasure and Thompson came through with RBI hits, but Saint Louis got those runs back with a two-run eighth inning, making it the seven-run final.
Henson led the Billikens’ offense, as he went 3-for-5 with five RBIs, while Colton Frabasilio and Sniatynski registered two-hit performances in the win.
The series finale is set for 1:05 p.m. on Saturday.