The Citadel 1, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Three Citadel pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Furman that gave the Bulldogs their third straight Southern Conference series win to conclude the regular season.
The Citadel (25-28, 10-14 SoCon), winner of seven of its last nine league games, heads into the conference tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 9 seed ETSU in a play-in game on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at Riley Park. Furman (24-31, 11-13) will be the tournament's sixth seed.
The Bulldogs wrapped up their seventh series win in the last eight against their Upstate rival but not before surviving a couple of late threats. The Paladins loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth before closer Skylar Hunter retired Griffin Davis on a fly ball to medium center.
Chris Ohmstede led off the bottom of the ninth by driving a Hunter pitch to deep left, but Austin Mapes ran it down on the warning track. After a two-out single by Brandon Elmy, Jake Jones rolled into a fielder's choice at short as Hunter secured his 12th save of the season and 40th of his career, the most in SoCon history.
The Citadel scored the only run of the game in the sixth. William Kinney singled and Mapes doubled to start the inning, and one out later Connor Walsh hit a grounder to first. Ryan Morse was prepared to throw home in attempt to cut down Kinney trying to score but misplayed the ball and had to settle for the out at first.
Stephen Windham then hit a shallow fly to left that was corralled by a diving Davis to strand Mapes and keep it a one-run game.
The Mapes double extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest by a Bulldog this season. Kinney finished with two hits, adding a double in the third.
But it was the Bulldog pitching that was the big story on Saturday. Thomas Byelick went the first five innings and allowed only two hits, earning his second straight SoCon win when The Citadel produced its sixth-inning run. A two-out double by Davis in the fourth made him the only Paladin to reach second off Byelick.
Kevin Connell came in to relieve Byelick in the sixth and was sharp in his 2 2/3 innings, giving up only one hit, before Hunter finished it. Connell has not allowed an earned run in 5 2/3 innings in his last three appearances.
Will Gaddis allowed four hits in six innings and was the tough-luck loser for Furman, dropping to 3-6 on the year.
Samford 17, Mercer 7
MACON, Ga. – The Samford baseball team scored 17 runs on 22 hits and hit five home runs on its way to a 17-7 win at Mercer in the final game of a Southern Conference series Saturday evening at Claude Smith Field.
With the win, Samford wraps up its regular season with a record of 29-24 overall and 14-10 in Southern Conference play. Samford earns the No. 2 seed for next week’s SoCon Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties, and the Bulldogs will take on seventh-seeded Western Carolina at Wednesday at 8 a.m. (CT) at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C.
Mercer is the regular-season SoCon champion with a mark of 31-21 overall and 16-7 in league action. Mercer, as the No. 1 seed, will play Wednesday at 4 p.m. (CT) against the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between The Citadel and ETSU.
Samford’s five home runs in the game give the Bulldogs a school-record 77 for the season. The Bulldogs currently lead the nation in both home runs and homers per game.
Individually for Samford, Alex Lee homered twice, going 3-for-6 with six RBIs. Heath Quinn, Brandon Powell and Richard Greene also homered in the game for Samford. T.J. Dixon went 5-for-6 with a double in the win. Hunter Swilling went 4-for-6 with three doubles and two RBIs. Austin Edens went 4-for-4 at the plate for the Bulldogs.
Jesse Travis (1-2) pitched two hitless innings in relief to earn the win on the mound for Samford. The Bulldogs used eight pitchers in the game. Eric Wright, Jared Brasher, Philip Flach, Jake Greer, Devan Traglia, Caleb Maggio and Andres Gracia also pitched in the game for Samford.
For Mercer, Matt Meeder went 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs. Jackson Ware and Jose Hernandez had two hits and an RBI each. Danny Edgeworth went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Bears. Devin Bonin homered in the game for Mercer, going 1-for-4 with one RBI. Ryan Askew (4-4) pitched a third of an inning, surrendering six runs on four hits to take the loss on the mound for Mercer.
Samford jumped on top first with six runs in the top of the first inning. In the inning, Frankie Navarrete drove in two runs. Lee, Powell, Danny Rodriguez and Greene drove in a run each for the Bulldogs as Samford grabbed a 6-0 lead.
Mercer came back with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to cut the Samford lead to 6-2. Bonin hit a solo home run for Mercer’s first run of the inning. Ware later drove in a run to bring Mercer to within four runs of Samford.
The Bulldogs added four runs in the top of the second inning to push their lead to 10-2. Powell hit a two-run home run in the inning, while Quinn and Lee hit a solo homer each to give Samford an eight-run advantage.
Samford added to its lead with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Swilling led the inning off with a double and later scored on a groundout by Lee for an 11-2 Samford lead.
The Bulldogs plated another run in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 12-2. With one out in the inning, Greene hit a solo home run for a 10-run Samford advantage.
Samford added five runs in the top of the eighth inning to push its lead to 17-2. Lee hit a three-run home run, while Swilling hit a two-run double to stretch Samford’s lead to 15 runs.
Mercer came back with five more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 17-7. Meeder drove in two runs with a triple in the inning. Nate Moorhouse, Hernandez and Collin Snider drove in a run each in the inning for the Bears.
Wofford 10, ETSU 9 (game one)
ETSU 12, Wofford 5 (game two)
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – On Saturday, the Wofford College baseball team split a doubleheader with ETSU at Thomas Stadium. With the first game tied at 9 after eight innings, Matt Ramsay hit a solo home run to give Wofford the lead and three Will Stillman strikeouts later, the Terriers had the win. In the second contest, ETSU jumped out to a 7-2 lead after three innings and added five runs in the seventh inning to win the weekend series.
The Terriers will begin play in the Southern Conference Championship presented by Mountain Shore Properties on Wednesday, May 20. No. 3 seed Wofford will play No. 6 seed Furman at 12:30 p.m.
No. 9 seed ETSU will face No. 8 seed The Citadel in a play-in game on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Wofford is 36-20 overall and 13-10 in the Southern Conference. ETSU is 21-34 overall and 8-16 in its first year back in the SoCon. Ramsay had three hits and two runs scored to lead the Terriers in the first game, while he added two hits in the second game. Both teams has 12 hits in the first game, but the Bucs had a 12-6 lead in hits in the second contest. Hagen Owenby led ETSU with five hits and five RBIs on the day.
In the first game, Conor Clancey and Cody Miller led off the second inning with back-to-back singles. They advanced on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout by Max McDougald drove in Clancey for a 1-0 lead. Miller scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 in the middle of the second inning.
Alec Paradowski singled with one out in the top of the third inning and a single by Ramsay gave Wofford runners on the corners. James Plaisted hit a home run over the fence in center field for a 5-0 lead. It was his eighth home run of the season.
A walk and a single by Ramsay put runners on the corners for the Terriers with one out in the top of the fifth inning. A fielder’s choice by Plaisted made it a 6-0 lead in the middle of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, ETSU led off with a walk and the runner stole second. A single by Chris Cook drove in a run for a 6-1 score. Another walk and a wild pitch moved runners into scoring position. A single by Owenby with one out added a run and a wild pitch made it 6-3. With two outs, an RBI single by Christian Bailey cut the lead to 6-4 before a groundout ended the fifth inning.
Miller led off the top of the sixth inning with a double down the left-field line and Kody Ruedisili was hit by a pitch. The runners advanced on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by McDougald gave Wofford a 7-4 lead. With two outs, a single through the left side by Derek Hirsch scored Ruedisili for an 8-4 game. A triple to the gap in right-center by Alec Paradowski added a run before a line out ended the top of the sixth with Wofford holding a 9-4 advantage.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Owenby hit a home run over the fence in left field for a 9-5 score. The Bucs added a single and a walk, but both runners were stranded.
Jeremy Taylor doubled to open the ETSU half of the eighth inning. A single through the left side by Kevin Phillips drove in Taylor for a 9-6 game. After a catcher’s interference, a walk loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly cut the lead to 9-7 and a triple by Zach Thompson tied the game at 9-9.
With one out in the top of the ninth, Ramsay hit a solo home run just to the left of the scoreboard for a 10-9 lead. It was his second home run of the season and first since April 1 at Vanderbilt. Two fly balls ended the top half for Wofford. Stillman struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win for the Terriers.
Wofford starting pitcher Luke Leftwich went 4 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on five hits and five walks. He struck out four batters, giving him 105 on the season. He is currently first in the SoCon this year with 105 strikeouts and is third in school history in a single season. Stillman (1-0) earned his first win of the season by going the final 1 2/3 innings with one hit allowed and striking out three batters.
Ryan Simpler started for ETSU and went four innings with five runs allowed on six hits. Griffin Krieg (2-8) gave up one run on a hit in the ninth inning to take the loss.
In game two, a walk and single by Ramsay gave Wofford runners on the corners in the top of the first inning. A single to right field by Plaisted made it a 1-0 game before a double play ended the top half. The Bucs had a leadoff single and with two outs a single by Phillips drove in the tying run. An RBI double to right field by Owenby and an RBI single by Jordan Stanford gave ETSU a 3-1 lead.
Paradowski led off the third with a single and with one out, a single by Plaisted had runners on the corners. A groundout by Clancey made it a 3-2 score, but the Terriers left a runner on base at the end of the top half. An error and a double gave the Bucs runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third inning. A ground-rule double by Owenby drove in both runs for a 5-2 lead. Owenby moved to third on a fly ball and scored on a groundout. Zach Thompson hit a home run with two outs to give ETSU a 7-2 advantage.
Hirsch walked to lead off the fifth inning. He moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a fly ball. A triple to left-center by Ramsay scored Hirsch to make it 7-3.
Carson Waln walked to start the sixth inning and was on third base after pair of wild pitches. A sacrifice fly by McDougald scored Waln to cut the lead to 7-4.
Trey York led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run and ETSU had an 8-4 advantage. With runners at second and third, an RBI single by Bailey pushed the score to 9-4. A three-run homer by Thompson, his second home run of the game, gave the Bucs a 12-4 lead. Wofford had runners on the corners with one out in the top of the eighth. One run scored on a double steal attempt, but the second out was recorded at second base.
Wofford starting pitcher Adam Scott (7-4) threw five innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits. Only four of the runs were earned and he struck out five batters.
Jamin McCann (2-0) started for ETSU and went five innings with three runs allowed on five hits.