Wofford 7, Furman 2
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Luke Leftwich pitched seven strong innings to power Wofford to a 7-2 victory over Furman in Southern Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon at Russell C. King Field.
The win squares the series at a game apiece heading into Sunday’s 1 p.m. finale.
Leftwich (7-2) allowed only a run on five hits and a walk while notching nine strikeouts in earning the victory. The only run he surrendered was Jordan Simpson’s leadoff home run in the seventh, his team-leading 14th of the season.
Making his first start on the weekend following a season-ending injury to freshman Grant Schuermann, Matthew Quarles (5-2) was charged with the loss after yielding five runs on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
The Terriers (33-18, 10-8 SoCon) got to Quarles for three runs in the second with a Derek Hirsch two-run double and two-out RBI single by Matt Ramsay.
Wofford added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Conor Clancy and made it 5-0 in sixth after Kody Ruedisili led off with a double and scored on a Quarles throwing error.
Leftwich retired the Paladins (23-26, 10-9 SoCon) in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings before encountering trouble in the sixth. He issued a leadoff walk to Ryan Morse, hit Sims Griffith with a pitch and then yielded a single to Carter Grote to load the bases with no outs. The junior right-hander extracted himself, though, by striking out Jake Jones, getting a force at home and fanning Chris Ohmstede for the final out.
Simpson’s solo blast to lead off the seventh bounced off the light pole in left field to get the Paladins on the board, but Wofford answered with a two-run home run by Clancy in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-1.
Ruedisili went 3-for-3 and scored two runs to lead Wofford’s 12-hit performance. Clancy had two hits, including the long ball, and drove in three runs.
Simpson led Furman with a 2-for-4 performance. His home run moved him into a third-place tie for most clouts in Paladin season history, three shy of the standard of 17 currently owned by Brent Williams (1991).
The Paladins finished with eight hits.
Western Carolina 7, Samford 4
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Extra-base hits proved profitable early for Western Carolina as the Catamounts used a pair of two-run home runs and a run-scoring double to take a lead it would never relinquish, evening its best-of-three Southern Conference series with Samford by winning 7-4 on Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
Senior Bradley Strong and freshman Spencer Holcomb both belted two-run home runs in the opening two frames with a second freshman, Brett Pope, delivering what proved to be the game-winning run with an RBI double in the third inning as WCU led from start to finish to set up Sunday’s rubber match.
Coverage of Sunday’s series finale is available again through the Catamount Sports Network with live streaming audio through CatamountSports.com. The game will also be televised through the American Sports Network (@LiveOnASN, check local listings).
Six Catamount hitters combined for WCU’s seven hits in the win with junior Danny Bermudez collecting the lone multi-hit game with a 2-for-5, two-run effort. Strong finished 1-for-4 with a sacrifice bunt and the two RBIs on his first-inning home run while Holcomb was 1-for-2 with a walk and his first career round-tripper. Pope finished the game 1-for-4 with the two-bag base hit.
With Bermudez aboard with a one-out single, Strong hit his team-leading eighth home run over the fence in right field on the second pitch of his at bat. His towering long ball gave WCU the early, 2-0, edge. An inning later, after Matthew Koehler reached on an infield error, Holcomb belted a shot to center field that got over the fence, eluding a leaping center fielder T.J. Dixon to give the Catamounts a 4-0 advantage through two.
In the third, Bermudez led off with his second single of the game before Strong sacrificed him into scoring position. An infield groundout by Kramer Ferrell, who finished 1-for-4 with a run scored, pushed Bermudez to third ahead of Pope, who lined one into left field to plate the run. Pope made the big turn at first before taking second on the same play as the ball had yet to return to the infield for a double.
WCU’s five-run edge stood until the fourth and sixth innings as the middle of the Samford lineup did the damage. Freshman Austin Edens singled along the infield with one out ahead of Alex Lee, who then delivered a run-scoring triple to center field. Lee later came home on a wild pitch to cut the margin to three, 5-2. Edens was again aboard in the sixth, reaching on a HBP ahead of Lee, who homered to center field to cap his three-RBI day. Lee finished the game 2-for-3 at the dish to lead Samford.
Clinging to a one-run lead, the Catamounts added two insurance runs in the eighth inning. Ferrell reached on a one-out single up the middle before taking second on an infield ground out. Pinch-hitter Pierce Suttles was intentionally walked to put two aboard before Matthew Koehler reached for the third time on a second error, beating out the play in back of first to load the bases. Following a pitching change, Holcomb reached on a two-base throwing error, allowing Ferrell and Suttles to score unearned markers, providing the final tally at 7-4.
Sophomore starter Bryan Sammons (4-4) struck out seven batters against five walks through six innings on the mound for the Catamounts on the hot Saturday afternoon to earn the victory. The second-year southpaw allowed four runs while limiting Samford to five hits. Junior reliever Colton Davis allowed just one hit in an inning of scoreless relief to set up senior closer Tyler Powell, who was perfect in the final two frames.
Making his 94th career appearance to move into sole possession of third in the school record books, Powell collected his seventh save of the season to give him 22 for his career, tied for second in the school ledgers with former reliever Ryan Foster, who also saved 22 games from 2000-03. Powell is just two shy of matching former teammate and all-time saves leader Preston Hatcher (24, 2010-13).
WCU’s defense behind its trio of pitchers was solid on Saturday, turning two double plays – one coming to end a bases-loaded jam – and stranding six Bulldog base runners.
Samford starter Parker Curry (6-6) took the loss after allowing five runs – four earned – on six hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 6 2/3 innings. Reliever Eric Wright was tagged for the two unearned WCU insurance runs in the eighth.
Game three is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. CT first pitch on Sunday.
The Citadel 12, ETSU 8
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel slammed four home runs for the second straight day, including a three-run shot by Drew Ellis that capped a six-run sixth inning, giving the Bulldogs a 12-8 win over ETSU to clinch the first series between the teams as Southern Conference rivals since 2005.
The Bulldogs (22-26, 7-13 SoCon) have won consecutive conference series and four of their last five games after taking two of three at Samford last weekend. The Buccaneers dropped to 19-31 and 6-14 in the SoCon.
The series concludes with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday, the first pitch having been moved up two hours due to the threat of rain later in the day. The members of the 2015 senior class will be recognized in a pregame ceremony.
Austin Mapes led off the bottom of the first by taking the first pitch from Jimmy Nesselt over the wall in left-center for his second leadoff home run in the past three games. Connor Walsh hit a two-run homer in the fifth, Mike Deese launched a pinch-hit shot an inning later, and Ellis finished off the decisive sixth with his drive to right, giving the Bulldogs a 10-5 lead.
Walsh and Ellis both had two home runs in the series opener on Friday. Ellis leads The Citadel with nine home runs on the season, Walsh has seven to go along with a team-leading 49 RBIs and Mapes has left the yard six times, including three in the past four games.
ETSU scored three times in the fourth including a two-run single by Chris Cook to take a 5-2 lead before the Bulldogs ran off 10 unanswered runs. Walsh began the rally with his homer in the fifth, and Deese tied it at 5 with a leadoff shot in the sixth.
Mapes had a sacrifice fly to put The Citadel in front and Stephen Windham made it 7-5 with an RBI single before Ellis jumped on an 0-2 pitch from reliever Josh Jacques. Mapes drove in his third and fourth runs of the game an inning later with a two-run single, insurance runs that proved important when the Bucs scored three in the ninth.
Kevin Connell earned the win in relief, blanking ETSU from the sixth through eighth innings with four strikeouts. He ran into trouble in the ninth, and Skylar Hunter was able to strike out Zach Thompson with two on to finish off the win.
VMI 8, UNCG 2
LEXINGTON, Va. – Home runs from Will Connerley and David Geary backed a complete game from Andrew Woods as the VMI Keydets defeated the UNCG Spartans, 8-2, in the middle game of a Southern Conference series Saturday night. The Keydets (17-26, 10-10) also stole seven bases in the game, the team's most since it also stole seven March 7, 2009, against Rider.
The Keydets led wire to wire Saturday night after Geary sent a 2-2 pitch from Andrew Wantz over the scoreboard in left-center field for a two-run shot in the first inning. UNCG (21-24, 11-12) closed to within 3-2 after a Collin Woody home run in the fourth, but Connerley launched a home run to the top of the hill in left field in the fourth, starting VMI scoring the game's final five runs en route to the win.
Woods' (6-1) complete game saw him give up two runs on seven hits. He struck out nine and walked only one in his first career complete game. Wantz (5-3) gave up five runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
After Geary put the Keydets up 2-0 early, VMI added on in the third. Jordan Tarsovich led off with a single and stole second, his 22nd theft of the year, tying him for ninth-most in school history. Geary then followed with a bloop single that bounced off the glove of second baseman Hunter King. Geary was thrown out at second base 4-9-5-6, but Tarsovich advanced to third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Winn to make it 3-0.
Woody hit a two-run homer in the fourth, but Connerley's home run and an RBI single by Ray Lopez pushed the lead back to three, 5-2, after four.
VMI tacked on another run in the seventh, when Tarsovich singled and moved to second on a bunt. Winn then singled to left and, coming around third, Tarsovich fell down. Left fielder Tyler Long bobbled the ball, however, allowing Tarsovich time to regain his feet and score to make it 6-2, VMI. A two-run single by Winn in the eighth accounted for the final margin.
Offensively, the top five hitters in the Keydet lineup, as well as No. 7 hitter Tyler Tharp, all had two hits apiece. Connerley's home run tied him with six others, including Winn, for ninth on the Institute's all-time single-season listing.
The Keydets return to action Sunday as the series with UNCG wraps up at 2 p.m. Senior Day ceremonies will take place at 1:35 p.m. and will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network.