Lincoln Memorial, Newberry, Wingate Post Wins In Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament
FOREST CITY, N.C. -- A seven-run fifth inning erased a 3-0 deficit and propelled Lincoln Memorial University to an 8-6 victory over Tusculum College in the third game of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday night at McNair Field.
The Railsplitters (29-20) advance to play Wingate in a winners
bracket game Thursday night at 7:30 p.m., while the Pioneers
(31-15) will look to stave off elimination when they face Newberry
at 3:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
LMU sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on seven
hits, aided by two costly Tusculum errors that resulted in five of
the runs being unearned. The Pioneers mounted a late rally and had
the tying run at second base in the ninth inning before
Railsplitter reliever Steven Starbird (Rutledge, Tenn.) came up
with a strikeout to end the game and earn the save.
All nine Railsplitters finished with at least one hit in the
contest, with Nolan Woody (Chattanooga, Tenn.) going 2-for-4 and
Cody Baker (Knoxville, Tenn.) 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Pioneers were led by Sean Cotten (Mooresville, N.C.) who was
2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored along with a stolen
base. Rolondo Bonner (Garner, N.C.) and Branfy Arias (La Romana,
D.R.) also went 2-for-5 for the Pioneers as part of a 10-hit
attack.
Andy Fennell (Knoxville, Tenn.) worked 6 1/3 innings for the
Railsplitters to earn the win, improving to 5-1 as he gave up six
hits and four earned runs while walking four and striking out five
over 127 pitches. Starbird threw the final 2 2/3 innings for the
save, striking out three.
Tusculum took a 1-0 lead in the second as Trey Drewery (Vale, N.C.)
led off with a single and came home on a two-out double down the
line in left by Arias. The Pioneers added two more runs in the
third on an RBI groundout by Cody Coffman (Cape Coral, Fla.) and a
sacrifice fly from Matt Henriksen (Hingham, Mass) for a 3-0
lead.
Pioneer starter Craig Goodman (Clearwater, Fla.) held the
Railsplitters to one hit through four innings, but with one out in
the fifth the LMU bats came to life as Woody singled up the middle
and Joseph Horsley followed with his third home run of the season
to deep left to cut the Tusculum lead to 3-2.
Back-to-back errors by the Pioneers kept the inning alive, and
consecutive singles by Cody Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) and John
Couch (Bonnyman, Ky.) pushed LMU ahead 4-3. The Railsplitters added
three more runs in the frame on an RBI double by Gelson Perez
(Gurabo, P.R.), a sacrifice fly by Eric Kitts (Blaine, Tenn.) and
an infield single by Deaun Williams (Beech Grove, Ind.) to take a
7-3 lead.
Tusculum cut the deficit to 7-4 in the seventh on a pinch-hit RBI
single by Aaron Guinn (Norris, Tenn.) but LMU regained their
four-run lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI infield single
by Baker.
In the ninth, the Pioneers pulled within 8-5 as Cotten led off the
inning with a double against Starbird and scored on a single up the
middle by Coffman. Tusculum loaded the bases with one out, and
scored on a groundout by Payden Houser (Lincolnton, N.C.) to cut
the LMU lead to 8-6. However, Starbird fanned Arias on a 2-2 pitch
to close the game.
Goodman fell to 7-4 after allowing seven runs (two earned) on six
hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings, while striking out five.
Michael Franklin (Kings Mountain, N.C..) followed with an inning of
scoreless relief and Billy Sivyer (Knoxville, Tenn.) closed out the
game on the mound for the Pioneers by tossing 2 2/3 innings of
two-hit ball with three strikeouts.
Newberry 4, Catawba 2
FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Mario Rojas scattered three hits over 7 1/3
innings and Evan Darr hit a two-run home run as sixth-seeded
Newberry College upset top-seeded Catawba College 4-2 in the
opening game of the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference
Baseball Tournament at McNair Field Wednesday afternoon.
Rojas (Miami, Fla.) worked out of jams in the fifth and seventh
innings to improve to 5-2 this season, and Tyler Sturkie (West
Columbia, S.C.) escaped an eighth-inning threat en route to his
seventh save of the season for the Wolves (23-25), who will play
Thursday at 3:45 p.m. against Tusculum.
The Catawba Indians (36-9) left 10 runners on base as their 10-game
winning streak came to an end. Catawba will play an elimination
game at noon Thursday against Carson-Newman.
SAC Pitcher of the Year Nick Lomascolo (Mooresville, N.C.) took the
loss for the Indians, settling down after allowing four runs in the
first three innings to retire 17 of the Wolves' final 18 batters,
including 12 in a row to finish the game.
Newberry finished with just three hits and had just six baserunners
against Lomascolo (8-2), but made the most of their opportunities
to come away with the victory. In addition to Darr's two-run home
run, Sanchez Gartman (Newberry, S.C.) had a tiebreaking two-run
double in the third inning after Lomascolo issued back-to-back
walks with two outs.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when SAC
Freshman of the Year Chris Dula (Troutman, N.C.) launched a solo
home run down the left-field line, his eighth round-tripper of the
season.
The Wolves responded in the top half of the second as Jovan Rohena
doubled with two outs and scored as Darr drove a 2-1 pitch over the
wall in left for his second home run of the season and a 2-1
lead.
Catawba tied the game in the bottom of the frame, but missed out on
a chance for a big inning. The Indians loaded the bases with nobody
out as Rojas hit back-to-back batters and followed with a walk.
Blake Houston (Mt. Ulla, N.C.) grounded into a fielder's choice to
knock in John Neese (Summerfield, N.C.) with the tying run, but
Rojas induced a 6-4-3 double play to escape with no further
damage.
In the third, Lomascolo quickly dispatched of the first two batters
but walked John Fogarile (New York, N.Y.) and Chris Love (Columbia,
S.C.) to put two runners on base. Gartman came through with a
double to the wall in deep right-center to bring home Fogarile and
Love for a 4-2 Newberry lead.
Rojas worked around a one-out double by Neese in the fourth, then
escaped a first-and-second, one-out jam in the fifth by getting a
strikeout and a foul out. In the seventh, the Indians loaded the
bases with two outs, but Garrett Furr (Gold Hill, N.C.) flied out
to deep center to end the inning.
Working into the eighth, Rojas departed after a one-out walk to
Austin Moyer (Greensboro, N.C.) after throwing 130 pitches. When
reliever D.J. Hearsey (Oviedo, Fla.) issued a walk to Brett
Underwood (Greensboro, N.C.) to put two on with one out, Sturkie
was summoned from the Wolves' bullpen. Houston reached on a
fielder's choice grounder to leave runners at the corners, but
Julio Zubillaga (China Grove, N.C.) went down swinging on a 1-2
pitch to end the threat.
Catawba mounted one final rally in the ninth, but Dula grounded
into a 5-4-3 double play with a runner at first and one out to end
the game.
The Indians' Josh Hohn (Greensboro, N.C.) was the lone player on
either team to record more than one hit in the game, finishing
2-for-5 with a stolen base.
Wingate 4, Carson-Newman 1
FOREST CITY, N.C. -- Dodson McPherson, Brian Yeung and Casey
Allison hit consecutive home runs in the sixth inning to break a
1-1 tie and lift Wingate University to a 4-1 victory over
Carson-Newman College in action at the Food Lion South Atlantic
Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday at McNair Field.
Chris Nelson (Greenville, N.C.) pitched eight innings of four-hit
ball to earn the win for the second-seeded Bulldogs (31-20), who
will play Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Lincoln Memorial.
Evan Patterson (Knoxville, Tenn.) finished 2-for-3 at the plate for
the fifth-seeded Eagles (20-27), who will play top-seeded Catawba
in an elimination game at noon Thursday. The Indians lost 4-2 to
Newberry in Wednesday's tournament opener.
McPherson (Graham, N.C.), the SAC Player of the Year, hit his
conference-leading 16th home run of the season to deep right-center
off Carson-Newman starter Austin Bridgewater (Morristown, Tenn.) to
open the sixth inning and give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Three
pitches later, Yeung (Raleigh, N.C.) connected for his 15th homer
of the season to deep left for a 3-1 Wingate lead, and Allison
(Horse Shoe, N.C.) followed on the next pitch with his ninth
round-tripper of the season to left.
Nelson (5-3) was never in any serious trouble against the
Carson-Newman lineup, allowing just a third-inning run and striking
out three before giving way to Cameron Falcon (Durham, N.C.), who
worked around a pair of hits in the ninth for his second save.
The Eagles scored the game's first run in the top of the third, as
Cody Nix (Cartersville, Ga.) led off with a single, moved to second
on a sacrifice, stole third and scored on a groundout by Mason
Guymon (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) for a 1-0 Eagle lead.
Wingate answered with an unearned run off Bridgewater in the bottom
of the third. Cody Shelton (Charlotte, N.C..) led off with a
single, took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out
error.
After taking a 4-1 lead, the Bulldogs looked to add insurance in
the seventh but were turned away when Eagle centerfielder Nix threw
out a runner at the plate trying to score on a single by Yeung.
McPherson, Yeung and Allison all went 2-for-4 for the Bulldogs,
accounting for six of the team's eight hits. Carson-Newman finished
with six hits as a team, including a double from Jonathan Dalton
(Rutledge, Tenn.).
Bridgewater worked five-plus innings for the Eagles, allowing four
runs (three earned) on five hits while striking out two.