College of Charleston
Western Carolina
CofC Edges WCU, 7-6
3/23/2007 4:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jedd Cordisco scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift College of Charleston to a 7-6 win over Western Carolina in the Southern Conference baseball opener for both schools before 406 at Patriots Point Field on Friday.
With the win, Charleston improved to 16-6 overall and 1-0 in league play. The Catamounts fell to 14-8 and 0-1. Game two of the series is scheduled for 1:00 on Saturday.
Cordisco started the bottom of the ninth with a pinch-hit single to right center. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gabe Marchant and to third on a grounder by Graham Maiden.
With the Catamounts attempting to intentionally walk the next Cougar hitter, Alex Garabedian, lefty Chris Masters sailed his 1-0 pitch to the screen allowing Cordisco to score with a head-first slide for the game-winner.
WCU erased a 6-3 deficit in the top of the ninth. Blake Murphy's two-run single cut the lead to 6-5 and Kenny Smith's RBI single to center scored Murphy to tie the game at 6-6.
Charleston, which got a two-run homer from Garabedian in the fourth, scored four times in the seventh. Chris Campbell greeted WCU relief pitcher Greg Holland with a first-pitch, two-run double to left center, and Garabedian capped the frame with a two-run single to center for a 6-3 CofC lead.
Garabedian finished with two hits and four runs batted. Murphy paced WCU's 12-hit attack with two hits and two RBI.
Russ Tomlinson (1-1) picked up the win working the final 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout. Masters (3-1) suffered his first loss. Charleston starter Nick Chigges worked into the ninth and finished with nine strikeouts.
