College of Charleston
UNC Asheville
Baseball Falls To UNC Asheville 18-8
2/27/2010 2:00:00 AM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – UNC Asheville used a seven-run seventh inning to pull away from College of Charleston on the way to a 18-8 victory over the Cougars Friday night at Patriots Point. CofC falls to 4-1 on the season, while Asheville evens their record at 2-2.
Sophomore 3B Matt Leeds (Boca Raton, Fla./American Heritage) led the Cougars with three RBIs on a three-run home run to right center, while senior 1B Justin Brewer (Greer, S.C./Spartanburg Methodist College) and junior OF Hutson Dodds (Charleston, S.C./Porter Gaud) added solo shots in the loss.
Asheville posted three runs in the third inning and added four more in the fourth to stake a 7-0 lead. Charleston broke through in the fifth, scoring a single run on a sacrifice fly by junior CF Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C./Wando). The Bulldogs responded with a pair of runs in the sixth to increase their lead to 9-1 and extended it to 16-1 with their seventh-inning outburst.
The Cougars showed life in the eighth inning with a six-run outburst, highlighted by round-trippers from Leeds and Dodds, as well as RBI singles by junior DH Kolby Epley (Yadkinville, N.C./Forbush) and sophomore OF Thomas Brittle (Cross, S.C./Berkeley) to cut the deficit to 16-7. Asheville pushed across two more runs in the top of the ninth, while Brewer's solo home run closed out the scoring for Charleston.
Asheville was led by Danny Baatz and Austin Graham, who each recorded three hits. Baatz added three RBIs, while Beau Zinman plated three runs as well. The Bulldogs collected 21 hits, including seven doubles on the evening. Ryan Dull earned the win for Asheville, tossing six innings of three-hit ball with two strikeouts.
Junior Josh Salay (Rock Hill, S.C./Spartanburg Methodist College) took the loss for the Cougars, lasting 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits with six strikeouts.
The Cougars and Asheville
return to the field for game two of the series Saturday afternoon at Patriots
Point. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
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