College of Charleston
Western Carolina
Western Carolina Scores Two in the Ninth to Take Game One Over Baseball
3/27/2010 9:00:00 PM | Baseball
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina's Ross Heffley lined a two-run single up the middle off College of Charleston senior reliever Heath Hembree (Cowpens, S.C./Spartanburg Methodist College) in the bottom of the ninth to give the Catamounts a 4-3 come-from-behind win Saturday afternoon in game one of a Southern Conference doubleheader at Hennon Stadium.
Hembree struck out Tyler Kirkpatrick to open the ninth, and then gave up a single to Tyler White. Trevor Collias pitch-ran for White and promptly stole second and Hembree walked the next two Western Carolina batters to load the bases. Hembree retired Cameron Dullnig on three straight strikes, before Heffley's sharp liner brought home the two game-winning runs.
The Catamounts (14-7-1, 2-5-1 SoCon) opened the scoring in the third inning, scoring on a wild pitch by Cougar starting RHP Kevin Decker (Washington, Ind./Seminole CC). Charleston (19-6, 5-3) took the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, plating the first run off back-to-back doubles by junior LF Jose Rodriguez (Hialeah, Fla./Broward College) and junior 3B Jesse Mesa (Miramar, Fla./Central Florida JC). Senior 1B Greg Blake (Westerly, R.I./Lake City CC) followed up with a RBI single up the middle to score Mesa and give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
CofC plated another run in the following inning for a two-run cushion. Junior RF Baker Knox (San Mateo, Fla./Daytona Beach CC) led off the frame with a walk and junior CF Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C./Wando) singled to left, advancing Knox to second. Mat Batts came in to relieve Catamount starter Matt Benedict and face senior 2B Joey Bergman (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny). The conference preseason player of the year grounded out to first, moving the runners 90 feet closer to home and junior DH Rob Kral (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) brought home Knox with a RBI groundout to second.
Western Carolina cut the Cougar lead to one in the bottom of the inning as Decker walked the first two batters and a RBI single through the left side by Radley Haddad scored Cameron Dullnig. Both teams were unable to muster much offensive before the Catamounts' attack in the ninth.
Hembree took the loss for the Cougars, falling to 4-1 on the season. Decker tossed eight solid innings, allowing two runs, one earned, and eight hits while striking out seven. Rodriguez had three hits to lead Charleston. Brandon Johnson picked up the win for Western Carolina, tossing 1.1 innings of hitless relief and striking out two.
The Cougars and Western Carolina will play game two of the doubleheader this afternoon at approximately 5:15 p.m.
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