Baseball Hosts Furman As Second Half of SoCon Slate Begins
4/22/2011 3:30:00 AM | Baseball
Games 40-42
College of Charleston (24-15, 8-7 SoCon) vs. Furman (19-20, 9-8 SoCon)
Game 1: Saturday, April 23 • 1:00 p.m.
LHP #31 Josh Renfro (5-2, 3.02 ERA) vs. RHP #29 Bobby Lyne (2-2, 2.62 ERA)
Game 2: Saturday, April 23 • 30 minutes after end of Game 1
RHP #23 David Peterson (4-3, 4.67 ERA) vs. LHP #14 Daniel Stallsmith (3-2, 4.15 ERA)
Game 3: Sunday, April 24 • 1:00 p.m. • ESPN RADIO 910 AM
RHP #20 Christian Powell (4-1, 2.21 ERA) vs. RHP #31 Tyler Wood (2-3, 5.23 ERA)
BATTING PRACTICE
• The Cougars' 8-0 start this season equaled the mark set in 2002 for the best start to a season in program history.
• Charleston has won at least 30 games in nine straight seasons and at least 35 games in seven straight.
ROAD TO 100
With the Cougars' 10-5 win over The Citadel Sunday afternoon, head coach Monte Lee picked up his 100th career win at the helm of the CofC program. Lee recorded his 100th victory in 152 games, the fastest in CofC baseball program history. It took Ralph Ciabattari 216 games to record his 100th win as Cougars skipper, while current Auburn head coach John Pawlowski needed 185 contest to notch win #100 for the College of Charleston.
LAST WEEK
(1-0 at USC Upstate, 0-1 vs. #2 South Carolina, 1-2 at Elon)
Redshirt-junior LF Jose Rodriguez knocked a three-run home run in the seventh and three other Cougars added round-trippers as the College of Charleston powered past host USC Upstate for a 10-6 victory Wednesday evening at Harley Park.
#2 South Carolina used a four-run seventh inning to pull away from the College of Charleston and defeat the Cougars 8-3 Tuesday evening at Patriots Point in front of a sellout crowd of 1, 719.
Sophomore RHP Christian Powell tossed eight strong innings, holding Elon University to one run on four hits with seven strikeouts to lead the College of Charleston to a 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Sunday afternoon in Southern Conference action at Latham Park.
An RBI single to through the right side by Elon University's Harry Austin scored Eric Serra from third with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as the Phoenix dealt the College of Charleston a heart-breaking 5-4 loss in Southern Conference action Saturday evening at Latham Park. The Cougars took a 4-0 lead into the eighth inning, but saw Elon score four times in the eighth to tie the game and push across the winning run in the ninth.
Elon University starter Ken Ferrer held the College of Charleston to four hits over six innings and the Phoenix pushed across single runs in five innings to hand the Cougars a 5-1 loss in Southern Conference action at Latham Park Friday evening.
ALL-TIME VS. FURMAN
Charleston leads the all-time series, 31-16-1. Last season in Greenville, Furman took the the first two games of the series by scores of 11-3 and 8-5, before the Cougars won the finale 19-5. In that win, RHP David Peterson held the Paladins to four runs in 6-2/3 innings and CF Cole Rakar added four hits to pace the College.
ALDRICH GARNERS SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Redshirt-freshman LF Daniel Aldrich has been named the Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Week for his performance with the Cougars for all games from April 4-10. Aldrich batted .500 with a 1.050 slugging percentage for the Cougars last week while collecting at least two hits in all four games. The Mt. Pleasant, S.C. native drove in 11 runs while six of his 10 hits went for extra bases, including a pair of home runs over the weekend at The Citadel. In both of CofC's wins last week, a 6-5 triumph at UNC Wilmington and a 10-5 defeat of The Citadel, Aldrich drove in four runs.
FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME
After fouling a ball off his leg his leg in the April 1 win over Western Carolina, redshirt-junior Matt Leeds missed the April 2 matchup against the Catamounts, ending a streak of 89 straight starts for the 2010 Southern Conference Player of the Year. Leeds played and started all 63 games last season and was in the starting lineup for all 26 games leading up to April 2.
LEEDS NAMED SOCON PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR FEBRUARY
Redshirt-junior Matt Leeds, the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year, was honored by the league today as he received February Athlete of the Month honors. Leeds batted .417 with a pair of home runs and 16 RBIs as the nationally-ranked Cougars started the season with a perfect 7-0 record in February. A preseason All-SoCon First Team honoree, Leeds led Charleston to an 11-6, season-opening win against Kentucky with six RBIs, including a three-run home run in the third inning. He followed that performance with four more runs driven in during a win over Miami (Ohio) the following afternoon. Leeds recorded a hit in all but one contest while reaching base at a .568 clip and slugging .708.
LEEDS SELECTED AS A DAVE HART SCHOLARSHIP WINNER
Matt Leeds has been selected by the Southern Conference as a Dave Hart Scholarship winner. The postgraduate-studies award is chosen by a five-person committee based on accomplishments in academics, athletics and community service.
MESA HONORED WITH ExCEL AWARD BY COLLEGE
Senior 2B Jesse Mesa has been chosen as ExCEL Student-Athlete of the Year by the College of Charleston. The Excellence in Collegiate Education and Leadership (ExCEL) Awards program honors faculty, staff, students, community groups and/or individuals for promoting excellence and diversity at the College of Charleston. This award recognizes the accomplishments of a senior male or female in any sport whose academic and athletic achievements have left a lasting impact on their team. In addition to demonstrating athletic ability, this person has proven to be a respected leader on and off the field of play.
RAKAR NAMED 2011 SOCON PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Senior Cole Rakar has been selected as the 2011 Southern Conference Preseason Player of the Year as chosen by the league's baseball coaches. Rakar headlines a conference-high six Cougars chosen to the Preseason All-Conference teams. As a junior, Rakar led the Southern Conference in runs (76), hits (102) and doubles (26) while finishing in the top 20 nationally in each category. His .378 batting average was third-highest in the league. The center fielder had a team-high 31 multi-hit games, including six three-hit and six four-hit efforts. He ended the season on a nine-game hitting streak and was honored in 2010 as a first team All-SoCon selection, as well as earning NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional All-Tournament Team honors.
SIX COUGARS NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAMS
Joining senior Cole Rakar on the first team are senior Casey Lucchese and redshirt-juniors Rob Kral, Jose Rodriguez and Matt Leeds. Junior David Peterson was named to the second team.
COUGARS TABBED AS SOCON PRESEASON POLL FAVORITES
The College of Charleston was chosen as the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference baseball championship in 2011 as selected by the league's coaches and media. The Cougars received all 10 possible first-place votes and 100 points in the coaches' balloting, as coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams. CofC also grabbed 19 of 22 first-place votes and 239 points in the media poll. The Maroon and Gold return six of eight starters in the field, as well as a pair of weekend starting pitchers from the 2010 team that was 44-19 overall and finished second in the NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional.
LEEDS EARNS COLLEGIATE BASEBALL PRESEASON HONOR
Redshirt-junior Matt Leeds was selected to the Louisville Slugger 2011 Pre-Season All-American team, it was announced today by Collegiate Baseball. Leeds was named to the third team. The 2010 ABCA All-American led the Cougars in slugging percentage (.690), RBI (88) and was fifth in batting average (.326) and third in hits (79). His 21 home runs led the team and the Southern Conference and put him 35th in the country, while his 88 RBI ranked him first in the league and second nationally.
UPCOMING GAMES
Fri.-Sun. Apr 29-May 1 Wofford Spartanburg, SC 7:00/3:00/1:00 p.m.
Fri.-Sun. May 6-8 UNC Greensboro Patriots Point 6:00/7:00/1:00 p.m.
