Thursday, May 19
Birmingham, Ala.
7:00 PM
College of Charleston
11
at
8
Samford
Baseball Holds On For 11-8 Victory over Samford
5/20/2011 3:37:00 AM | Baseball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Redshirt-junior 3B Matt Leeds (Boca Raton, Fla.) homered twice, including a grand slam in the sixth, as the College of Charleston opened the final series of the regular season with an 11-8 victory over Samford University Thursday evening at J.L. Griffin Field. The Cougars improve to 36-18 on the season and 18-10 in the Southern Conference.
Charleston jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as drilled a 1-0 pitch over the fence in center for his 17th home run of the season. Samford responded in the bottom of the frame with a run on the strength of two Charleston errors. Michael Johnson led off with a full-count walk, stole second and reached third on a throwing error by junior LHP Josh Renfro (Bradenton, Fla.) during a pickoff attempt. Brad Moss reached on catcher's interference to put runners at the corners with no outs and Johnson would score when Saxon Butler grounded into a 1-6-3 double play.
Samford (32-22, 16-12) plated a pair of runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Phillip Ervin reached on an infield single to open the frame and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Putkonen. Back-to-back RBI doubles down the left-field line by Brandon Powell and Tommy Corbin put the Bulldogs up by two after two innings of play.
The Cougars tied the game in the fourth with two runs on bases-loaded walks from Samford starter Charles Basford. After freshman DH Brandon Murray (Nassau, Bahamas) walked with one out, senior CF Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and junior 2B Rob Harding (Columbia, S.C.) hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Senior SS Jamie Holler (Rock Hill, S.C.) walked on five pitches to cut the deficit to one and after a fielder's choice by junior 1B Marty Gantt (N. Augusta, S.C.) retired Rakar at home, redshirt-junior C Rob Kral (Randolph, N.J.) watched four straight balls sail by and Charleston knotted the game at 3-3.
A RBI sacrifice bunt by Moss in the fifth scored Corbin from third and gave Samford a 4-3 before the Cougars surged ahead in the top of the sixth on the strength on Leeds' grand slam to open a 7-4 lead. With one out, Holler walked and Gantt singled to left. Kral drew another four pitch walk to load the bases for Leeds, whose drive stayed fair down the left-field line for his second homer of the game.
Charleston put up another four runs in the top of the eighth, opening an 11-4 lead. With one out, Kral knocked a solo shot to right for his ninth home run of the season and an 8-4 CofC advantage. Leeds followed with a walk and Redshirt-freshman RF Daniel Aldrich (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) swatted his 22nd homer run of the season, a two-run shot to center, putting the Cougars up 10-4. Redshirt-junior LF Jose Rodriguez (Hialeah, Fla.) continued the offense barrage with a single through the left side, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on RBI single to left by Rakar.
Samford became opportunistic in the bottom half of the frame however, using three Charleston errors to score four unearned runs and bring the score within three runs at 11-8. With sophomore RHP Matt Pegler (Greenville, S.C.) on the mound, Johnson singled down the right-field line to open the frame and Moss was hit by a pitch. Butler hit a routine grounder to Harding at second, but his throw to second sailed past Holler and into right field, allowing Johnson to score and putting runners at second and third with no outs. Miller followed up with a bunt that rolled to Pegler, who dropped the ball while fielding the bunt, loading the bases. Ervin followed with a RBI single to shallow right, but Aldrich gunned down Miller for the force at second. Putkonen lined a RBI single into right, cutting the score to 11-7, but Aldrich fired the relay over Harding at second, allowing Ervin to score on the play as well.
Senior RHP Casey Lucchese (Lexington, Ky.) came in with two runners on and one out in the ninth and retired the final two Samford batters for his seventh save of the season. Renfro improved to 9-2 on the season, scattering six hits and four runs – three earned – over seven innings with two strikeouts. Pegler struck out two and gave up four hits and four unearned runs in 1-1/3 innings of relief.
Leeds collected five RBIs on the evening and was one of four Charleston batters with two hits in the game. Johnson led Samford with three hits, while Joseph Jones took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs on three hits in 2-1/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Charleston returns action tomorrow afternoon to face Samford in game two of the series. Thursday's first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. EST.
Charleston jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning as drilled a 1-0 pitch over the fence in center for his 17th home run of the season. Samford responded in the bottom of the frame with a run on the strength of two Charleston errors. Michael Johnson led off with a full-count walk, stole second and reached third on a throwing error by junior LHP Josh Renfro (Bradenton, Fla.) during a pickoff attempt. Brad Moss reached on catcher's interference to put runners at the corners with no outs and Johnson would score when Saxon Butler grounded into a 1-6-3 double play.
Samford (32-22, 16-12) plated a pair of runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead. Phillip Ervin reached on an infield single to open the frame and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Putkonen. Back-to-back RBI doubles down the left-field line by Brandon Powell and Tommy Corbin put the Bulldogs up by two after two innings of play.
The Cougars tied the game in the fourth with two runs on bases-loaded walks from Samford starter Charles Basford. After freshman DH Brandon Murray (Nassau, Bahamas) walked with one out, senior CF Cole Rakar (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and junior 2B Rob Harding (Columbia, S.C.) hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Senior SS Jamie Holler (Rock Hill, S.C.) walked on five pitches to cut the deficit to one and after a fielder's choice by junior 1B Marty Gantt (N. Augusta, S.C.) retired Rakar at home, redshirt-junior C Rob Kral (Randolph, N.J.) watched four straight balls sail by and Charleston knotted the game at 3-3.
A RBI sacrifice bunt by Moss in the fifth scored Corbin from third and gave Samford a 4-3 before the Cougars surged ahead in the top of the sixth on the strength on Leeds' grand slam to open a 7-4 lead. With one out, Holler walked and Gantt singled to left. Kral drew another four pitch walk to load the bases for Leeds, whose drive stayed fair down the left-field line for his second homer of the game.
Charleston put up another four runs in the top of the eighth, opening an 11-4 lead. With one out, Kral knocked a solo shot to right for his ninth home run of the season and an 8-4 CofC advantage. Leeds followed with a walk and Redshirt-freshman RF Daniel Aldrich (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) swatted his 22nd homer run of the season, a two-run shot to center, putting the Cougars up 10-4. Redshirt-junior LF Jose Rodriguez (Hialeah, Fla.) continued the offense barrage with a single through the left side, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on RBI single to left by Rakar.
Samford became opportunistic in the bottom half of the frame however, using three Charleston errors to score four unearned runs and bring the score within three runs at 11-8. With sophomore RHP Matt Pegler (Greenville, S.C.) on the mound, Johnson singled down the right-field line to open the frame and Moss was hit by a pitch. Butler hit a routine grounder to Harding at second, but his throw to second sailed past Holler and into right field, allowing Johnson to score and putting runners at second and third with no outs. Miller followed up with a bunt that rolled to Pegler, who dropped the ball while fielding the bunt, loading the bases. Ervin followed with a RBI single to shallow right, but Aldrich gunned down Miller for the force at second. Putkonen lined a RBI single into right, cutting the score to 11-7, but Aldrich fired the relay over Harding at second, allowing Ervin to score on the play as well.
Senior RHP Casey Lucchese (Lexington, Ky.) came in with two runners on and one out in the ninth and retired the final two Samford batters for his seventh save of the season. Renfro improved to 9-2 on the season, scattering six hits and four runs – three earned – over seven innings with two strikeouts. Pegler struck out two and gave up four hits and four unearned runs in 1-1/3 innings of relief.
Leeds collected five RBIs on the evening and was one of four Charleston batters with two hits in the game. Johnson led Samford with three hits, while Joseph Jones took the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs on three hits in 2-1/3 innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Charleston returns action tomorrow afternoon to face Samford in game two of the series. Thursday's first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. EST.
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