College of Charleston Baseball Hosts UNC Wilmington On Tuesday
3/12/2012 9:17:00 PM | Baseball
Last weekend, the Cougars offense exploded for 31 runs in three games as the College of Charleston reached double figures in runs for the first time this season. The Cougars hit five home runs, including two from Brandon Murray, and every starter managed multiple hits.
Despite breaking games open on multiple occasions with big innings, the Cougars allowed Furman to close the gap on both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday's game saw Christian Powell throw eight flawless innings, before the Paladins scored three runs in the ninth and put the winning run on second base when Kyle Owings struck out Hunter Burton to preserve the 4-3 win.
On Sunday, a three-run homer from Bradley Goodson put College of Charleston up 13-5 in the eighth inning but Furman rallied with six runs in the bottom half and had the tying run on second when the Cougars finished the inning with a tag out at home on an attempted steal.
PROBABLE STARTERS
RHP #23 Travis Bradley UNC Wilmington 0-0, 54.00 ERA, 0.1 IP, 0 K
RHP #25 Griffin Jones CofC 0-0, 1.00 ERA, 5 BB, 9 K
SERIES NOTES
The Cougars hold a 3-2 advantage over the Seahawks all-time, including winning the last two. College of Charleston defeated UNC Wilmington 6-5 at in Wilmington, N.C. on April 6, 2011.
SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS
UNC Wilmington (6-9) enters this week's game after completing a sweep of their own last weekend, over James Madison. The Seahawks also have wins over UNC Asheville and Ohio.
This will be the first start of the season for RHP Travis Bradley. Bradley has pitched 0.1 innings of relief where he gave up two runs on three hits and two walks.
UNCW is led offensively by Thomas Pope who hits .379 and is the only Seahawk with double digits in RBIs (10). Pope also has 14 runs with four doubles and three triples. Pope was preseason All-CAA First Team selection. Tyler Molinaro leads the team with three home runs.
Andrew Cain earned CAA Weekly Honors after hitting .556 with eight runs during the weekend sweep.
UNC Wilmington was picked to finish second in the CAA this season behind James Madison who they swept last weekend.
ROAD WARRIORS
Last week, College of Charleston went 4-0 on the road to improve the squad's road record to 8-0 on the season. That mark still stands as tops in all of Division I baseball.
COFC IN THE SOCON RANKINGS
The Cougars currently lead the league in pitching with a team ERA of 2.01 and an opposing batting average of just .195.
Christian Powell leads the league with stellar ERA of 0.70, while Ryan West leads the SoCon in opposing batting average with .127. After his three saves last week, David Peterson has moved into a first-place tie for saves with 5.
Marty Gantt is second in the conference in runs scored with 20 and is third in the SoCon in batting average (.443). Gantt is fourth in on-base percentage (.507) and fourth in stolen bases (8).
Slugger Daniel Aldrich moved into first place in the conference in triples with three, while he's also fourth in walks (12).
GOING STREAKING
Marty Gantt has led the team all season in batting average after opening with a strong series at South Alabama. Gantt currently sports a team-best 12-game reached base streak after his 10-game hit streak was snapped on Saturday.
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE
College of Charleston slugger Daniel Aldrich has shown that he can hit for power. The first team All-American led all freshman in home runs last season and has tallied a slugging percentage of .529 this season with 15 RBIs.
However, Aldrich has made patience at the plate into a prevalent aspect of his game this season. Aldrich leads the team in walks with 12 and his on-base percentage of .452 is second on the team. He has struck out only eight times in 47 at bats.
B-MURR, BENZ OR BENTLEY
College of Charleston sophomore Brandon Murray hit three home runs in the past week, all of which were solo shots to right field. Murray now leads the team with four long balls as he's cemented a permanent starting spot in left field.
