College of Charleston
The Citadel
@CofCBaseball Downs The Citadel in 11 Innings
2/21/2015 1:54:00 AM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball walked off with an 8-7 win over crosstown rival The Citadel after a back-and-forth, 11-inning affair in the Cougars' home opener at Patriots Point on Friday night.
Charleston (2-2) saw three leads evaporate and even trailed briefly, but battled through frigid conditions to ultimately outlast their Holy City rivals and draw even in the all-time series.
Senior shortstop Champ Rowland finished the night with three RBIs after a two-run homerun in the second and the game-winning RBI in the eleventh, plating sophomore Bradley Jones from third with a groundball towards the middle.
Junior Carl Wise also homered for the Cougars, blasting a three-run homer out to erase a Citadel (3-2) lead in the seventh inning.
“We did a lot of really good things offensively tonight and produced two big innings, which is good,” said head coach Monte Lee. “We took advantage of some free passes and generally swung the bats well. Carl Wise was huge for us with the big homerun in a two-strike count.
“Offensively we did a heck of a job. On the bases, we made a couple of mental errors, which we need to clean up, and we have to do a better job of throwing strikes and limiting free passes. We had to go to our bullpen early in the game because of pitch counts, and we have to find a way to get deeper into the game with our starters so we don't run through so many relievers.”
Brandon Glazer (1-0) earned the win on the hill after pitching out of trouble in the top of the eleventh to set the Cougars up for the walkoff in the bottom half.
The Cougars outhit the Bulldogs, 12-7, with eight different players recording a hit, and Wise, Jones, Morgan Phillips, and Erven Roper all going for multiple hits on the night.
The Cougars struck first on a two-out rally in the second, with Alex Pastorius extending the inning with a single to center, followed by an RBI double by Jones and Rowland's three-run shot which hooked around the left field foul pole, putting the Cougars up 3-0.
The Bulldogs' answer came in the next half inning, as they punished the Cougars for a pair of walks with a two-RBI triple by Phillip Watcher and an RBI double by Austin Maples to tie the game in the top of the third.
It wouldn't stay tied long, however, as Wise doubled in the bottom half of the inning and scored when Roper singled through the right side.
The Citadel once again erased the lead in the fifth with back-to-back singles to get runners on the corners, and a groundball to the right side allowing the run to score.
The Bulldogs went back to work in the seventh, and the Cougars plagued themselves with one of four uncharacteristic fielding errors on the night in addition to two walks, one with the bases loaded which plated the go-ahead run.
The College responded immediately, putting two on in the bottom of the inning before Wise homered out to left despite being behind in the count (0-2) with two outs.
The Cougars looked to close the game leading 7-5 in the ninth, but The Citadel wouldn't go away, and the Bulldogs drew a walk and added back-to-back singles which cut the lead in half, and a run-scoring sacrifice fly extended the game.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore Nick Pappas pulled a towering shot out to right center which brought the Cougar faithful, particularly the Right Field Renegades, out of their seats, but it was caught on the warning track after a long run by Citadel centerfielder Jason Smith to send the game into extras.
After a scoreless tenth, Glazer worked around a walk which found its way to third base in the top of the eleventh, and Jones gave the Cougars a leadoff runner with a single to start the bottom. The sophomore stole second base and took third on a wild pitch, putting the winning run 90 feet away for Rowland.
With the infield pulled in, Rowland diced a ball back up the middle, but Citadel shortstop Johnathan Stokes made an impressive diving stop. Once the defender left his feet, Jones made a gutsy break for the plate and slid in ahead of the tag to cap the victory.
The teams will play game two of the series on Saturday with The Citadel hosting at Joe Riley Park with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m., and the Cougars hosting the series finale back at Patriots Point on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We're happy that we found a way to win and didn't get overly frustrated when we blew the lead late,” said Lee. “That's a sign of a good team. There are still some things that we need to do a better job of if we're going to be a consistent ball club.
“I will say this: The Citadel competed. I don't know if I've seen a team in quite a while that competed with that kind of energy. Their energy was through the roof tonight. It was a heck of a game, and it's going to be a good one at their park tomorrow.”
POSTGAME NOTES:
For the second game in a row, the Cougar lineup was: 1. Ryan Brown (LF) | 2. Blake Butler (2B) | 3. Nick Pappas (1B) | 4. Carl Wise (3B) | 5. Morgan Phillips (CF) | 6. Erven Roper (C) | 7. Alex Pastorius (DH) | 8. Bradley Jones (RF) | 9. Champ Rowland (SS), matching game three of the South Carolina series.
The victory for The College draws the teams level (41-41) in the all-time series, since the Cougars joined NCAA Division I in 1991.
After both driving in three runs in the game, Champ Rowland and Carl Wise tie for the team high with 5 RBIs in the young season. Of all returning NCAA DI players, Wise's 54 RBIs from last season ranks seventh in the nation.
With a pair of hits, Erven Roper has a hit in every game and is enjoying a four-game hitting streak.
Morgan Phillips has now recorded multiple hits in three-of-four games this season. He leads the Cougars with a .400 batting average so far.
Nick Pappas, Champ Rowland, Morgan Phillips, Ryan Brown, and Erven Roper have all reached base successfully in all four games this season.
