College of Charleston
The Citadel
@CofCBaseball Caps Series Sweep of The Citadel
2/22/2015 11:02:00 PM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball capped its crosstown series sweep of The Citadel with a 4-3 victory in front of an enthused crowd of 1,035 fans at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon.
The College (4-2) got its second consecutive quality start out of its starting pitcher, this time with junior Nathan Helvey dealing 6.2 innings and scattering five hits while matching his career high with eight strikeouts and allowing just one run (unearned).
Offensively, Nick Pappas continued swinging a hot bat with a 3-for-5 outing with a career-high three doubles and an RBI. Morgan Phillips went 3-for-4 for his fourth multiple-hit game of the young season.
“I'm real proud of Nathan Helvey,” said head coach Monte Lee. “He dealt with a lot of guys on base in the early innings and pitched out of some tough jams. After the second inning, he settled in and threw the ball pretty well. Pappas was locked in today and swung the bat extremely well.
“Overall there were too many free passes. I'd say both teams walked too many guys and left too many guys on base. We need to do a better job of limiting our free passes and driving in runs with runners in scoring position. Defensively we played well and go the win against a good club.”
Helvey found himself in trouble in the top of the first after hitting a batter, allowing a single, and walking the bases full, but on two strikeouts and a foul out towards right, he kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
Charleston took advantage of their first trips to the plate with a leadoff single by Ryan Brown in the first, followed by a stolen base and the first of three Pappas doubles which scored Brown easily from second.
The Citadel took the run back in the second on an infield single and double to right by Clay Martin, on which the Cougars mishandled the outfield relay, allowing the run to score, unearned.
The pitchers dueled through next frames, with Helvey at one point retiring 12 straight hitters. The junior righty received some run support in the sixth. Phillips led off the inning by legging out an infield single and took second on a sacrifice bunt execution by Alex Pastorius. Bradley Jones singled and Champ Rowland drew a walk to load the bases, and Brown was speedy enough to beat out a would-be inning-ending double play, allowing Phillips to score the go-ahead run. With two outs and runners on the corners, the Cougars executed a double steal to plate another run, and Blake Butler drove a two-out RBI single up the middle to push the lead to 4-1.
The Bulldogs chipped away in the eighth after a Connor Walsh triple, and a ninth-inning Austin Mapes double led to another run, but Hayden McCutcheon got The Citadel's last hope to pop out in foul territory for his second save of the season.
The Cougars return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 25 with an implanted home game against Charlotte at Patriots Point with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. The game was originally scheduled as a road game for the Cougars but was relocated due to weather conditions in North Carolina.
“The biggest thing is for us to be consistent,” said Lee. “It's always good to get a sweep against a team like The Citadel in a rivalry game. Those guys are going to get better and better; that's a young team that's playing a lot of young players and they're only going to get better. They're a ball club that plays with a lot of energy and really competes, so it's good to get a win.
“Looking at the series, you have to look at what happened from the seventh inning on. The Citadel did a really good job in all three games after the seventh inning of finding a way of pushing runs across and brining the tying and winning runs up to the plate. You have to give them credit for that. We, as a ball club, have to do a better job of limiting that and keep the tying and winning runs from coming to the plate by making better pitches and plays. We are in a good position after two series, but we have a long way to go and we still have got to get better in some areas.”
POSTGAME NOTES:
Entering the weekend, the Cougars were receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll and NCBWA Poll, ranking No. 32 and No. 34, respectively.
The Cougar lineup was: 1. Ryan Brown (LF) | 2. Blake Butler (2B) | 3. Nick Pappas (1B) | 4. Carl Wise (3B) | 5. Erven Roper (C) | 6. Morgan Phillips (CF) | 7. Alex Pastorius (DH) | 8. Bradley Jones (RF) | 9. Champ Rowland (SS) as the Cougars faced off against The Citadel's right-handed Austin Mason.
Nick Pappas achieved a career high with three doubles, having previously gone for two doubles on four occasions, including game two of the series on Saturday. On the weekend, he hit five doubles and racked up four RBIs and is now slugging at .680 this season.
Morgan Phillips has now gone for multiple hits in four of the Cougars' six games this season and paces the team 10 hits and a .435 average.
Ryan Brown, Nick Pappas, Morgan Phillips and Champ Rowland have reached base successfully in all six games this season.
Cougar starter Nathan Helvey matched his career high with eight strikeouts and retired 12 consecutive batters between the third and seventh innings.
The Cougars scored three of their four runs with two outs in innings after scoring five of six runs with two outs in Saturday's game two win.
