College of Charleston
Furman
@CofCBaseball Completes Sweep with 7-6 Win
4/26/2015 9:05:00 PM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball completed a series sweep of Furman with a 7-6 victory in come-from-behind fashion on Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.
The College (32-9) swept its second consecutive weekend series as Charleston has now won 18 of its last 20 games.
As they did in game two on Saturday, the Cougars erased an early deficit before seizing the lead, marking CofC's 13th win of the season despite opponents scoring first (13-7).
The Cougars finished with four batters with multiple hits (Erven Roper, Alex Pastorius, Blake Butler, and Bradley Jones), with Roper driving in two RBIs. Nick Pappas and Ryan Brown contributed one RBI apiece, with Pappas' coming by way of his seventh homer of the year.
From the mound, starter Wade Arduini (1-1) earned the win after going 4.0 innings and holding Furman to three runs, two of which came before he settled in during the first inning. Hayden McCutcheon pitched 3.0 scoreless innings in relief, followed by Chase Henry and Nathan Helvey to close the game out.
Furman picked up two runs in the first inning on a two-run homerun by Griffin Davis, two of five Paladin runs which were the result of homers.
The Cougars leveled in the score in the second, with a leadoff single by Butler and double by Morgan Phillips putting runners in scoring position. Roper then delivered a clutch two-out, two-RBI single through the right side to tie the game.
Furman moved back into the lead briefly on a solo homer by Chris Ohmstede in the fourth, but the Cougars took control in the bottom of the inning, plating three runs on two hits and a pair of Furman errors. Pappas led off the inning with towering home run to right to immediately tie the game, and an error combined with a Jones single put runners on the corners. Running from first base, Champ Rowland initiated a double-steal which allowed Phillips to score from third. In the same at bat, Ryan Brown drew a walk, and a wild-pitch ball four allowed Rowland to take third. Brown hustled down the line after the walk and took a big turn around first base, which baited a throw to second and Rowland Rowland to trot home on the play.
Butler walked in the seventh, and later stole third base with the throw attempt going errant, allowing him to score.
In the top of the eighth, Jordan Simpson hit his 11th homer of the year with a runner aboard, cutting CofC's lead to 6-5.
The Cougars manufactured an insurance run in the bottom half, with Roper leading off with a single, taking second base on a wild pitch, moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Rowland, and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Brown.
The run proved necessary, as Furman plated and unearned run in the ninth, but Helvey shut the Paladins down with the tying run at third base. Helvey earned his third save of the season.
“We found a way to win another game,” said head coach Monte Lee. “It wasn't always pretty. Just like yesterday, we fell behind early but chipped away and found a way to take the lead. It got interesting at the end, but we found a way to win. Ryan Brown's sacrifice fly was huge to get us that two-run lead. I'm very pleased with the way we competed despite being down early. We got good relief from the bullpen, and we feel very good about the sweep this weekend.”
The Cougars shift their attention to an upcoming Colonial Athletic Association series at William and Mary next weekend, with game one scheduled for Friday, May 1 at 7 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES
The Cougars entered the week ranked in all polls, reaching No. 20 in both the Baseball America College Top 25 and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll, No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 23 in the D1Baseball Top 25, and No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.
The Cougars achieved double-digit hits for the 10th straight game and 16th time in their last 17 games. CofC once again improved on the nation's fifth-best batting average entering the game, going 11-for-32 (.344) on Sunday.
Tommy Richter recorded his first career defensive assist from third base.
Blake Butler extended his reached base streak * to 39 games which goes all the way back to opening weekend. On the season, Butler has at least one base hit in 36 of CofC's 41 games, and the game was his team-high 20th multiple-hit game.
Erven Roper and Morgan Phillips extended hitting streaks to nine and 10 games, respectively. Roper has reached base successfully* in 17 straight games.
Nick Pappas has reached base* in 20 consecutive games.
*A reached-base streak includes base hits, walks, and hit by pitches. Reaching on an error or fielder's choice does not extend a reached-base streak.
