College of Charleston
Hofstra
@CofCBaseball Caps Series Sweep of Hofstra
4/5/2015 9:50:00 PM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball culminated its third straight Colonial Athletic Association series sweep with a 9-4 victory over Hofstra at Patriots Point on Sunday afternoon to remain the only unbeaten team in league play this season.
Charleston (21-7, 9-0 CAA), winners of seven straight and 11 of their last 12, put its prolific offense on display again with six runs on 13 hits, the Cougars' fourth-consecutive outing with 13 or hits or better.
Blake Butler led the way in going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, including his fifth homerun of the season. Morgan Phillips went 2-for-4 and also homered, and Champ Rowland was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. In total, eight different Cougar bats recorded a hit and six different players drove in runs.
Four different Cougar pitchers took the mound on Sunday, with Carter Love (2-0) earning the win after entering the game in relief of starter Wade Arduini in the sixth inning. Luke Munson and Chase Henry pitched as well, as the staff combined for seven strikeouts against three walks.
“We played well enough to win today, but I do think we made some mistakes,” said head coach Monte Lee. “But, we did swing the bats well, and defensively we played pretty solidly. We threw the ball fairly well too; Wade [Arduini] threw the ball well and got us into the sixth inning. Carter [Love] made big pitches out of some jams, and Chase [Henry] did a fine job at the end. Overall we threw the ball well; we only gave up three walks. We hit the ball hard; we played well defensively; we won the series.”
After Arduini opened the game auspiciously with back-to-back strikeouts, Hofstra strung together three hits to sneak a pair of two-out runs across in the top of the first inning.
The Cougars cut the deficit in half in their first trips to the plate, with Ryan Brown drawing a leadoff walk and scoring on an RBI single by Alex Pastorius.
The College equalized in the second, after Bradley Jones drew a full-count, one-out walk and eventually scored on Rowland's RBI single back up the middle.
Phillips gave the Cougars the lead when he left the yard in the fourth on a 1-0 pitch which sliced down the left field line and hooked around the foul pole, despite a swirling wind which gusted all game long.
Arduini sat down 10 consecutive hitters from the second to fifth innings, but surrendered the tying run on another two-out rally later in the fifth frame. Steven Foster singled down the third base line, and Brett Johnson dropped an RBI double into center field to plate the run.
The Cougars blew the game open in the sixth inning, ultimately plating five runs on five hits in the inning. Carl Wise boarded the bases with a leadoff single, setting the table for Butler's two-run smash to left despite falling into a 1-2 count. Jones sparked another rally with a five-pitch walk, and scored once again by way of a Rowland RBI single. Rowland eventually scored on a wild pitch to cap the rally, putting CofC up 8-3.
Butler led the seventh off with a single to left after falling into a 2-2 count and spoiling three pitches on foul balls, and worked his way around the bases to score on an RBI single from Jones.
Hofstra managed a run in the eighth inning to cut the score to 9-4, but would get no closer.
The Cougars now shift their sites to a midweek clash with former Southern Conference rival Georgia Southern, which The College will host at Patriots Point on Tuesday, April 7 at 6 p.m.
“We're going to have a tough test because they're a good ball club,” said Lee. “Georgia Southern was in a Regional last year, and they play a good, hard brand of baseball. They're a perennial power in college baseball, and we know we'll have our hands full. We know we're going to have to play our best baseball to compete with those guys, so we're looking forward to a good test ahead of us.”
POSTGAME NOTES
The Cougars reached their leadoff hitter in 6-of-8 offensive innings, and retired 8-of-9 Pride leadoff hitters.
The Cougars batted .394 (13-of-33) on the day, once again improving upon their batting average which entered the weekend ranked 12th nationally. Charleston emerges from the weekend batting .312 as a club.
CofC batted .438 (7-for-16) with runners on base and .750 (6-for-8) with runners in scoring position.
Charleston improves to 18-0 when leading after the sixth inning and 19-0 when leading after the seventh.
The College has homered at least once in four consecutive games and in 15 of their last 18. The Cougars hit multiple homeruns for the 11th time this season, going 10-1 on those occasions.
Charleston is 16-1 when outhitting its opponents.
The game was Morgan Phillips' 14th with multiple hits, Blake Butler's 13th, and Carl Wise's 12th.
Ryan Brown has reached successfully* in 14 straight games. As the Cougar leadoff to start the game, Brown has reached base successfully* in the first inning in seven straight games and eight of the last nine.
Carl Wise has reached base* in 14 consecutive games as well.
Blake Butler has at least one hit in 23 of the last 24 games and has reached base successfully* in 26 straight games. On the season, Butler has hits in 25 of CofC's 28 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.
