College of Charleston
Northeastern
No. 15 @CofCBaseball Takes Series with 8-2 Win
5/16/2015 6:04:00 PM | Baseball
BOSTON, Mass. – No. 15 College of Charleston baseball won a Saturday afternoon rubber game, 8-2, over Northeastern to capture their eighth and final Colonial Athletic Association regular-season series on Friedman Diamond.
Charleston (41-11, 21-3 CAA) claimed games two and three of the series to ensure a series victory over all eight CAA opponents this season, and post the CAA's best regular-season winning percentage in ten seasons (.875).
Brandon Glazer (10-1) offered another quality start from the mound, and becomes CofC's ninth 10-game winner in program history. Glazer went 7.0 and scattered six hits, and cruised through the Husky lineup after a two-run first.
Freshman Ryan Brown produced his first multiple-homerun game of his young career to provide Glazer with early run support, and Bradley Jones put the Cougars on top with a bases-loaded triple in the fifth.
Brown finished the day 3-for-4 and scored three times with his two homers, a walk, and a single. Carl Wise broke the game open with a colossal three-run blast in the ninth, and finished the day 3-for-5 with a double, homerun, three RBIs and two runs scored.
“Our pitchers were outstanding today,” said head coach Monte Lee. “We gave up a couple runs in the first, and after that Glazer threw up zeros and Carter Love did a good job of relieving him. We swung the bats fairly well; Ryan Brown was outstanding at the plate all game. Bradley Jones' two-out bases clearing triple was huge, and that's about all the offense our pitchers needed. It was a great effort on our point to win this series.”
Brown homered to right on a full count to start the game, giving the Cougars a first-inning run for the 24th time this season.
Northeastern responded with two runs in the bottom half, taking advantage of a leadoff walk with an RBI double by Rob Fonseca and RBI bounce out by Cam Hanley.
Brown went deep again in the third, pulling a 3-1 pitch down the line in right and over top the right field foul pole to tie the game.
Brown then led off the fifth with his third hit of the day on a single back up the middle, but a 3-6-3 double play erased the base runner. The Cougars rallied with two outs despite the temporary setback, with Carl Wise lacing a double to right, and Blake Butler and Nick Pappas drawing free passes load the bases. Jones cleared the bases with a triple over the head of the center fielder in the deepest part of the ball park, putting the Cougars up 5-2.
After the first, Glazer settled in and dominated the Husky lineup, facing the minimum in the second and third innings, stranding a two-out single in the fourth, and retiring six straight in the fifth and sixth frames.
After working around a pair of singles in the seventh, Glazer finished his day with two runs on six hits against him in 7.0 innings. He did not allow a run or a walk after the first inning.
Carter Love replaced him to start the eighth and dealt a three-up, three-down inning and stranded a double in the ninth for 2.0 scoreless innings without a walk or run scored.
The Cougars will now prepare for next week's CAA Championship, hosted by The College at Patriots Point. As the regular-season champion and No. 1 seed, the Cougars earn a first-round bye, and will play the winner of the No. 4/No.5 seed game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. For tournament details and ticket information, click the following link.
See More: CAA Championship Central
“It's always important to go into the tournament on a high note,” said Lee. “Our guys played really well here this weekend, and today was one of the most complete games we have put together lately. I'm proud of how we finished the series; we pitched well; we defended well; and we hit the baseball. We will look to continue that going into the tournament.”
POSTGAME NOTES
The Cougars are ranked in all five polls recognized by the NCAA, climbing as high as No. 15 according to the NCBWA. The Cougars are ranked No. 18 by both Baseball America and D1Baseball, No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball.
The Cougars claimed their ninth consecutive series, and finished 8-0 in CAA series this season.
The Cougars got on the board in the first inning for the 24th time this season, and outscore opponents 59-26 in the opening frame. CofC is 23-1 when scoring in the first inning, and 24-2 when getting on the board before an opponent.
Brown homered as the first Cougar batter of the game for the second time in his young career, matching his leadoff homer in the series finale against UNCW last weekend. His two homers mark a new career high.
The Cougars hit multiple homeruns for the 20th time this season and fourth time in five games. CofC is 19-1 when hitting two or more homers.
The game was the team-high 19th multiple-RBI game for Carl Wise.
