College of Charleston
William and Mary
No. 18 @CofCBaseball Outduels W&M, 3-1, to Claim Series
5/2/2015 11:41:00 PM | Baseball
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Behind the deepest career pitching effort by senior Brandon Glazer, No. 18 College of Charleston bested William and Mary, 3-1, in a defensively oriented Colonial Athletic Association contest on Saturday afternoon at Plumeri Park.
In a tale of two victories, Charleston (34-9, 15-2 CAA) claimed its seventh consecutive series victory. After exploding for 15 runs on 18 hits in the series opener Friday, three Cougar runs were enough for Glazer (9-1) to earn his ninth win of the season on Saturday.
Glazer went 8.1 innings and limited the Tribe to one run on four hits and struck out three. The senior right fielder-turned-pitcher retired 12 consecutive batters from the fifth through the ninth innings, and did not issue a walk until the ninth.
Senior closer Chase Henry came out of the bullpen with the tying run at the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth, and pitched CAA homerun leader Charley Gould into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to earn his fifth save of the season.
The Cougars were limited to less-than 10 hits for the first time in 12 games, but rallied for a big inning in the top of the second and never looked back. Charleston's five hits came from four different players, with the bottom the order providing all of Glazer's run support, as the 6-7-8 hitters all scored in the second inning.
“Glazer was outstanding today,” said head coach Monte Lee. “He really did a nice job of limiting his base runners and pounding the strike zone, and we played really well defensively behind him. We had our big inning in the second, and it was good enough for us to hang on and win a ball game.
“We actually played really well across the board today; we hit some balls hard that were unfortunate to get caught. Defensively we played extremely well, and we threw strikes. We really put together a complete game. We hit some balls on the screws that got caught, which is going to happen, so I can't say that there were any chinks in the armor today. Glazer threw deep into the ballgame, and Chase [Henry] comes out and gets a double play against their best hitter, and we win the game. It was a great win for our guys.”
Charleston got on the board with a two-hit, three-run rally in the second, with Nick Pappas and Bradley Jones sandwiching walks around an Erven Roper single to load the bases. The Tribe was unable to record an out on an RBI grounder from Champ Rowland which scored two runs, and an RBI single by Ryan Brown scored Jones for a 3-0 Cougar lead.
Glazer held the Tribe to one hit through three innings, but W&M got on the board with two hits in the bottom of the fourth. Willie Shaw led off the inning with a double to right, and a Gould single put runners on the corners. The Cougars conceded the run in an effort to set up a double play, but Devin White hustled out of the box to reach safely on the fielder's choice. The double-play bid came to fruition one batter later, as Pappas snagged a liner and stepped on first to double up White and end the inning.
Glazer allowed just one more hit in his remaining 4.1 innings of work, and dealt three-up, three-down innings in the sixth, seventh, and eighth frames, before issuing a one-out walk in the ninth.
Henry entered at that point, and fell into a 3-0 count against Gould, but located two pitches to force a full count. Gould rolled over the payoff pitch to shortstop, and the Cougar defense did the rest.
“I'm pretty confident in our ball club,” said Lee. “We know that at the end of the day, we just want to win the ball game, and whether it's pitching and defense or it's scoring in bunches, we have to be able to win some games in different ways, and today proved we can do that.”
Charleston will look to cap the series sweep with game three on Sunday, with lefty Wade Arduini scheduled to pitch against the Tribe's Aaron Fernandez. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game will be televised on a tape delay beginning at 3 p.m. on the American Sports Network.
POSTGAME NOTES
The Cougars entered the week ranked in all five polls recognized by the NCAA, climbing as high as No. 18 according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and USA Today Coaches Poll. Charleston was ranked No. 19 by both Baseball America and D1Baseball, and No. 20 by Collegiate Baseball.
The Cougars got on the board first for the second consecutive night, and are now 21-2 when doing so. Charleston improved to 30-0 when leading after the 6th inning.
Brandon Glazer offered his longest career outing for the second consecutive start, besting his 7.0-inning start against Furman last weekend.
In Charleston's 34 wins this season, The College has rallied for innings of three or more runs 43 times. In their nine losses, the Cougars have produced just one inning of three runs or more.
Erven Roper extended hitting streaks to 11 games and has reached base successfully* in 19 straight games.
Nick Pappas has reached base* in 22 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.
