College of Charleston
UNCW
No. 13 @CofCBaseball Falls to UNCW in CAA Championship Final
5/23/2015 11:10:00 PM | Baseball
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – No. 13 College of Charleston baseball fell, 7-6, to UNCW in the title game of the 2015 CAA Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon at Patriots Point.
UNCW earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the Cougars (43-13) are expected to receive an at-large berth when the 64-team field is announced on Monday afternoon. The Cougars will host a Selection Show watch party at the Mt. Pleasant Kickin' Chicken beginning at 11:30 a.m., with announcements made at noon. The selection show can also be viewed on ESPNU beginning at noon.
The Cougars looked to overcome a 14-8 UNCW hit margin, and put the tying run on second base in the ninth inning before the comeback effort fell short. CofC pitchers Eric Bauer and Chase Henry did their best to bend but not break and pitched well out of jams, ultimately stranding 12 UNCW base runners to keep the Cougars in the contest.
Offensively, Ryan Brown led the Cougars with a 2-for-4 outing and scored a run, while six other Cougars combined for CofC's remaining six hits. Carl Wise picked up two RBIs on the day, while CAA Player of the Year Blake Butler, Nick Pappas, Erven Roper and Devon Reed each added an RBI.
“I want to congratulate UNCW,” said head coach Monte Lee. “We are very close with their coaching staff and they are class acts. Their ball club competes the right way and plays the game the right way. You have to give those guys a lot of credit. Today's game was a back and forth game; it was a very competitive ballgame and you have to give their guys a lot of credit.
“It was a tough game, but I'm very proud of my ball club and the way our guys competed. After losing in the tournament and having to play the morning game, it is not easy to turn around and play a team like UNCW. We competed; we had our chances, but we couldn't come up with the big hit late. But on the other side, we had some big hits along the way today which kept us in the game.”
UNCW finished with 14 hits as all nine starters recorded at least one. Senior first baseman Corey Dick went 3-for-5 and drove in the game-winning run with a seven-inning double.
Freshman Austin Magestro (5-2) picked up the win for UNCW in relief after allowing one run on one hit over 3.0 innings. Jared Gesell recorded his fifth save after giving up only one hit over the final 1.2 frames.
UNCW came out swinging early as outfielders Steven Linkous and Casey Golden started the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles. Dick lined an RBI double to the gap in right-center and Luke Dunlap followed with a sacrifice fly to put the Seahawks ahead 2-0.
CofC cut the deficit in half in the second. Butler drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on an RBI single to left by Roper. In the top of the third, Brown doubled to left and a single by Alex Pastorius put runners on the corners. A Wise sacrifice fly plated Brown and Butler's single brought in Pastorius to give the Cougars a 3-2 advantage.
The Seahawks answered back in the bottom of the third. Gavin Stupienski was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored when Canada smashed a double off the wall in left. UNCW moved on top 4-3 as Canada came in from third on a grounder to second.
The Cougars drew even in the top of fourth when sophomore first baseman Nick Pappas opened the frame with his ninth homer of the season over the wall in right.
UNCW regained the lead in the fifth. Terence Connelly drew a leadoff walk and Zach Shields reached on a bunt single. Kennard McDowell then faked a bunt and slapped the ball up the middle to bring in Connelly. A sacrifice fly by Linkous scored Shields for a 6-4 Seahawks' advantage.
Both teams picked up a run in the seventh. For the Cougars, Champ Rowland led off with a single, advanced to third following a walk and a sacrifice, and scored on Wise's ground out. The Seahawks pushed their margin back to two when Dick's two-out double to the left-center gap plated Linkous.
In the eighth, back-to-back Seahawks' fielding errors gave CofC runners on the corners with one out. The Cougars pulled within 7-6 when Bradley Jones scored on Reed's fielder's choice, but Gesell came on to limit any other damage.
CofC threatened again in the ninth. Brown singled to right and moved into scoring position following a one-out wild pitch. Gesell was able to induce a fly out and an infield pop-up to secure the title.
Joining Dick on the all-tournament team from UNCW were Dunlap, Stupienski, McDowell and pitchers Evan Phillips and Jordan Ramsey. CofC was represented by Brown and starting pitchers Taylor Clarke and Hayden McCutcheon. Rounding out the squad were Delaware's Brock Niggebrugge and Adam Davis, and Northeastern's Cam Hanley.
