College of Charleston
William and Mary
No. 18 @CofCBaseball Caps Sweep with 10-6 Seesaw Victory
5/3/2015 10:06:00 PM | Baseball
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – No. 18 College of Charleston baseball capped a Colonial Athletic Association series sweep of William and Mary with a 10-6 victory after a back-and-forth affair on Sunday afternoon at Plumeri Park.
Charleston (35-9, 16-2 CAA) has won eight consecutive games for the second time this season, and has now won 21 of its last 23.
The Cougars erased W&M leads on two occasions, and registered six of their 12 hits on the day in the last three innings.
Charleston was effective in timely hitting situations, batting .417 (5-for-12) with two outs and .333 (4-for-12) with runners in scoring position. The College scored eight of its first 10 runs in two-out situations. By the end of the day, every Cougar hitter in the starting lineup registered a hit or scored a run.
Wade Arduini, Hayden McCutcheon, Carter Love, Chase Henry, Eric Bauer, and Nathan Helvey all made mound appearances, with Henry (2-1) earning the win. After issuing four walks in the first two innings, the pitching settled in and did not allow a walk the rest of the way.
“This is another good win for our club,” said head coach Monte Lee. “Offensively, we put together a big inning the seventh and that's what it took to come out on top. We took advantage of a couple walks and a couple hit batters, and then [Nick] Pappas and [Morgan] Phillips stepped up with two big two-out hits. Our bullpen did a really nice job today. Carter Love was really good for us; he pounded the strike and made some big pitches to get us deep into the ball game. Chase Henry really executed his pitches. It was good to have Bauer back in the game after being out for a stretch, and Helvey came in for the ninth and did a nice job closing it down for us.
“Defensively we played really well outside a few miscues here or there, but overall it was a good ball game for our club. It was a good win overall for this team, and hopefully we can continue this momentum moving forward.”
W&M led for the first time in the series after loading the bases on a walk and two singles in the first, and plating the game's first run on an RBI sacrifice fly by Tim Hoehn.
The Cougars responded in the next half inning with Morgan Phillips singling back up the middle for CofC's' first hit, and Alex Pastorius drawing a full-count walk to give the Cougars a pair of base runners. Champ Rowland chopped an RBI single off the outstretched glove of a diving third baseman, scoring Phillips to tie the game and leaving runners on the corners. Rowland broke for second base on the next pitch, and stalled being tagged in a rundown long enough to let Phillips cross the plate as the go-ahead run.
The Tribe loaded the bases yet again in the second, and plated three unearned runs owing to two walks and a Cougar throwing error which loaded the bases with no outs. Nick Pappas made a leaping catch on a hard-hit line drive down the first base line, robbing what would have likely been a bases-clearing extra-base hit. The Tribe plated the runs despite the catch, sandwiching RBI singles around a sacrifice fly to retake the lead, 4-2.
Love entered to start the third, dealing back-to-back three-up, three-down innings before the Cougars took a run back in the fifth with a leadoff double by Pastorius and a two-out, RBI double by Tommy Richter, both of which traced the third baseline into the corner in left.
The Tribe put the insurance run back on the board with three hits in the sixth, with Willie Shaw's seeing-eye single ultimately finding its way through the right side of the infield to plate Ryder Miconi with two outs.
The Cougar bats came back to life in a five-run seventh inning, led off by an Erven Roper single and later extended by back-to-back, two-out walks which loaded the bases. Carl Wise and Blake Butler were hit by back-to-back pitches, each collecting an RBI to tie the game. The bases stayed loaded for Pappas, who singled to right to plate two runs and seize the lead for CofC. Phillips followed with a single through the left side, plating Butler to put CofC up 8-5.
Butler extended the lead to 10-5 with his third homer of the weekend, which he sent out to left with Tommy Richter on board in the top of the ninth.
The Tribe mustered another unearned run on a hit and a Cougar error in bottom of the ninth to trim the CofC lead to 10-6, but would get no closer.
A challenging week lies ahead for the Cougars, as they head to Clemson on Wednesday for midweek action, before welcoming UNCW to Patriots Point for a three-game CAA series which will have heavy implications on the regular season crown. First pitch on Wednesday is set for 6 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
“Our mindset just has to be what it has been all year,” said Lee. “We have high expectations and expect to compete with anyone in the country. Nothing changes in my opinion; the players are going to come in and compete. We feel like we have the confidence to play well with anybody, and we expect to continue to do so this week.”
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.
Charleston rallied from behind for the 14th time this season, improving to 14-7 when allowing opponents to score first.
The Cougars have achieved double-digit hits 11 times in 12 games and 18 times in their last 20 games.
In Charleston's 35 wins this season, The College has rallied for innings of three or more runs 44 times. In their nine losses, the Cougars have produced just one inning of three runs or more.
Eric Bauer's last appearance before injury was on March 28 at James Madison, a 10-6 Cougar win which earned Bauer a save.
Erven Roper extended his hitting streak to 12 games and has reached base successfully* in 20 straight games.
Nick Pappas has reached base* in 23 consecutive games and extended his hitting streak to 10 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.
