Mount Pleasant, S.C. – Three College of Charleston pitchers combined to allow only eight hits and three runs, but the Cougars still came out on the short end of a Colonial Athletic Association doubleheader against league-leading UNC Wilmington Saturday at Patriots Point.
The Seahawks (27-7-1, 7-1 CAA) took the twinbill by scores of 2-1 and 1-0 and maintained a one-game conference lead over James Madison while winning for the 12th time in their last 13 games. The Cougars dropped to 20-16 overall and 3-5 in the CAA heading into Sunday's series finale at 12:30.
Sydney Shipley and Izzy Berouty combined to limit UNCW to four hits in the first game, but the Seahawks bunched three of those together in a game-deciding fourth inning. Rachel Willis and Kali Jones doubled to tie the game , and Nella Chamblee followed with an RBI single to give the Seahawks their margin of victory.
Shipley (7-4) went the first 3.1 innings and was charged with both runs, and Berouty worked 3.2 innings of one-hit relief.
The Cougars had a chance to pull the game out in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with nobody out on singles by Kelly Sinclair and Yari Felix. The duo advanced on a fly out by Dana Horgan, but Sinclair was gunned down at the plate on a grounder to short by Taylor DuPree and Madi Brown grounded out to end the threat.
CofC had taken a 1-0 lead in the first but lost an opportunity for a big inning. The Cougars loaded the bases with nobody out against Peyton Jordan (12-2) but only pushed across one run when Jordan misplayed a ball back to the circle off the bat of Katie Padilla with two outs.
Sam Martin (5-4) was the tough luck losing pitcher in the nightcap, allowing four hits and striking out four in a complete game effort, with the only run coming in the sixth on an RBI single by Willis. The Cougars stranded a pair of runners in the fifth and sixth and threatened one more time in the seventh.
Sara Garcia hit her second double of the game to lead off the final inning, but Sarah Davis retired the next three batters to close out the Seahawk sweep. Davis (12-3) matched Martin with a four-hitter for UNCW.