Baseball Wins Game Three at Western, Takes Series
4/12/2009 10:11:00 PM | Baseball
CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Ty Wright (Montrose/ABAC) matched a career-high of five hits and the Eagles took advantage of six Catamount errors as Georgia Southern defeated Western Carolina 10-5 on Sunday (April 12). The 26th-ranked Eagles captured the series win, improving to 24-9 overall and 9-4 in the Southern Conference.
For the first time in the series, Georgia Southern scored during the first inning. Kevin Bowles (Statesboro/Statesboro) was hit by a pitch with one down. Griffin Benedict (Dunwoody/St. Pius) singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. Two batters later third baseman Ross Heffley could not come up with Phillip Porter's (Marietta/Sprayberry) grounder, allowing Bowles to score. Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) walked to load the bases. Roman Grimaldi (Duluth/North Florida CC) dropped a bunt to third and beat it out to score Benedict for a 2-0 lead.
Brent Greer tried getting the Catamounts on the board in the first, sending a deep fly ball to the 390-foot centerfield fence. Jonathan King (Athens, TN/Young Harris) cleared the fence and robbed Greer of a homer for the final out.
King reached on a two-base error to start the second by left fielder Trevor Collias then took third on Wright's single to left, which extended his hitting streak to 16 games. With two outs, the Eagles attempted a double steal but Stephen Notaro's throw was cut off by shortstop Greer and he threw home in time to get King for the final out.
Western tied it in its half on a sacrifice fly and RBI single by Dylan de Graaf. However, timely hitting and another Catamount error led to a five-run third.
Eric Phillips (Carrollton/Carrollton) snapped a 0-12 slump with a leadoff single. Southwell executed a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners with one out then Grimaldi sent a sacrifice fly to right scoring Phillips. Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell) singled ? extending his hitting streak to a personal-best 10 games - then King walked to load the bases. Wright ripped a 2-run double to left. Bowles hit a hard grounder to Nick Liles at second base, whose throw bounced past Mitchell Hatley at first allowing two more runs to score.
In the fourth, de Graaf grounded out but plated Reid Rollison on the play. GS came back with a run of its own in the fifth. Wright hit a one-out single, advanced to third on a throwing error then scored on Phillips' two-out RBI single making it 8-3.
In the seventh, Wright ripped a leadoff double for his fourth hit of the game. He stole third and scored on Stephen Notaro's throwing error.
Greer hit a 2-run homer in the seventh off Kyle Kamppi (Savannah/Benedictine), and threatened for more thanks to consecutive errors. Benedict caught Hatley's bunt attempt then Kamppi struck out Rollison to end the threat.
Wright matched the career-high thanks to a one-out single in the ninth. He stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Phillips' career-high fourth hit.
Dexter Bobo (Cumming/Darton College) worked around a hit and walk in the ninth but got a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
“I've been seeing the ball real well the last couple of games, however, yesterday I just missed on a few. Today I just tried squaring up on it,” said Wright. “You have to be ready to play every series, every game. For us to come out and take 2-of-3 at one of the top teams in the conference is a good weekend.”
Wright also matched a career-high of four runs scored and two stolen bases in the win, finishing 5-for-6 with two RBI. During the past five games on the road Wright is hitting .480 (12-of-25) with 11 runs scored and seven RBI.
Phillips went 4-for-6 with two RBI. Southwell also matched a season-high of two hits as the Eagles out-hit Western 14-11.
Matt Murray (Spring City, PA/Owen Roberts) allowed three runs ? one earned ? on six hits in five innings. The freshman right-hander (2-2) walked two and struck out two. Colin Snow (Alpharetta/Alpharetta) gave up a hit in an inning of relief.
Tavernier (2-3) was charged for eight runs ? only three earned ? on 11 hits in five innings. Four Catamounts finished with two hits apiece.
The Eagles conclude a six-game road trip on Tuesday night, traveling to North Florida. First pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
