Saturday,
April 26, 2003
EAGLES
STRAND 15 ON BASE AS PC MOVES TO TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
NEWBERRY,
S.C. –
Presbyterian College advanced to Sunday’s championship
series by staying undefeated in tournament play with a 9-4 win
over the regular season champion Carson-Newman Eagles Saturday
afternoon at the Food Lion / South Atlantic Conference
Baseball Tournament at Kirkland Field, hosted by Newberry
College.
The Blue Hose (26-24), who came into the tournament with a losing
record and the number-three seed, survived a six-error day (10
combined errors) by scoring runs in bunches against an Eagles
(31-20) team that was baffled down the stretch. PC has won all
three tournament games against the six, two and number one
seeds to get to Sunday’s final series. That series starts
Sunday at 1 p.m. Carson-Newman returns to Kirkland field
tonight at 8:15 to play the winner of the 4:30 p.m. game
between Catawba and Tusculum. The winner of tonight’s final
game must defeat PC twice to claim the tournament title on
Sunday.
Presbyterian got on the scoreboard first in the second inning,
thanks to three errors on the Eagles in that inning. PC saw an
RBI double by designated hitter
Matt
Bodie (Aiken, S.C.) and an RBI single by catcher
Dusty New
(Abbeville, S.C.) to help the cause.
The Eagles answered with three earned runs in the bottom half of
that third inning with four hits.
Chris Martin (Knoxville, Tenn.) had an RBI single in that
inning.
PC put up two more runs in the third on three hits, including an
RBI double by first baseman
Matt
Warren
(Lexington, S.C.).
Carson-Newman again answered with an unearned run when Martin
scored catcher Chris
Borntraeger (Lexington, Ky.) on an RBI groundout. That
made the score 5-4 Blue Hose.
PC put together a pair of runs in the fifth to break open the game.
Shortstop Davis
Rice
(Clinton, S.C.) reached on the fourth and final Eagles error of
the day. He scored on another double, this one by PC center
fielder Kevin
White (Spartanburg, S.C.). White, just one of three .400 hitters in the
regular season in the league, leads the tournament with seven
hits, three doubles and 13 total bases. He is batting .500 in
the tournament. White added a two-run homer in the ninth to
finish it for the Blue Hose and put them on the red carpet to
Sunday. He was 3-for-5 on the day.
PC leads the tournament field in batting average (.343), runs
scored (26), RBI (24) doubles (9) stolen bases (9) and ERA
(2.67).
Blue Hose pitching shut down the Eagles after the third inning,
stranding nine runners on base in the last six innings. The
defense pitched in to turn two crucial double plays in that
time.
PC starter Matt
Boone (Kernersville, N.C.) got his first win of the
season (1-3). He lasted five innings, allowing eight hits, two
walks and he hit two batters while striking out three.
Reliever Robert
Cole (Savannah, Ga.) allowed only five runners to reach base safely in
the final four innings to get his second save of the season.
He gave up four hits and a walk with two punchouts.
Carson-Newman’s Derrick Calkin (Maryville, Tenn.) took the loss (4-5). He threw the first four innings and gave up six hits and hit a batter, with three strikeouts. Five of the seven runs scored against him were earned.