Saturday, March 24, 2007
PC Splits Doubleheader With Conference Leader C-N
CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian
baseball team split Saturday’s doubleheader with conference
leader Carson-Newman 6-5, 5-4. The Eagles came from behind
to claim game one before the Blue Hose used a walk-off
single in the ninth inning to claim the second game.
PC is now 13-25 on the season and 5-12 in the South Atlantic
Conference while C-N moves to 21-13 and 9-4 in league play.
The Blue Hose and Eagles concluded their three-game set at 1
p.m. tomorrow at the PC Baseball Complex.
Game 1
Carson-Newman plated two runs with two outs in the sixth
inning to push ahead of PC. With two outs PC second baseman
Preston Simpson was unable to come up with a grounder off
the bat of Cory McGinnis, which allowed the inning to
continue.
Jonathan McMahon would follow with a walk and both runners
would advance on a wild pitch. Eagle centerfielder Brandon
Burchfield then drove in the go-ahead runs on a single to
left field before being thrown out trying to advance to
second base.
After falling behind 3-0 through five innings the Blue Hose
capitalized on a pair of C-N errors to score five runs and
take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Robbie Anders and
Kyle Craven drove in the first two runs to chase Eagle
starter Matt Teague from the game. Casey Carlson then drove
in Anders on a sacrifice fly to center. Two more runs would
cross the plate in the inning off of a couple of Eagle
throwing errors.
Jesse Harmon continued to lead PC at the plate going 3-for-4
at the dish with a run scored. C-N first baseman Derek Long
also had three hits in the game, driving in two runs.
Both squads finished with nine hits but the Blue Hose
committed six errors in the game and stranded 11 base
runners.
Logan Simmons claimed his third win of the season for the
Eagles, pitching three scoreless innings in relief while
Mark Carroll earned his fifth save of the year. Ross Ellis
(0-2) picked up the loss for Presbyterian in relief of
starter Daniel Hill who allowed only two earned runs in six
innings of work.
Game 2
With the infield drawn in and the bases loaded, Presbyterian
shortstop Robbie Anders came through with a base hit that
dropped just over the second baseman’s head to score the
game-winning run in the form of Russell Robinson in the
bottom of the ninth inning.
PC again fell behind early, trailing 4-0 going to the bottom
of the fifth inning but the Blue Hose would battle back with
two runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
An RBI triple by Cory Lyda scored PC’s first run of the
game, knocking Eagles starter Steve Cishek from the contest.
Russell Robinson then singled down the right field line to
score Lyda.
Lyda came through with another huge hit the following inning
when he doubled to right center to score Jesse Harmon and
Josh Milner to tie the game.
In the bottom of the ninth Robinson and Craven led off with
back-to-back singles. Casey Carlson then laid down a bunt
that was fielded by the pitcher.
Instead of going to first he tried to nab the lead runner at
third, but Robinson was able to slide in safely to load the
bases with just one out. With the infield drawn in Anders
was able to go the other way and dump Eagle closer Mark
Carroll’s 0-1 pitch just over the second baseman’s head.
With two hits in the game Jesse Harmon has now hit safely in
10 straight games, good enough for the longest hitting
streak of the season for PC. PC totaled 15 hits in the game
as the first five batters in the order all had multiple hits
led by Craven’s three base hits.
Andrew Cockerham (2-0) pitched brilliantly in his three
innings out of the bullpen to garner the win. He allowed no
runs and no walks while giving up just two hits and fanning
three. C-N closer Mark Carroll took the loss for the Eagles
allowing the game-winnig run and five hits in the final two
innings.