March 4, 2001

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Western Carolina opened its 2001 Southern Conference schedule by splitting a doubleheader at Wofford on Sunday. Saturday's single game was rained out. The Catamounts claimed a 10-1 victory in game one, while dropping a 5-4 decision in game two at Duncan Park.

In the opener, Jared Burton (2-1) had his best outing of the season to earn the win. The sophomore pitched 8.0 innings, allowing eight hits and one run. Burton also recorded a season-high six strike outs, while surrendering zero walks.

The Catamounts were led by a trio of players offensively. Todd Roper was 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, Alan Beck was 2-for-4 with four RBI and Todd Buchanan was 3-for-4 with two doubles.

Western Carolina broke a scoreless tie by scoring four runs with two out in the top of the fifth. After Roper singled in the first run of the game, Beck capped the inning with a three-run homer.

WCU scored a single run in the sixth to make it 5-0 before three Wofford errors with two out in the top of the eighth led to a five-run Catamount inning that made the score 10-0. The Terriers got on the board in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI ground out by Brian Casey.

Tate Osterman (2-2) allowed five earned runs in 7.2 innings for Wofford while Blake Timanus went the final 1.1 innings without allowing an earned run.

In the second game of the twinbill, Wofford's George Lehr tossed a complete-game victory, while Chris Cotugno delivered the key hit with a two-run pinch hit double in the sixth to lead the Terriers.

Lehr (1-3) allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking just one in going the distance.

With the Terriers trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Cotugno delivered a two-out, two-run pinch-hit double off the wall in right-center to put Wofford ahead 4-3. Brian Casey followed with a base hit to score Cotugno and extend the Terrier lead to 5-3.

Donovan Minero hit a one-out solo home run in the top of the ninth to pull Western Carolina within 5-4.

Both teams tallied a single run in the first inning. WCU pushed two runs across the plate in the fifth to make the score 3-1. Beck delivered a two-out double to score Roper and Rod Goldston, who was 2-for-3 in the contest.

Ryan Basner (1-2) took the loss in relief for the Catamounts. Seth Foster started the game for the Cats, giving up two hits and two runs in 5.0 innings pitched.

NOTES: Of Western's 14 runs scored in the doubleheader, 13 came with two outs. The lone exception was Minero's one-out home run in the ninth inning of game two. The Catamounts continued to scored runs at a feverish pace in the fifth inning, scoring four runs in game one and two in game two. Forty of WCU's 101 runs have come in the fifth inning and WCU has out-scored its opponent's 40-10 in the frame.