April 7, 2002

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Seth Foster and Ryan Foster - twin junior pitchers at Western Carolina University, combined for a win and a save as the Catamounts defeated The Citadel, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. Western Carolina improves to 20-10 overall and 10-5 in the Southern Conference, while league-leading The Citadel falls to 19-12, 12-3.

The Fosters, who hail from Charlotte's Providence High School, also teamed up for the win and a save this season at Appalachian State and last season at The Citadel. Seth Foster improved to 6-0 on the season, striking out six Bulldogs in 7.2 innings. He surrendered five hits, one run and two walks. Ryan Foster pitched a perfect ninth inning, including two strike outs, to record his sixth save of the season. R. Foster now has 17 career saves to move into third on the WCU all-time list. (He moved past Ward Withrow's 16 saves from 1987-88 and is only three saves from tying the school mark of 20, which is held by Mike Manning and David R. Robinson.)

As well as S. Foster pitched, he got off to a shaky start. The Citadel's Brook Dantzler started the game with a single to left-center field. The next batter, David Griffin, was hit by a pitch and, after a strike out, Bulldog first baseman Chip Cannon walked to load the bases. Jon Aughey singled to drive in Dantzler, but Catamount left fielder Alan Beck threw out Griffin at the plate on the play to keep the score at 1-0. S. Foster escaped further damage as Josh Stackley flew out to center field to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, Western looked to tie the game. However, Dantzler robbed what would have been a leadoff home run by Rod Goldston.

After the fireworks in the first, S. Foster and The Citadel starter Eric Talbert took over. Talbert (2-3) retired 13 of the first 15 men he faced, allowing singles by Doug Myers in the second and Todd Buchanan in the fourth. S. Foster was the victim of some untimely defense. Even with two WCU miscues, he retired 13 of 17 Bulldogs from the third until coming out of the game with two outs in the eighth. Despite a Bulldog runner reaching on an error in the fifth, the Catamounts turned a double play to get out of the inning. After surrendering a single to Chris Ard in the seventh, the Cats once again turned a double play to end the inning.

Western Carolina, who had been held scoreless for 16 innings, finally got on the scoreboard with two runs in the fifth inning to make the score 2-1. With one out, Brian Sigmon, Clint Ramsey and Todd Roper had consecutive singles to load the bases. Sigmon would score on Goldston's RBI fielder's choice. Ryan Schade followed with a single to center to plate Ramsey, which proved to be the winning run.

Western tried to add to its lead in the sixth, but for the second time in the contest a runner was thrown out at home plate. Sigmon flied out to center and Buchanan was thrown out by Matt Dean on a Bulldog twin killing.

Joe Camac bridged the gap between the Fosters, striking out the lone batter he faced to end the eighth. Western was retired in order in the seventh and eighth innings by Matt Hamer and Randy Corn, respectively.

Western won the final game of the series despite getting its lowest hit total of the three-game set. The Catamounts only managed six singles. The Citadel, who only had five hits, was led by Dantzler's 2-for-4 performance at the plate.

Western Carolina will return to action on Wednesday (April 17) when it travels to Atlanta to face sixth-ranked Georgia Tech. First pitch is set for 7:00 pm. The Citadel will also step out of league play on Wednesday to face a nationally-ranked team, playing at fourth-ranked South Carolina at 7:00 pm.