April 15, 2006

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - The College of Charleston, ranked 17th nationally, scored six runs in the eighth to cruise to a 14-6 victory over homestanding Western Carolina Saturday afternoon at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. All nine Cougar starters had at least one hit, with eight collecting at least two, as Charleston (30-6, 12-1 Southern Conference) had 21 hits in the contest. The Catamounts fall to 19-16, 7-7 SoCon.

Charleston was led by Oliver Marmol, who had four hits and turned in a fine defensive play at shortstop in the seventh to turn a key inning-ending double play, Phillip Coker added three hits and Graham Maiden had a game-high three RBI.

Danny Meszaros improved to 7-0 in the season, allowing four hits and four runs with five walks and two strikeouts over six innings. Josh McLauhglin, who leads the nation in ERA, pitched the final three innings to get his 10th save.

The Cougars, who sent nine men to the plate in the top of the first, jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. After a leadoff single by Larry Cobb, Coker hit a two-strike, two-out home run over The Purple Monster. A double by Marmol, a single by Chris Campbell and Jess Easterling was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Alex Garabedian pushed across Charleston's third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to center. A strikeout and eventually a ground out would limit the damage.

Western answered back with two runs in the home half to make the score 3-2. After walks to Tim Hallam and Barrett Shaft, Steven Strausbaugh had an RBI single to right center, putting runners on the corners. Trey McDaniel followed with an RBI ground out.

In the second, the Charleston took advantage of a Catamount error to make the score 4-2. Cobb started the frame reaching on an error, stole second, advanced to third on ground ball and scored on Campbell's RBI double.

The Cougars extended their advantage to 6-2 in the third. Garabedian and Ben Lassiter began the inning with single and would score on Joey Friddle's single to center.

As it did in the first, Western answered the Cougars, scoring two runs on one hit to make the score 6-4 in the home half of the third. Shaft, who drew a leadoff walk, scored on a Jonathan Greene ground out. Later, with the bases loaded, Mitchell Hatley plated Strausbaugh with a single to center.

Charleston took advantage of another WCU error in the fourth to score two runs. Coker and Marmol had back-to-back infield hits to start the fourth. Then, with the runners going on the play, Coker scored when Campbell reached on an error, putting Marmol on third. Easterling followed with a sacrifice fly to left, making the score 8-4.

After being held scoreless over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, the Cougars scored six in the eighth. Cobb started the eighth with a triple and scored on a one-out single by Marmol. Campbell followed with an RBI double to right-center. Garabedian then plated Campbell with a single to right-center. Graham Maiden gave Charleston its 10-run cushion with a three-run blast to right.

Western added two runs thanks to two CofC errors in the ninth to provide the final 14-6 margin. Hallam doubled, advanced to third on an error and scored on Shaft's infield single. Shaft would later score on Blake Murphy's single.

Tyler Sexton suffered the loss for Western, falling to 5-4 on the season. He allowed 11 hits and eight runs (five earned) in four innings' work. Bryan Tupper pitched a season-high 3.1 innings in middle relief, holding the Cougars in check over the span. He allowed three hits and one run.

The two teams will complete the three-game series on Sunday with first pitch set for 2 pm.