April 18, 2006

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina scored two in the first and five in the seventh to hand former Southern Conference foe East Tennessee State a 7-1 loss Tuesday night before a crowd of 857 at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. The Catamounts improve to 21-16, while the Buccaneers fall to 21-18.

Barrett Shaft and Jonathan Greene led Western with two hits each, while Blake Murphy had two RBI. Bryan Tupper (2-1) picked up the win, pitching a career-high five innings and striking out a season-high five batters. He only allowed two hits an unearned run and a walk. Brian McCullen pitched the final three innings to pick up his first save of the season. He allowed two hits with three strikeouts.

Western Carolina jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Tim Hallam started the home half getting hit by a pitch and Shaft followed with a bunt single. Steven Strausbaugh plated Hallam with a double and Jonathan Green brought home Shaft with a sacrifice fly to right.

The Bucs got on the board in the third. After Tupper retired the first seven batters, Michael Courtney, who had three of ETSU's five hits on the evening, doubled and scored when Ben Allen reached on an error to make the score 2-1.

The Catamounts were held in check through the middle innings, having nine of 10 batters retired, before sending 10 men to the plate and scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh. Donnie Wilson started things with a leadoff walk, moved to second on an ETSU error and scored on Shaft's double. Later, with the bases loaded, Hallam scored when Trey McDaniel reached on an infield single off the umpire's leg. Blake Murphy followed with a two-run single. With runners on first and third, Murphy stole second and, an error on the play, allowed McDaniel to score WCU's fifth run of the frame.

Tony Lombardi was the tough-luck loser, falling to 1-7 on the season. He only allowed four hits over six innings and giving up those two runs in the first with two walks and four strikeouts.

Western Carolina will return to action with three games at The Citadel this weekend. Friday's game at Charleston's Riley Park, which is also the home of the SoCon Championship, will begin at 5:00 pm.