April 28, 2006

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina pitcher Bryan Tupper struck out a career-high eight batters, while Barrett Shaft and Trey McDaniel each had three hits to lead the Catamounts to a 6-0 victory over Davidson Friday night at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium. Western (24-19, 10-9 Southern Conference) and Davidson (15-26, 4-15 SoCon) will play game two of their three-game set on Saturday with first pitch set for 4:00 pm.

Tupper, getting his second start of the season, pitched a career-high 5.2 innings, allowing not runs, three hits and one walk to go with his eight strikeouts. He senior improves to 3-1 on the season. Brian McCullen (1.1 innings), Greg Holland (1.0 innings) and Corey Martin (1.0 innings) closed out the game as they combined to retire all 10 batters they faced.

In the second, a leadoff walk to Jonathan Greene led to a 1-0 Western Carolina lead. After Greene's walk, he moved to second on a Scott Ward single and advanced to third on Donnie Wilson's sacrifice bunt. Mitchell Hatley then plated Greene with a sacrifice fly to center.

The Catamounts padded their advantage, scoring two runs in the third. Shaft had a leadoff single and moved to third on Steven Strausbaugh's double. McDaniel drove in Shaft with an RBI ground out and Strausbaugh would score on Blake Murphy's sacrifice fly to center.

Western took advantage of three Davidson errors in the seventh to score its final three runs. McDaniel singled off first base and got to second on Davidson's first error. Greene had one out hit, moving McDaniel to third, and D. Wilson kept the inning alive, reaching on an error and allowing McDaniel to score. Pinch hitter Ryan Wilson singled, driving in Greene. An error on the play allowed D. Wilson to score as well.

For the Wildcats, starter Rob Wilson suffered the loss, falling to 4-6. He allowed 11 his and six runs, but just three were earned. Ronnie Shore, Gregory Zage and Alden Crissy accounted for Davidson's three hits.