May 17, 2007

Box Score

Cullowhee, N.C. - Staked to an early lead by a two-run home run to straightaway center field by senior John Ingram, Western Carolina starting pitcher Tyler Sexton struck out eight Eagles with junior reliever Greg Holland striking out the final two batters in the ninth to earn his career-best 10th save of the season as the Catamounts downed Georgia Southern, 4-1, Thursday night in the final Southern Conference regular season series opener at Childress Field/Hennon Stadium.

Sexton (8-2) worked seven scoreless innings for the Catamounts, scattering six base hits with the eight K's and no walks to secure his team-best eighth victory. Freshman reliever Chris Masters tossed an inning an a third, allowing one earned run on two hits, one of which was a solo homerun, with three strikeouts. The run allowed by Masters snapped his streak of 15-consecutive scoreless innings of relief, which included 21 strikeouts. Holland closed out the game, pitching two thirds of a frame in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts to garner the save.

All told, Western (39-15, 19-6 SoCon) pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts in the win.

Coupled with the College of Charleston's rain-delayed 11-5 win over Davidson in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., on Thursday, Western remains in a first-place tie with the Cougars. CofC hosts the Wildcats in double-header action on Friday beginning at 3:00 pm at Patriot's Point.

The Catamounts scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning and added one in the seventh to lead 4-0 before the solo homer in the top of the GSU ninth prevented WCU from tallying back-to-back shutout victories (WCU downed High Point 4-0 on Tuesday night in Cullowhee).

Junior Jonathan Greene led off the home portion of the second inning by poking a single through the left side in front of Ingram, who blasted a 0-1 curve ball over the fence in dead center field to put the Catamounts on top, 2-0. A two-out double to right by freshman Brent Greer put a runner in scoring position for junior Barrett Shaft, who singled through the left side to score Greer for the 3-0 advantage.

In the seventh, Shaft singled up the middle before junior Blake Murphy legged out a bloop-double to shallow right center, moving Shaft to third on the perfectly executed hit-and-run play. The next batter, junior Steven Strausbaugh, drove in his 50th run of the season with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field to conclude the scoring for the Catamounts.

Georgia Southern (32-25, 12-13 SoCon) attempted to mount a rally in the top of the ninth as outfielder Jeremiah Parker took a 1-0 offering from Masters deep to left center to end the shutout. After a walk to Eagle designated hitter Justin Klinger, Masters responded by striking out the final batter he faced before giving way to Holland who completed the striking out of the side to save the win.

Four Catamounts posted two-hit games as Ingram, Shaft, Murphy and Greer each went 2-for-4 at the plate. Senior transfer Kenny Smith legged out his 22nd double of the season as a part of a 1-for-4 night and now has hit safely in 20 of his last 21 ball games.

Eagle starter Aaron Eubanks (3-4) was saddled with the loss, allowing three earned runs on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts in six innings of work. Right fielder Mike Economos led GSU with a 2-for-3 night at the plate before being replaced in the field in the latter innings, with Chris Shehan also posting two hits on a 2-for-4 outing.

Game two of the three-game set is scheduled for Friday night at 7:00 pm in Cullowhee. WCU is scheduled to pitch red-shirt sophomore LHP Drew Saberhagen (7-1, 2.86 ERA) with GSU countering with RHP Brian Wilkerson (4-8, 6.19 ERA). Fans can follow all of the action on live GameTracker, presented by Carolina West Sports Medicine and West Care Health Systems, by logging onto www.CatamountSports.com.