March 2, 2008

Western Carolina vs. Marshall Box Score

Western Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina Box Score

Myrtle Beach, S.C. - Game One: Western Carolina 9, Marshall 7

In what has become a familiar occurrence for the Western Carolina baseball team, they came back from an early deficit to defeat Marshall in the first game on Sunday at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In their three victories this season against Marshall, the Cats have had to come back from at least three runs down to take home the win.

Marshall (2-4) struck first in the game, scoring four runs in the opening inning, three of which came on a three-run homer by the Herd right fielder.

The Catamounts responded in the top of the second, when senior Jason Haynes dropped a single into left field, scoring Matt Johns, who had reached on a double over the right fielder's head. Haynes then moved to third when he stole second, then advanced on a throwing error. WCU loaded the bases with a walk by sophomore Nick Liles and when senior Barrett Shaft was hit by a pitch. Fellow senior Blake Murphy was then hit by a pitch, scoring Haynes and cutting the Marshall lead in half, 4-2.

In the bottom of the inning, junior right hander Mike Tavernier came in for an injured Iain Sebastian and made an immediate impact, throwing two perfect frames, including three strikeouts.

Liles extended his team-high hitting streak to six games in the top of the fourth, when he doubled into the left field gap, scoring Johns. Liles then swiped third base, and was brought home in a grounder by Shaft to pull the Cats even at four.

WCU took a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth when Johns singled through the right side of the infield, scoring freshman Ryan Mathews, who had moved to second on a balk by the Marshall pitcher.

Western then retook the lead for good in their half of the sixth. Junior J.C. Lyons doubled home Shaft to tie the game at six, then the Catamounts scored a pair of runs on back-to-back sacrifice flies to push the margin to two, 8-6.

Tavernier struck out a career-high eight batters on the day, more than doubling his season total of six coming into the game. In seven full innings on the mound, he allowed only one earned run on five hits while throwing 116 pitches. With his performance, he picked up the win to go to 2-0 on the season.

Liles tied Haynes with three hits on the day, both players going 3-5. Lyons and Johns both registered a pair of hits, leading seven total players with base hits in the game.

Game Two: Coastal Carolina 7, Western Carolina 1

Western Carolina allowed seven runs in two innings in the second game of the day, and fell to the host Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, 7-1.

Tyler Kirkpatrick's bloop single into left field scored Brent Greer for the Catamounts' only run, in the top of the second inning.

WCU was able to ring up seven hits in the first five innings, but could only get the one run across, leaving five runners on base.

Starting pitcher Garrett Ozar began the game holding the Chanticleers hitless for the first 4.1 innings. But in the fifth, CCU finally broke through, scoring two runs on a double by Chance Gilmore to go up 2-1. They scored another run on a wild pitch with a man on third, stretching the lead to 3-1.

The following inning, CCU (7-1) punched in three more runs to extend their margin to 6-1, courtesy of a pair of errors by the Catamount defense, and a two-out double by Gilmore, his second of the game. Gilmore was then brought home on another double by Coastal Carolina, giving them a six-run lead.

Despite out-hitting the Coastal, 10 to 7, the Catamounts were held scoreless for the last seven innings, and out of the ten hits, only two went for extra bases.

Nick Liles extended his season-long hitting streak to a team-high seven games on the first pitch of the contest, which he lined to left center field for a leadoff double. On the day, he went 3-5 with a pair of doubles. Liles now has multiple hits in all but one of his games this season.

With the loss, the Catamounts finish their weekend at the beach with a 1-3 record, dropping them to 3-4 overall. Western will travel down to Atlanta, Ga., on Tuesday for an out-of-conference tilt with Georgia Tech at 4:00 p.m. The game will be a homecoming for Head Coach Bobby Moranda, who was a part of the Georgia Tech staff until he came to WCU this season. It will also be the first radio broadcast this season for the Catamount Sports Network, which can be heard live on www.wwcufm.com.