May 20, 2008

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Charleston, S.C. - Seventh seeded Western Carolina capitalized on a throwing miscue by the 10th-seeded Davidson Wildcats Tuesday afternoon in the home half of the 12th inning to stave off elimination despite surrendering a seven-run lead in the top of the ninth in the opening round of the 2008 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament.

With sophomore Stephen Notaro at second and senior Barrett Shaft at first via a walk, junior J.C. Lyons lifted a long fly ball to centerfield which was caught by the Wildcats', Hugh Eden. Notaro tagged and charged to third, with Shaft tagging and going halfway until the throw from Eden was sent to third base in an attempt to nail Notaro. As the throw skipped into the infield, Shaft raced for second to put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out to keep out of the double-play.

However, third baseman Chris Fitzpatrick, who did not appear to have a good handle on the ball on the relay, went to gun Shaft out at second but rocketed the ball into right field, allowing Notaro to trot home with the game-winning run, 11-10.

All told, Davidson scored 10 runs between the eighth and ninth innings to force extra frames.

"I have to give all the credit to Davidson," said Western Carolina coach Bobby Moranda. "They fought back -- but this is Division I baseball with metal bats and anything can happen. You have to play all nine innings. Their backs were against the wall going into the ninth with nothing to lose."

He added, "That's the 'Western Way' -- never giving up, always scratching and clawing until the end. We have dealt with a lot of adversity this year, but we are going to fight until the end."

Western Carolina (29-26) advances to face the second-seeded College of Charleston Cougars at 10:00 am on Wednesday morning as the double-elimination portion of the tournament gets underway at Riley Park. WCU dropped two-of-three to the Cougars last weekend in Cullowhee, rallying to win the final game of the series in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday's game will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network and can be heard locally on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee or online at www.WWCUFM.com.

Sophomore reliever Chris Masters (8-4) earned the victory as the seventh Catamount pitcher to toe the rubber in the game. The Marietta, Ga., native worked the final inning of hitless, scoreless relief for WCU with a walk and a strikeout. Junior Drew Saberhagen earned the starting nod tossing 7.1 innings with only two earned runs on six hits, pitching around four walks with a career-high seven strikeouts.

The Catamounts were staked to a nine-run lead through the first seven innings, plating a single-run in the third and back-to-back four-run frames in the fourth and fifth. Sophomore Dylan de Graaf turned a lead-off double in the third into the game's first run after being sacrificed over to third by Matt Johns and driven home on a sacrifice fly to center by junior Mitchell Hatley.

In the fourth, Western loaded the bases with one out with freshman Ryan Mathews grounding into a fielder's choice to score both Lyons and Shaft on a Davidson throwing error. De Graaf was hit by a pitch to again load the bases before a two-RBI double to left center by freshman Matt Johns ended the four-run rally.

The next inning, Shaft doubled down the right field line and was driven home on a towering fly ball home run to left field by Lyons, chasing Davidson starter Thomas Middour. Kirkpatrick greeted the reliever, Mike Frongello with a double to right center and was scored on an RBI base hit by Mathews to stretch the lead to 8-0. The fourth run was tallied as Johns drove in Mathews on an RBI single up the middle to give the Catamounts a 9-0 advantage.

A pair of Wildcat singles sandwiched around a ground out to short chased Saberhagen in the eighth inning after allowing Davidson's first run. Freshman reliever Matt Benedict was welcomed with a first-pitch double down the left field line by Zach Kayne to plate the second run, which was charged to Saberhagen. Matt Webb laced a two-run single to right center to trim Western's lead to six, 9-3, through seven and a half innings.

However, WCU got one of the markers back in the bottom of the inning as with the bases loaded, de Graaf grounded up the middle but the throw from the second baseman was muffed by the shortstop allowing all four runners to be safe and the run to score, 10-3.

Needing seven runs to continue its season, Davidson used a Catamount throwing error, a wild pitch, two hit batters, four walks and just two hits to tally seven runs to knot the game at 10. Western used four pitchers to tally the three outs in the inning. Johns made his collegiate pitching debut, allowing five runs - only one of which was earned - on one hit with a pair of walks and a hit batsman. He was replaced with classmate Brandon Johnson who recorded his one out on a strikeout but walked the only other batter he faced.

Junior Garrett Ozar faced three batters without tallying an out, while senior Tyler Sexton finally closed the door. The High Point, N.C., native worked 2.1 innings before being lifted for Masters, surrendering one walk and a pair of hits with two strikeouts.

WCU threatened in the ninth, but an umpire ruled junior Mitchell Hatley's slide into second to break-up a potential double-play malicious resulting in a double-play to help thwart the rally. The Wildcats stranded a runner in both the 10th and 11th, and left the bases loaded in the top of the 12th as the Catamounts worked out of a two-walk, one error jam setting up the bottom of the inning heroics.

Although he struggled on the mound, Johns made up for it at the plate with a 4-for-5 day - the first four-hit outing of his collegiate career - with three RBI. Shaft finished 3-for-5 with a pair of walks and three runs scored while Notaro was 3-for-6 with a walk and a run scored. Lyons belted his 12th home run of the season for his lone hit of the game, while de Graaf posted two hits including a double in the win.

Davidson (12-38) was led by right fielder Chase Fitzpatrick who finished 3-for-5, all singles, in the loss. Reliever Mac Hunter (0-1) was tagged with the loss after facing two batters in the 12th in relief of Matt Webb who scattered two base hits in three innings of scoreless relief. Andy Bass was on the mound with two on when the fly ball was hit to center and the subsequent throwing error allowed the run to score.

Both squads combined to strand 26 base runners on the day - 13 apiece.

First pitch for Wednesday's first round game between the Catamounts and Cougars is set for 10:00 am.