May 16, 2009

Box Score

Davidson, N.C. - Brent Greer finished 4-for-5 and was among three Catamounts with two RBI on the evening as Western Carolina claimed its season-ending Southern Conference series, holding on for an 11-10 victory Friday at Wilson Field.

WCU scored in six of the nine innings on the night but had to fend off the Wildcats for a second-consecutive night as a solo run in the ninth pulled Davidson within one, 11-10, with two runners on. However, Daniel Ottone struck out the final two batters with runners at the corners to salvage the win and give the Catamounts the series victory.

The win, coupled by the College of Charleston's loss to The Citadel, means that Western Carolina (33-20, 18-10 SoCon) can finish no lower than fourth in the final SoCon standings. A WCU victory coupled with a CofC win on Saturday would put the Catamounts into third with an outside chance of finishing second depending upon the results from Statesboro, Ga., in the Georgia Southern-Wofford series. One GSU victory in its final two would clinch the runner-up spot for the Eagles.

WCU stretched its current road seasonal winning streak to eight, while tallying its 10th-straight victory over Davidson.

Saturday's 2009 regular season finale is scheduled for a special 11:00 am start time to help accommodate graduation on the Davidson College campus. The game will be broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network with an air time of 10:45 am on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 and online at www.WWCUFM.com.

Corey Martin (7-4) scattered five base hits through five innings, working around five walks with seven strikeouts to pick up the win for Western. The Yadkinville, N.C., native allowed five runs, four earned, with 102 total pitches. Garrett Ozar was solid through three and a third innings in relief, working the Catamounts into the ninth where Ottone closed out the victory with his eighth save of the season. Ozar surrendered five runs, only four of which were earned, with three walks and five strikeouts while Ottone gave up one hit and a walk with two strikeouts.

Tommy Piacenza gave Davidson the early advantage with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning for a 2-0 edge. He finished 2-for-6 with a couple of homers and three RBI in the loss.

The Catamounts were able to chip into the lead with a single run in the third on back-to-back doubles by Ross Heffley and Greer with the latter driving in a run. J.C. Lyons led off the fourth with a two-bagger before scampering home on a ground ball out to second by Mitchell Hatley which tied the game at two.

Lyons finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored while Heffley and Hatley both finished 2-for-4 and scored twice. Heffley extended his career-long hitting streak to 12-straight, while sophomore Matt Johns stretched his team-best 19-game hitting streak with a first-inning single on a 2-for-5 performance.

Western took its first lead of the contest with a two-run top of the fifth as Heffley walked and scored on a second fielding error by Davidson on a hard-hit ball by Trevor Collias. Greer tallied the go-ahead run on an RBI single to right by Lyons for the 4-3 advantage.

In the sixth and seventh, Western stretched its lead with three runs in the top of the both frames, but gave back five of the sixth in the home half of the frames. The Catamounts tallied what proved to be the game-winning run in the top of the eighth. Collias was hit by a pitch to open the frame before stealing second with one out. Dylan de Graaf drove in his second run of the contest on an RBI single to center to plate Collias and give Western the 11-8 edge.

Davidson (18-28, 11-15 SoCon) pulled within two, 11-9, with Piacenza's second homer of the game in the eighth and cut the deficit to one in the ninth. After Ozar struck out Pat Brady to open the frame, a one-out walk by James Cerbie chased the reliever in place of Ottone who issued a walk to the first batter he faced to put two on with one gone. An RBI single up the middle by freshman James Gadaire scored Davidson's 10th run and moved runners to the corners before Ottone struck out the final two batters he faced to secure the victory.

Western Carolina stole eight bases as a team including two by Collias in the win, with both teams stranding a dozen base runners apiece.