Feb. 20, 2010

Box Score

Forest City, N.C. - Western Carolina fell behind on two occasions, but rallied back with a Cameron Dullnig double to right field as the Catamounts defeated the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs, 6-5, in 10 innings at McNair Field.

With a two run deficit in the top of the ninth inning, a pair of Catamount newcomers in Austin Schultz and Forest City's own Tyler White used a sacrifice fly and single to tie the game at 5-5. Dullnig added the game-winning RBI in the tenth with a double to right center field, allowing Tyler Kirkpatrick to score the Catamount's game-winning run. The victory gave Western Carolina (2-0) the series win over Gardner-Webb, as the Bulldogs dropped to 0-2 on the season.

White, a product of Forest City's Chase High School, led the Cats with a 4-for-5 afternoon as the freshman picked up a double and two runs-batted-in. Shortstop Austin Schultz continued his strong weekend with a two-run homer in the top of the third and a key sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. Schultz finished the game 1-for-3 with a walk and three RBI.

Catcher Radley Haddad filled the void for starter Stephen Notaro, who left the game due to an injury. Haddad went 2-for-5 with a walk. Kirkpatrick, the third baseman, also went 2-for-5 on Saturday, including scoring the game-winner in the 10th.

Junior Brandon Johnson (1-0) earned the extra-inning victory after tossing two and a third scoreless innings. Johnson, a native of Morehead City, N.C., fanned two Bulldogs including striking out Daniel Merck with two runners on base in the seventh.

Closer Daniel Ottone earned his first save of the year while striking out a batter in the tenth inning. Gardner-Webb's Conner Scarborough (0-1) took the loss, giving up a run on three hits in two frames tossed.

"This was a hard fought game," noted Catamounts head coach Bobby Moranda. "Today was a gut check. We had to overcome some adversity. It was truly a team effort."

The Bulldogs jumped out 2-0 in the bottom of the second as O.J. McFarland's single drove home a pair of runs. McFarland led Gardner-Webb with a 2-for-5 performance and three RBI.

Western then answered in the third inning as Dylan de Graaf walked with two outs and Schultz hammered his second roundtripper of the year.

WCU briefly took a 3-2 lead in the sixth before the Bulldogs reeled off three unanswered runs in the bottom half of the sixth and seventh innings.

The Cats' Dullnig and de Graaf connected on a double-steal to put themselves in scoring position. It paid off as White and Schultz drove home both runners to score.

"You have to give credit to Cameron (Dullnig) and Dylan (de Graaf) for working together to make sure that double steal happened," said Moranda. "Also, Tyler (White) had an outstanding game in front of his home crowd."

Western Carolina starter Kyle Stewart threw five and two-third innings, fanning six batters, while surrendering four runs on six hits in the no-decision.

Gardner-Webb and Western Carolina will wrap up rubber-match of the series tomorrow at McNair Field in Forest City, N.C.

Southpaw Vance Chavis will be on the mound for the Catamounts on Sunday.

The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and the action will be available via GameTracker at CatamountSports.com. For directions to McNair Field, visit www.forestcitybaseball.com.