May 22, 2010

Box Score |   

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina used a solid hitting day and a strong effort by starting pitcher Kyle Stewart, finishing Senior Day on top as the Catamounts completed the three-game sweep of Davidson with an 11-2 victory at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Catamounts (34-19-1, 16-13-1 SoCon) used seven extra-base hits to outslug the Wildcats (19-32, 5-25 SoCon), 13-to-8, and extended their win streak over Davidson to 14-straight games.

Western Carolina will now look forward to the Bennett Hofford Southern Conference Baseball Championships presented by the Carolina Ford Dealers next Wednesday, May 26. WCU will be the No. 6 seed in the tournament and play No. 3 seeded Georgia Southern at 1 pm.

WCU's six seniors all played a pivotal role as Tyler Kirkpatrick, Trevor Collias, Russell Robertson and Dylan de Graaf all recorded hits in the contest.

Collias finished 2-for-4 on Saturday afternoon with a double, home run and a combined four RBI. Sophomore Ross Heffley led the hit parade with 3-for-5 performance including two doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs.

A sophomore from Onalaska, Wisc., Stewart (2-2) matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts and held Davidson scoreless with just five hits in six innings pitched in the victory. The 10 batters fanned by Stewart tied a previous career-high set on March 27 when he retired the same number against the College of Charleston.

Seniors Jason Sullivan and Daniel Ottone tossed the next two innings, respectively, allowing just two combined hits. Kirkpatrick came in the ninth inning to close the door, facing four batters and allowing just one run on a solo homer.

In the second inning, Kirkpatrick led off with a single setting up Collias' team-leading 14th homer of the season to left field giving the Catamounts the 2-0 advantage.

Heffley fired a double to left field in the third allowing Matt Johns and de Graaf to score increasing WCU's lead to four. Robertson, a senior from Eden, N.C., added the Catamounts' fifth run with a double to right center as Cameron Dulling rounded the bases. It was Robertson's first two-bagger during his career at WCU.

Heffley plated his second double of the contest in the fifth, driving in Johns to extend Western Carolina's lead to 6-0. Cameron Dullnig etched his second triple of the season to right field, driving in two more Catamount runs to give WCU an 8-0 cushion.

A Collias double to left field in the second drove in Kirkpatrick and Heffley once again to give the Catamounts the 10-0 advantage.

Davidson broke the scoreless funk as Seth Freeman scored from a Drew Gadaire double to left field.

Austin Schultz added a lead-off home run in the eighth to cap WCU's scoring with Davidson adding their final run in the ninth with a Tommy Piacenza homer to provide the final tally, 11-2.

Starter Ryan Overcash (5-4) took the loss for Davidson, giving up six earned runs on seven hits in four innings pitched. Piacenza, who has battled injury much of his final season for the Wildcats, finished the afternoon 4-for-4 with a solo homerun, double, a run scored and a RBI.

The Catamounts will be seeded sixth in the SoCon tournament and will play No. 3 Georgia Southern this Wednesday, May 27 at 1:00 pm. The live audio broadcast on the Catamount Sports Network will be available for all the WCU games in the tournament with the Carolina Ford Dealers Pre-game Show slated for 15 minutes prior to first pitch.

For updated information on the Southern Conference Tournament, visit SoConSports.com.