March 2, 2011

Box Score

Richmond, Ky. - Dakotah Thomas tossed a one-hit shutout through seven innings while battery mate Stephen Notaro drove in two runs as Western Carolina blanked Eastern Kentucky, 5-0, Wednesday afternoon at Turkey Hughes Field.

Thomas, a freshman right-hander from Ellenboro, N.C., worked around three walks with seven strikeouts to score the victory in his first collegiate start - and just his fourth appearance for the Purple and Gold. He surrendered a two-out triple in the second inning to Ryan Faidley, but stranded the runner at third base.

Junior Kyle Stewart struck out two of the five batters in which he faced, allowing a two-out double and a walk before punching out the final out on strikes looking. Redshirt junior transfer Kyle Deese closed the shutout with an inning of hitless relief, working around a pair of two-out walks to keep the game scoreless in the ninth.

Combined, the Catamount pitchers struck out 10 EKU batters on Wednesday afternoon.

Freshman Dykota Spiess posted his first collegiate base hit on Wednesday, opening the second inning with a double down the right field line as a part of a 2-for-4 showing at the dish. Junior Ross Heffley and senior Austin Schultz also posted 2-for-4 outings in the second game of the two-game road swing with Heffley plating three runs and Schultz stealing twice. Sophomore Tyler White finished 1-for2 with a pair of sacrifice hits in the winning effort.

Heffley has now hit safely in all seven games in which he has played this season with his streak running to 13-straight games after closing 2010 with a six-game hit streak.

Notaro put the Catamounts on the board in the top of the first inning with a two-out single to center field with two aboard as WCU took the 1-0 lead. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native struck again in the visitor's half of the third as he lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Heffley who opened the frame with his team-leading seventh double of the year.

The Catamounts capitalized on a pair of Colonel errors in the fifth to add three insurance runs. Austin Schultz ignited the rally with a single before stealing second and moving to third on a throwing error. Cameron Dullnig drove him in and later scored from third on a balk call with Heffley advancing from second. Freshman Aaron Attaway capped the scoring with a RBI single to center field.

Eastern Kentucky (3-5) starter Matt Fyffe (0-2) took the loss after allowing two earned runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Reliever Matt Harris allowed three runs on two hits in an inning of relief. Bryan Soloman, who slugged the Colonels past WCU on Tuesday, finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. Richie Rodriguez scored the only other hit for EKU in addition to Faidley's three-bagger.

Western Carolina returns to action this weekend as it hosts a three-team, six-game tournament in Forest City, N.C., at McNair Field - home of the Coastal Plain League's Forest City Owls. The three-day event gets underway this Friday with double-header games beginning at 11:00 am all weekend. WCU will face Akron on Friday at 3:00 pm in the second game; Ohio State on Saturday at 3:00 pm; and wrap-up with the 11:00 am game on Sunday against the Army Black Knights.