May 28, 2011

Box Score

Charleston, S.C. - Western Carolina junior Kyle Stewart matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts on Friday night and Western Carolina battled to the final out, but it wasn't enough as the fifth-seeded College of Charleston Cougars capitalized on four extra-base hits to push across all of its runs to eliminate the Catamounts 4-2 in the 2011 Bennett Hospitality Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Carolina Ford Dealers at Riley Park.

Playing as the designated home team, WCU took an early 1-0 lead before the Cougars responded with four-straight runs including two on a controversial triple off the bat of Matt Leeds in a two-run top of the seventh inning. The Catamounts fought through the final out in the bottom of the night, adding one marker to the tally but could not overtake the Cougars, concluding the season.

College of Charleston (38-21) moves on to play Georgia Southern tomorrow at 1 p.m. in a day which the Cougars need two wins in order to play for Sunday's championship. Western Carolina ends its season with a 23-31-1 record.

In just his third start of the season, WCU hard-throwing right-hander Kyle Stewart (0-4) powered past Cougar hitters, matching his career-high with 10 strikeouts through six innings of work. The Onalaska, Wisc., native only allowed two runs on three hits, working around four walks in his starting effort. Senior reliever Andrew Chilcoat, throwing in what proved to be his final game for the Catamounts, kept the team close by working two and two-thirds innings of scoreless, one-hit relief. The White Hall, Md., native was summonsed from the bullpen and was able to strand two runners in the critical seventh inning while also fanning three including his final batter in the top of the ninth inning.

On the flip side, Cougar starter Christian Powell threw 114 pitches in 7.0 innings of work to pick up the win and improve to 8-1 on the year. He likewise tied a career-high as he struck out eight and only gave up two runs on eight hits while walking two.

Marty Gantt, the Charleston first baseman, led all hitters with a 4-for-5 night at the plate, including two doubles, an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.

Western Carolina (23-31-1) scored first in the opening inning to take the lead against CofC. Tyler White picked up the RBI in the first when he brought senior Matt Johns home with a groundout to second. But after two hits in the inning, the Catamounts could not do anymore damage.

The Cougars put single runs across in the fourth and fifth innings off doubles from Cole Rakar and Gantt, respectively. In the fourth, Matt Leeds led off the inning with a walk and scored off Rakar's double, and Rob Harding, who started the fifth with a walk, scored when Gantt ripped his double.

Charleston doubled its run total to four in the seventh inning when Leeds sent two runners home on a triple that bounced around in the right field corner. Gantt started the Cougar rally in the inning with his second double of the game and Rob Kral followed with a walk. With two runners on base, Leeds sent a 2-1 pitch to the right field corner that bounced off the ground and the top of the wall, but never left the field of play, for a triple and move the CofC lead up to 4-1.

Western Carolina responded in the bottom half of the inning by getting one of the runs back. Aaron Attaway and Cody Jones started the Catamount inning with consecutive singles and each advanced a base when Austin Schultz hit into a fielders' choice. Johns would hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Attaway and give the WCU its second run of the game.

Johns went 1-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a RBI while freshman Cody Jones went 2-for-3 from the plate for the Catamounts.

The loss concludes the career of six WCU seniors who had strong careers in the purple and gold. Right-handed pitchers Matt Benedict and Brandon Johnson, who did not see action on Friday night, as well as Chilcoat finished their eligibility in the Purple and Gold. Johns, Notaro and Schultz also played their final game as collegians, all leaving the field with heads held high after solid careers for Western Carolina.