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Eight Home Runs Power Western Carolina Past UNCG Saturday, 19-8

Box Score May 14, 2016


Box Score |   





Cullowhee, N.C. - Four Catamounts combined to belt eight home runs on a breezy Saturday afternoon as Western Carolina powered past UNCG, 19-8, in Southern Conference action at Childress Field / Hennon Stadium. Coupled with Friday night's 8-5 victory over the Spartans, WCU wins its best-of-three conference series over the nation's top-hitting ball club.

Game three is scheduled for a 1:00 pm first pitch on Sunday afternoon. WCU will honor its senior class in a special pregame ceremony prior to first pitch. Fans can follow Sunday's action with streaming video on the SoCon Digital Network, and through social media on Twitter using the handle, @Catamounts.

Senior outfielder Kramer Ferrell homered twice and drove in a career-best seven runs while redshirt junior J.D. Long also circled the base paths twice as a part of a five RBI outing to rank among the offensive highlights for Western Carolina. Ferrell also helped throw a runner out at home plate, while Long made numerous spectacular plays along the infield including initiating one of two double-plays turned by the Catamounts in the win.

Redshirt junior Bryson Bowman added to his team-high home run tally with a pair of round-trippers, giving him 16 this spring, and freshman Andrew Bullock collected his second and third home runs of the series with a pair of blasts over the right field wall.

Senior Danny Bermudez reached base five times with four walks and an HBP, scoring twice, while Matt Smith scored three times in a 1-for-3 outing with two walks to his credit. Senior Reece Strong, who earned the start at second base, went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and sophomore Caleb Robinson dropped a two-RBI single down the right field line to round-out WCU's 19 RBI as a team.

Western Carolina (25-24, 15-8 SoCon) scored runs in all but one inning in which it took swings on Saturday, lighting the scoreboard in seven of the eight frames. Trailing 4-1 after two and a half, the Catamounts used a four-spot to grab their first lead, 5-4, as Ferrell flew the fence in right center field on a three-run shot that was followed by a solo blast by Bullock that sailed well over the right field wall, both coming with two outs.

Not to be out done, the Spartans got a two-run homer by catcher Jake Kusz that hugged the right field line and snuck around the foul pole to push UNCG back in front, 6-5, after three and a half.

As they have done in each of the first two games of the series, WCU responded in the bottom of the fourth with another two-out rally. Three-straight walks to Bowman, Smith and Bermudez loaded the bases for Ferrell who deposited a pitch into left field scoring both Bowman and Smith to give the Catamounts a lead they would never relinquish.

Following a shutdown top of the fifth inning that included a line drive double-play turned by Reece Strong, Long scored he and his middle infield partner on a two-run homer over the "Purple Monster" in left field with Bowman also homering to make it 10-6 through five complete.

WCU managed back-to-back, four-run innings in the sixth and seventh to widen the margin. Ferrell hit his second homer in the sixth with Robinson benefiting from the strong winds on a two RBI single dropped down the right field line. In the seventh, Bullock hit a two-run shot to right before Long -- who was celebrating his birthday -- cleared the fence in left for his first career multi-home run game. Bowman capped the scoring for the home squad with his second long ball of the day in the eighth on a solo shot to left field.

UNCG (35-17, 13-7 SoCon) saw both L.J. Kalawaia and Cesar Trejo hit solo homers in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to help provide the final tally.

Sophomore LHP Brendan Nail (3-6) scored the victory on the mound for the Catamounts, scattering 10 Spartan hits over six frames, surrendering six runs. The Greensboro, N.C., native worked around a pair of walks with four strikeouts in the winning effort. Senior southpaw Taylor Durand secured his first save for the Purple & Gold, limiting the potent UNCG lineup to two runs on three hits with four strikeouts of his own over the final three frames.

UNCG reliever Andrew Wantz (6-1) suffered the loss out of the bullpen, allowing two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as WCU pulled back in front, 7-6, on Ferrell's two-out, two-RBI single and would never relinquish the lead. Wantz, the first of six relievers and seven combined pitchers used by UNCG, walked three and struck out one.

Spartan starter, Candler, N.C., native Matt Frisbee, was chased in the third inning after allowing five runs on seven hits with a strikeout against two walks.

Trejo and third baseman Collin Woody paced UNCG with three hits apiece while both Kalawaia and Kusz finished 2-for-4 for the visitors. Kusz and Dillon Stewart led the Spartans with two RBI apiece.

Game three is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm.


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