Greenville, S.C. – Michigan State rode a four-run third inning and a strong pitching effort that recorded 16 total strikeouts as Western Carolina dropped its tournament finale against the Spartans 7-2 at the First Pitch Invitational on Saturday evening at Fluor Field at the West End.
The Spartans used a run-scoring single by Mitch Jebb and a three-run home run by Brock Vradenburg in a four-run third inning to grab a lead it would never relinquish. A fifth run in the home half of the seventh pushed the margin to 5-0 before the Catamounts got the offense going in the top of the eighth inning.
Nate Stocum drew a bases-loaded walk to score
Kyle Harbison who led off with an HBP to hang the first number in WCU's score column. Pinch-hitter
Drew Needham later plated
Zach Ketterman who singled off the bag at third base for the RBI groundout to pull the Catamounts to within three, 5-2. However, WCU would get no closer in the frame and the Spartans tacked on a pair of insurance markers in the bottom to provide the final tally.
In the ninth,
Brandon Butterworth led off with a triple, but he was stranded at third base as the Spartans ended the game with three-consecutive strikeouts. All told, the Catamounts left eight runners on base.
Butterworth collected half of WCU's four base hits in the loss, tripling for the third time in as many games at Fluor Field in a 2-for-4 effort. Ketterman reached three times with a single and a pair of walks with
Cole Jones collecting a single in a 1-for-4 effort.
Pascanel Ferreras walked twice in the loss.
Freshman starter
Brandon Eldridge (0-1) took the loss for the Catamounts in his first collegiate start, allowing four runs on four hits with a strikeout and two walks in three innings of work.
Dylan Wheeler struck out three over an inning and a third.
Eric Wallington tossed two-thirds of a hitless, scoreless inning with
Adam Quincy allowing just one hit over an inning of scoreless work out of the bullpen.
Nick Hyde and
Gavin Mortenson both tossed an inning with a combined three unearned runs scored against.
Michigan State's Adam Berghorst (1-0), who was moved up from a scheduled Sunday start, struck out 11 over six innings of two-hit, scoreless work in the starting role to earn the win. Noah Matheny struck out three with a pair of runs allowed while Wyatt Rush – who scored the win over WCU on Friday – collecting the save over an inning and two-thirds relief with three strikeouts and just one hit allowed.
Five Spartan hitters posted two-hit games with Vradenburg homering in the 2-for-3, three-RBI effort and Trent Farquhar finishing 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.
Western Carolina (6-10) plays its fourth-consecutive neutral-field game on Tuesday evening as the Catamounts travel to the Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, N.C. – home of the MILB's Kannapolis Cannon Ballers – to face the Davidson Wildcats (6-9). The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game is slated to be broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required).
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