Greenville, N.C. – Home runs were the order of the day as all 12 runs on Saturday afternoon were driven in courtesy of the long ball, as Rutgers belted six round-trippers, countered by just one from the Catamounts as Western Carolina suffered a 9-3 loss to the Scarlet Knights in its second game at the Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Scarlet Knights homered their way to a 9-0 lead through seven complete before
Trey Spees connected on his first dinger of the season with a three-run blast in the eighth inning that provided the eventual final tally.
Sunday's finale at the 23rd annual Keith LeClair Classic appropriately features chromatic and directional rivals Western Carolina and East Carolina, two of the programs that the late Hall of Famer shaped. The Catamounts and Pirates meet at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in a game to be
broadcast on ESPN+ (
paid subscription required), with
live stats available online at CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina (7-3) had just four base hits spread between four players in the loss, with none through the first four innings before
Noah Quarless dropped a lead-off single to right to open the fifth inning. Quarless reached twice with a 1-for-1 effort, adding a walk.
Jackson Lyda doubled in a 1-for-3 effort, with Spees (1-for-3) accounting for all three RBI on his three-run homer.
Cam Murray singled in his lone plate appearance as a late-inning pinch hitter.
Big Ten foe Rutgers (5-4) rapped out 11 base hits, including seven going for extra bases with six homers and a double in Saturday's win. Four Scarlet Knights posted two-hit games with Trey Wells (2-for-4), Tristan Salinas (2-for-4), Joey Erace (2-for-4), and Yomar Carreras (2-for-5) leading the way.
Rutgers got an Erace two-run homer in the second inning for the early 2-0 lead, before a Carreras solo shot made it 3-0 through four complete. The Scarlet Knights used a two-run homer by Peyton Bonds, and solo blasts by Chase Krewson and Trey Wells in a four-run fifth to grab the 7-0 lead headed to the final third.
Salinas capped the Rutgers scoring with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning for the nine-run cushion.
Western Carolina's best inning came in the eighth, jump-started by a one-out double by Lyda. Pinch-hitter
Yates Sikes reached on an HBP before Spees belted a two-out, three-run homer to right field that trimmed the deficit to six, 9-3. Despite the Murray pinch-hit single in the frame, WCU was unable to get any closer, though, retired in order in the ninth.
Five Catamount pitchers went to the mound on Saturday with starter
Carter Burnette (1-1) chased after four innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits against five strikeouts.
Ryan White struck out one in two frames, with
Josh Ossiander and
Scott Templeton both fanning two in an inning of work.
Griffin Guinther also tossed an inning of hitless, scoreless relief in a 1-2-3 eighth.
Zack Konstantinovsk (2-0) struck out six over seven innings of work, all but silencing the Catamount offense in a scoreless, one-hit effort with a walk allowed. Andrew Rondini tossed the final two innings, tagged for three runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Tournament play concludes on Sunday afternoon as the Catamounts and Pirates meet at 3:30 p.m.
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