University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONS - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Baseball
May 27, 2006
CONWAY, S.C. - Tournament Most Valuable Player Rob Vernon hit a grand slam in the eighth inning as UNC Asheville overcame a 10 run deficit to win the Big South Conference Tournament 16-11 over Liberty on Saturday night.
It is the Bulldogs (28-33) first ever Big South Championship in baseball and sends Asheville to its first ever NCAA Regional appearance. The baseball team becomes only the second UNC Asheville team to make a NCAA Tournament in any sport joining the 2003 men's basketball team.
"I give the guys a tremendous amount of credit," said Stewart. We stuck together and never quit. This is a tremendous accomplishment, what we did this weekend. I could not be happier for these guys."
The Flames (39-21) sent 13 men to the plate in the bottom of the second, scoring nine runs on eight hits to take the 9-0 lead. Chad Miller posted two RBI in the inning.
Liberty added one run in the bottom of the third to push the lead to 10-0. With one out, Chad Miller moved to first on a walk and moved to second as Michael Just singled through the right side. Miller was caught stealing. Aaron Grijalva scored Just as he reached on an error.
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UNC Asheville moved four across in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 10-4. With one out, John Whited singled and moved to second on a single by Kyle Smith. Steve Burnich followed with a double to left field, plating Whited and moving Smith to third. Kevin Mattison was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Matt Henson grounded out to the shortstop to score Smith, moving Mattison to second and Burnich to third. Elliot Arrington followed with a single to left to plate Burnich and Mattison.
The Bulldogs chipped away at LU's lead in the top of sixth, adding one run to move the score to 10-5. Charles Pippitt led off the inning with a walk, and two batters later Burnich singled to right center to move Pippitt to third. Mattison singled to center field to plate Pippitt. It marked the 17th consecutive game in which Mattison has gotten a hit, one shy of the UNC Asheville record held by head coach Willie Stewart and Tony Campana.
Asheville added another run in the top half of the seventh. Arrington led off with a walk and was moved to second on an Edmund Locklear walk. Vernon reached on a fieldier's choice, moving Arrington to third. Pippitt hit a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Arrington.
Asheville took its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth. With one away, Burnich was hit by a pitch and moved over on a single by Mattison. Henson singled to load the bases. Burnich scored on a groundout by Arrington, moving Mattison to third and Henson to second. Locklear followed with a walk to load the bases. Vernon followed with a grand slam to clear the bases, his seventh home run of the year and the second grand slam for the Bulldogs this season.
The Bulldogs sent 11 people to plate to score five runs on five hits to push their lead to 16-10 win in the top of the ninth. Arrington highlighted the inning with a three RBI double to left center.
Liberty scored one in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to 16-11 but that would be as close as they would get.
UNC Ashevilles's Alan DeRatt picked up his second win of the tournament and improves to 8-4, while the Flames' Phillip Thompson took the loss, falling to 6-7 on the season.
With the win, UNC Asheville picks up the Big South's automatic bid and records its school record 28th victory of the season.
The Bulldogs will find out who and where it will play in the NCAA Tournament on Monday, May 29, at 12:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to join Bulldogs players and coaches at Wild Wings in downtown Asheville for the announcement beginning at 11:30 a.m.
