University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Western Carolina
Bulldogs Fall at Western Carolina 9-2
03.18.2009 | Baseball
CULLOWHEE, N.C.- Western Carolina's eight and nine place hitters Matt Johns and Mitchell Hatley combined to go 4-for-5 with five RBI and four runs scored as the Catamounts defeated UNC Asheville 9-2 Wednesday night.
Cody Buch and Jonny Eaker each had two hits for the UNC Asheville which fell to 3-14 on the season. Along with Johns and Hatley, Brent Greer all had multi-hit games for Western Carolina who improves to 13-4 on the season.
Buch now has four hits in the last two games. Eaker picked up his first two hits of the season going 2-for-4 with a RBI. Reed Kreiser had a RBI double. He has driven in three of the Bulldogs last four runs.
The Catamounts used a pair of two out rallies to build a 4-0 lead scoring twice in the third inning and two more in the fourth. Greer reached on a two-out throwing error in the third. J.C. Lyons followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Stephen Notaro delivered a two-RBI double to score both runners.
In the fourth, Johns hit a solo home run with two outs off Dillion Tabor. Hatley and Lee Murray followed with back-to-back doubles to make the score 4-0.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the fifth. Danny Baatz drew a one-out walk and scored on a RBI-double by Kreiser. In the fifth, Asheville used its own two out rally to cut the lead in half. Mike Vaughn walked, Kevin Weidenbacher singled, and Eaker had his second hit of the night to drive home Vaughn.
Western got a run back in the bottom of the sixth. Johns walked, stole second, and scored on a bunt single by Hatley.
In the seventh, the Catamounts played three more runs. Reid Rollison and Dylan de Graaf each walked to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt put the runners at second and third where they would score on a two-RBI single by Johns. Johns went to third on a failed pick-off attempt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hatley.
Kyle Stewart went 5.2 innings allowing two runs on seven hits to earn his second victory of the year. Dan Weller (0-2) took the loss throwing two innings, allowing two unearned runs on two hits.
The Cats pushed across the final run of the night in the bottom of the eighth. Johns was hit by a pitch, stole second base, went to third on a base hit and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rollison.
Since scoring 10 runs on March 7, against Charleston Southern, UNC Asheville has scored 13 runs its last six games.
Asheville returns to conference play this weekend. The Bulldogs travel to VMI to begin a three-game series on Friday at 4 p.m.
