University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Charleston Southern
Baseball Falls 8-7 at Charleston Southern
03.06.2009 | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - UNC Asheville dropped its Big South season opener to Charleston Southern Friday afternoon as the Buccaneers defeated the Bulldogs 8-7 at Buccaneer Park.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the first inning when Reed Kreiser
hit a two-run home run. It was Kreiser's third homer of the season.
The
Bucs answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. A
two-out single from Tyler Thornburg advanced Patrick Dolan from first
base to third base. Kory Morian hit a single that drove in Dolan and
moved Thornburg to second base. Nick Chinners tied the game with a
double that scored Thornburg.
Asheville freshman Cody Buch hit
the first homer of his collegiate career in the top of the second to
give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.
The Bulldogs' lead did not last as
CSU scored three runs in the bottom of the second. With the bases
loaded, Dolan hit a double down the right field line that drove in Tom
Burkett and Brantley Meier. The Bucs closed out the inning's scoring
with a groundout RBI from Thornburg that allowed Scotty Radabaugh to
score from third base.
After both teams did not score in the
third inning, Asheville struck for two runs in the top of the fourth.
Designated hitter Mike Vaughn led off the inning with a triple. The
next batter, Buch, reached second base on an error by the left fielder
Meier that also allowed Vaughn to score. Austin Graham tied the score
at 5-5 with a two-out double that drove in Buch.
Meier led off
the bottom of the fourth with a double off of Boegart; however, Boegart
retired the next three batters with two of the outs coming from
strikeouts.
Ryan Dull replaced Boegart in the bottom of the
fifth with Thornburg on first base after a lead off single. Thornburg
advanced to second on a groundout by Morian. A single by Chinners
moved Thornburg to third. Jake Cox hit a single to drive in Thornburg
and make the score 6-5.
Justin Schumer gave the Bulldogs a 7-6
lead in the top of the seventh with a two-run homer that drove in
Catlin Carter, but the Bucs answered back in the bottom of the inning
after a double by Chinners and an error by Graham in center field
allowed Morian to score from first base.
The Bucs tacked on the
go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out single from
Thornburg that drove in Meier from second base.
Kreiser reached
first base on a two-out single in the top of the ninth, but Beau Zinman
popped out to second to end the ballgame.
The win moves Charleston Southern to 5-5 on the season and 1-0 in the
Big South. Asheville falls to 2-8 overall and 0-1 in the Big South.
Both teams face off again tomorrow in a doubleheader at Buccaneer Park. The first game is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m.
