University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Gardner-Webb
Baseball Swept by Gardner-Webb
04.18.2009 | Baseball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.?Mike Vaughn hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs but UNC Asheville dropped both games 11-2 and 10-5 to Gardner-Webb on Saturday.
The two teams played at doubleheader Saturday in a race against impending bad weather expected Sunday in the area.
Gardner-Webb (20-15, 9-6 Big South) jumped out to an early lead in the opener Saturday, and rode a solid pitching performance by Brett Stackhouse to an 11-2 victory.
Stackhouse went eight innings allowing five hits and one run. He walked two and struck out six to improve to 4-3 on the year. Taylor Wohlwend (2-9) took the loss for Asheville (7-31, 4-16 Big South) going five innings allowing nine runs on 11 hits.
The top of the GWU order ; Brock Miller, Aaron Cook, Justin Loyd, and Kurt Fulginiti went a combined 25-for-51 (.490) with 24 runs scored, three doubles, two triples, five home runs, and 21 RBI in the three games. On Saturday, those four hitters produced five of GWU's 10 extra base hits, scored 14 of its 21 runs, and drove in 10 more runs.
Gardner-Webb jumped out to 10-0 lead scoring two runs in the first inning, one run in each of the second and third innings and then three runs in the fifth and sixth inning.
Catlin Carter's RBI single in the eighth scored Austin Graham who had doubled to put Asheville on the board. The Bulldogs scored against in the ninth. Reed Kreiser doubled and scored on a RBI-single by Jordan Lurie.
In the nightcap, a two run home run by Cook put GWU up 2-0 in the first inning. Asheville tied the game with single runs in the second and the third innings. Vaughn's first home run of the game and his third of the year cut the lead in half. Carter signaled and scored on a wild pitch in the third to tie the score.
GWU answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning to regain a 4-2 lead. Graham hit his first home run as a Bulldog in the top of the fourth to draw to within 4-3. The home team added two more runs in the bottom of the frame to build a 6-3 lead.
Vaughn who went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and three RBI connected on his second home run of the day in the fifth to once again draw Asheville to within a run at 6-5.
That was a close as Asheville would get as GWU scored an unearned run in the sixth and then put the game out of reach with a three-run seventh highlighted by a two run home run by O.J. McFarland.
Ryan Maxa (4-0) picked up the win in relief for Gardner-Webb while Asheville starter Justin Schumer (1-6) took the loss.
Asheville starters went 0-3 with a 17.05 ERA in the series while the bullpen held GWU to a .250 opponent batting average and posted a 3.97 ERA.
Carter had four hits on the series in 13 at bats to lead the UNC Asheville offense. Lurie, Kevin Weidenbacher, and Schumer each had three hits in the series. Asheville hit .222 as a team while GWU hit .368 with 18 extra base hits in the series.
Asheville returns to action on Tuesday as it begins a two-game series at 15th ranked Florida State at 6 p.m. Wednesday's game will be televised by SUN Network and can be seen in the Asheville area on FSN.
