University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Presbyterian
Season Ends with Loss to Presbyterian
05.16.2009 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C.?Presbyterian's Mitchell Odom threw the his first complete game of the season and Jared Combs went 5-for-6 with a home run, three doubles, and four RBI to lead the Blue Hose to a 15-2 victory at UNC Asheville on Saturday.
Odom had just one tough inning as he allowed one earned run on four hits to improve to 5-3 on the season. The Blue Hose (13-38, 7-19 Big South) hit three home runs on the day giving them seven for the series.
UNC Asheville finishes its worst season in school history with a 9-42 record. The Bulldogs went 5-21 in conference play. Kevin Weidenbacher singled in the first inning to finish the season with a nine-game hitting streak. Weidenbacher finishes the year as the Bulldogs leading hitter with a .309 average. It is the lowest average to ever lead the school in hitting.
Big innings paced the Blue Hose to victory. They scored four runs in the first, four in the fifth, three in the seventh, and four in the ninth as PC posted double-figure runs in all three games of the series.
The damage in the first was all done after two were out. Cory Lyda walked, Combs singled, and Noate Horton walked to load the bases. Tony Micklon had a two-RBI single and Kenny Bryant followed with a two-RBI double.
Asheville made a game of it in the third inning. Danny Baatz led off with a singe, Catlin Carter reached on a fielder's choice, and Weidenbacher reached on an error to load the bases with no one out. Jordan Lurie delivered a RBI-single and Beau Zinman a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2. UNC Asheville would only get one hit the rest of the game as Odom set down 17 of final 20 batters he faced.
PC opened up the game in the fifth. Mack Hite and Lyda each had infield hits in front of a three-run home run by Combs. It was his eighth of the year and second of the series. One out later, Micklon hit his fourth long ball of the year to make the score 8-2.
In the seventh, Combs led off with a double but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple as he attempted to hit for the cycle. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases with two out. Gabe Grammer was hit by a pitch to force in the ninth run and Andrew Williams lined a two-RBI single to center field to make it 11-2.
PC capped off the game the way they started with four runs in the ninth. Dane Fehr led off the inning with a pinch hit home run which was his first of the season. Zac Rhinesmith reached on an error and Grammer singled to right to place runners on the corners with one out. Williams delivered his third RBI of the day to plate Rhinesmith. A fielder's choice ground out by Lyda scored Grammer. Combs capped the scoring with his third double of the game to score Williams.
Michael Bogaert took the loss for Asheville to drop to 1-7. He threw 4.1 innings allowing eight runs on 10 hits. The Bulldog bullpen of Grier Harrington, Dan Weller, and Dillion Tabor combined to pitch 4.2 innings allowing seven runs (four earned) on seven hits.
