University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Liberty vs. High Point
05.21.2009 | Baseball
 |
#3 Liberty Cruises Past #6 High Point |  |
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? No. 3 Liberty tied a Big South Tournament record with 20 runs in defeating No. 6 High Point, 20-10, in Game 6 of the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship, May 21 at historic McCormick Field in Asheville, N.C. With the victory, Liberty improves to 33-19 and advances to play the winner of No. 1 Coastal Carolina-No. 6 High Point Friday night at 7:00pm. The Panthers fall to 21-31 and move to the loser's bracket, where they will face No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina in an elimination game Friday morning at 11:00am.
The 30 combined runs broke the tournament record of 27, which was first set in 1997 (Liberty 18, UNC Greensboro 9) and 2006 (UNC Asheville 16, Liberty 11).
High Point grabbed an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Jeff Cowan opened the contest with an infield single and advanced to second base when Alfie Wheeler was hit-by-pitch. Bill Manion extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a run-scoring single to left that scored Cowan. Two outs later, Kyle Mahoney drove home Wheeler and Manion with a single to right.
Liberty wasted no time in matching the Panthers' scoring total, as the Flames batted around in the bottom of the first and erupted for six runs. Matt Williams and Curran Redal opened with back-to-back singles, and Williams later scored on Jeff Jefferson's single. With the bases loaded, Liberty tied the game at 3-3 when Cody Brown doubled home two runs. Kizuku Scott followed with an RBI ground out to score Errol Hollinger, who reached on an error, to make the score 4-3, and P.J. Jimenez capped the rally with a two-out double high off the top of the rightfield wall to plate Brown and Trey Wimmer for a 6-3 advantage.
The Flames continued their onslaught in the second inning with another five runs to extend their lead to 11-3. Redal opened the frame with a single and moved to second on a ground out. After the next two batters were retired, Hollinger doubled down the rightfield line, sending home Redal with Liberty's seventh run. Brown followed with his sixth home run of the season that pushed the lead to 9-3. Scott walked and Wimmer singled to continue the inning. Jimenez then brought both runners home with his second double of the night for an 11-3 lead.
Liberty added three runs in the third and four more runs in the fourth to take a comfortable 18-3 lead after four innings. High Point ended its scoring drought with four runs in the fifth. Mahoney singled to center, Pablo Rosario walked and Eric Marion singled to right to load the bases. With two outs, Cowan smacked a bases clearing double to trim Liberty's lead to 18-6. Wheeler then singled home Cowan to make it 18-7.
The Flames crossed the plate for the 19th time in the bottom of the fifth, then High Point reached double figures in runs in the seventh inning, when Cowan belted a three-run home run to left field to make the score 19-10 in favor of Liberty.
Liberty tied the tournament runs scored record in the bottom of the eighth, when pinch runner Joseph Feeley crossed the plate on Scott's ground out to short for the final margin. The Flames join Coastal Carolina (1986, 2008) and Elon (2001) as the only teams to score 20 runs in a Big South tournament game.
Brown finished 4-5 with six RBI for Liberty, who totaled 20 hits on the night. Hollinger also had four hits and three RBI, while Jimenez drove in four runners. For High Point, Cowan was 3-6 with six RBI and Rosario was 3-4 at the plate, as the Panthers tallied 16 base hits. Steven Evans was credited with the win for Liberty to improve to 7-2. RJ Chlebnikow was tagged with the loss and falls to 3-6.
Liberty Head Coach Jim Toman
“I am really happy with the way our team played tonight. We got a strong effort throughout the entire lineup, and continue to grind out the victories.”
High Point Head Coach Craig Cozart
“Liberty has scored a bunch of runs against us all season in four games. We had no answer for them on the mound tonight. Offensively, we posted a bunch of runs which bodes well for us tomorrow because we are going to need to score a lot of runs. We just need to find someone to get us outs tomorrow.”
