University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Liberty
Baseball Splits With Liberty; Win 1st Game 2-1 on Schumer Home Run
03.27.2010 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Justin Schumer's lead-off home run in bottom of the ninth inning gave UNC Asheville a thrilling 2-1 Big South victory over visiting Liberty in the first game of a double-header at Greenwood Field Saturday afternoon.
In the second game, Doug Bream had three hits and two RBI to lead the Flames to a 7-3 victory. Liberty starter Keegan Linza pitched a compete game and scattered 12 hits to raise his record to 5-0 on the season.
The Bulldogs move to 7-13 overall and 2-4 in the Big South. Liberty is 14-8 overall and 1-2 in the league.
Schumer's third home of the year in the first game made a winner off sophomore right-hander Ryan Dull. Dull pitched a complete game six-hitter. He struck out four and walked none to improve his record to 3-0.
Steven Evans (3-1) was the hard-luck loser for Liberty in the first game. He allowed just four hits and struck out five.
The Flames scored their only run in the first inning. Curran Redal led the game off with a single. One out later, he went to second on a single from Tyler Bream. Nate Thompson, who had two hits in the first game, singled up the middle to score Redal for a 1-0 Liberty lead. With runners on second and third with two outs, Dull got a big strikeout of Casey Brown to keep Liberty to just one run.
Evans retired Asheville's first seven hitters before walking Beau Ziman. He didn't allow a Bulldog hit until the fifth when Asheville tied the game. With one out, Mike Vaughn doubled down the right-field line. With two outs, Zinman singled to left to score Vaughn to tie the game at 1-1.
Dull got stronger as the game went on. He retired the final nine hitters of the game and allowed just two hits in the final five innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, Schumer hit Evans' second pitcher over the right-field wall to give the Bulldogs their season-high third straight victory.
In the second game, Asheville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. A wild pitch scored Catlin Carter and a run-scoring single from Ian Graham gave the Dogs the early lead.
However, Liberty battled back in the second and took the lead for good with four runs. Four different players drove in runs for the Flames in the inning. Matt Williams' RBI-single pushed Liberty in front 3-2. Tyler Bream's RBI-single padded the lead to 4-2.
Brown's RBI-double in the third gave the Flames a 5-2 margin. Doug Bream's two-run single gave Liberty a 7-2 lead in the eighth inning.
Schumer drove in Asheville's final run in the ninth inning on a ground-out.
Carter and Baatz lead the Bulldogs at the plate in the second game with three hits each. Carter scored two of Asheville's runs.
The Bulldogs are back in action on Tuesday evening when they travel to USC Upstate Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. Liberty entertains George Mason on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
