Bulldog Baseball Heads to #4 Coastal Carolina

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville baseball team is preparing for its biggest test of the year when the Bulldogs begin a three-game Big South Conference series at defending BSC champion Coastal Carolina starting Friday at 6 p.m. The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a game on Sunday at 2 p.m. The games can be seen via video-streaming for a small fee at www.bigsouthsports.com.

The Chanticleers (36-6, 14-0 BSC) are ranked fourth in the nation this week and have the highest RPI in the country. Coastal Carolina had won 16 games in a row before falling at #1 Virginia Tuesday night, 6-3.

The Bulldogs (12-26, 5-13 BSC) were pleased to snap a nine-game losing streak on Wednesday at Furman, 14-2. Asheville scored eight times in first inning; thanks partly to a grand-slam homer from Mike Vaughn and cruised from there to get the victory. Junior right-hander Grier Harrington (1-3) scattered four hits over seven innings to earn his first win of the year. He allowed only one unearned run.

First-year head coach Tom Smith is very impressed with Coastal Carolina and believes the Chanticleers are capable of playing a lot of baseball in June.

"Coastal Carolina has a team that can get to Omaha this year," stated Smith. "I'm very impressed with their pitching as they've just shut down teams this year, and they've played some very good non-conference teams.

"Coastal Carolina does everything well," added Smith. "They can beat you with speed. They can hit the ball and their pitching is just sensational."

Smith was glad to get a win on Wednesday.

"I'm sure glad we put things together on Wednesday and won at Furman," commented Smith. "And it was a complete victory. We got off to a great start with eight runs in the first inning, maintained the lead and did a good job adding runs late in the game. Our defense was solid, as well."

Smith knows it will take a great effort by the Bulldogs this weekend to get some results.

"We're going to have to play good baseball in a tough place against a great opponent," declared Smith. "We can't make errors and give them any runs. We're going to have to pitch extremely well and take advantage of our opportunities when we get them."

Asheville will start junior left-hander David Ricker (1-2, 4.82 ERA) on Friday night. Ricker had one of the Bulldogs better pitching performances earlier this year at Furman (3-30) when he limited the Paladins to just one hit over six innings and pitched the minimum.

BULLDOG NOTES

1. UNC Asheville has already won more games (12) than it did all of last year when it only won nine.

2. The Bulldogs have won eight road games (8-17) this season after only winning three all of last season.

3. Senior Justin Schumer leads Asheville in hitting (.363), home runs (6) and RBI (29). He has a hit in 11 of the last 12 games and has posted multi-hit games in seven of those contests. Justin is hitting .519 (27-of-52) over the last 12 games with 13 RBI and three home runs.

4. Freshman second baseman Robert McIntosh enters the Coastal Carolina series with the longest hitting streak of the year for the Bulldogs at 10 games. He is 17-for-40 (.425) during that stretch.

5. The Bulldogs are 5-13 in league play and have lost six straight BSC games after being swept by Winthrop and High Point. However, Asheville owns two BSC wins over second-place Liberty (5-4 & 2-1). The Flames are 11-1 in BSC play since losing the series to the Bulldogs in late March (26-27).

6. Asheville is in the middle of an 11-game road swing. The Bulldogs are 1-5 in the first six games. Asheville will be off this week due to exams before traveling to ETSU for a double-header on May 11. The Bulldogs finish the season mostly at home as they'll play seven of their last eight games at McCormick Field.