Bulldog Baseball Travels to College of Charleston This Weekend

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The UNC Asheville baseball team plays its final road series of the season when the Bulldogs travel to Southern Conference power College of Charleston for a three-game series this weekend. Action begins Friday night at 7p.m., followed by a Saturday night contest at 6 p.m. and Sunday's finale at 2 p.m.

Asheville (22-24) will face a talented Cougar squad this weekend. College of Charleston sports a 33-15 overall record and is in second place in the Southern Conference.

"We're going to see some great pitching this weekend," commented Bulldog coach Tom Smith."College of Charleston has some good arms, and they keep coming at you. We've got our work cut out for us this weekend but we're excited about the challenge of playing these guys. It should be a fun atmosphere and should help prepare us for the Big South Tournament in two weeks."

The Bulldogs enjoyed a great weekend on the road last week as they swept a three-game series from Big South rival High Point. It was Asheville's first conference road sweep since the 2010 season. The wins also raised the Bulldogs record to 11-10 in league play and pushed them to fifth place in the BSC standings. Asheville's final BSC series is at home next weekend (May 17-19) vs. Gardner-Webb.

The men of Tom Smith are being led at the plate by freshman first baseman Hunter Bryant with a .312 average. Billy Creighton is next at .307, followed by the red-hot Cody Buch with a .306 mark.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to throw Dean Roland (4-4, 3.78 ERA), Ryan Dull (4-4, 3.28 ERA) and Brian Connolly (5-3, 3.96 ERA) this weekend. Dull is second in the Big South in strikeouts with 70 and eighth nationally in strikeouts to walks at 7.78. He has allowed just one run in his last two starts.

BULLDOG NOTES

Asheville is 10-14 on the road this season.

The Bulldogs last played College of Charleston early in the 2010 season with Asheville capturing the first game, 18-8 and then losing two close games, 12-11 and 3-1. The Cougars would go 10-1 against Big South Conference teams during the regular season with their only loss to the Bulldogs.

Asheville has 24 home runs this season, compared to just 16 last year. Patrick Koontz leads the Bulldogs with seven, followed by Billy Creighton's six.

Senior third baseman Cody Buch enters this weekend's series with a nine-game hitting streak. In addition, he's reached base in 14 straight games. Buch is hitting .378 (14-of-37) during the nine-game streak with nine RBI and three home runs.

Asheville is 14-4 when it homers in a game.

The Bulldogs are 6-5 in one-run games this season, 4-3 in two-run affairs. Asheville is 3-2 in extra inning contests.

Tom Smith added another honor to his career last weekend. He was named to the T.C. Roberson Ring of Gold. Smith coached high school baseball at Roberson for 30 years and won three state championships there along with sending players like Darren Holmes, Chris Narverson and Cameron Maybin to the major leagues.

Asheville is 16-0 when leading after eight innings but 0-20 when trailing after eight innings.

The Bulldogs finish the regular season at home with four games. Asheville hosts national power UNC Chapel Hill at McCormick Field on Tuesday night at 6 p.m., followed by a three-game league series with Gardner-Webb (May 17-19).

Asheville has 22 wins on the year, the most for the Bulldog program since the 2008 squad won 24 games.

The Bulldogs now have two players in the big leagues as of yesterday. Former Asheville outfielder Kevin Mattison was called up by the Miami Marlins on Thursday and will wear a big league uniform for the first time tonight when the Marlins host the New York Mets at Marlins Stadium. Veteran utility player Ty Wigginton is in 11^th major league season with the Philadelphia Phillies. The two will square off in Philadelphia on June 1-3.