University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Charleston Southern
Bulldogs fall to CSU, 7-2
03.15.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Charleston Southern used strong pitching and timely hitting to down UNC Asheville 7-2 in Big South Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (8-10, 0-2 BSC) out-hit the Buccaneers (10-6, 2-0 BSC) 11-7 but hit into two double-plays and had a runner thrown out at the plate. Hunter Bryant led the Blue & White with three hits, while Joe Tietjen and Justin Woods added two hits each.
CSU starter Evan Raynor (1-1) pitched six scoreless innings. He scattered six hits but struck out eight and walked two. Reliever Jon Piriz earned his first save of the year by pitching the final three innings. He gave up five hits and two runs bit struck out four.
Cole Murphy and Sam Remick led the Bucs at the plate with two hits each. Nate Blanchard had one hit but drove in three runs.
The Bucs picked up four runs in the first inning on just one hit. Asheville starter Lucas Clarke (2-2) walked three and hit two batters in the opening frame. Murphy had the one hit in the inning, a run-scoring single that scored the first run of the game. Chris Singleton and Blanchard drove in runs on bases-loaded walks. Robbie Streett added a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 CSU lead before the Bulldogs had batted.
Asheville had runners on first and third with nobody out in the second inning but Raynor got a pop-up and two strikeouts to wiggle out of the jam.
CSU added two more runs in the third as Blanchard delivered a two-run double to push the lead to 6-0.
Streett scored the Bucs final run on a wild pitch in the seventh.
Asheville tried to rally and came close to scoring in the sixth when Lucas Owens led off with a walk. Kyle Towles doubled to left but a perfect relay by CSU was able to get Owens out at home.
The Bulldogs finally got on the board in the seventh. Justin Woods had a one-out double. One out later, Derek Smith followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-1.
In the ninth, Asheville added a run when Joe Tietjen scored on a wild pitch.
UNC Asheville and Charleston Southern will finish up their three-game series on Monday afternoon starting at 3 p.m.
