University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Ohio
Early Offense, Freshman Carr Lead Asheville to Sunday Win
02.21.2016 | Baseball
THE RUNDOWN
Score: Asheville 7 – Ohio 5
Teams: Asheville (1-2, 0-0 BSC)
Ohio (2-1, 0-0 MAC)
Location: Greenwood Field / Asheville, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville posted a four-run second inning on Sunday afternoon to earn its first victory of the young season with a 7-5 win over Ohio in the teams series finale. The Bulldogs never trailed in the game after the big second inning, and freshman pitcher Jordan Carr tossed six innings in his collegiate debut to earn the win.
THE TURNING POINT
Carr worked around five hits and three walks in his six-inning win, striking out four batters and exiting with a three-run lead. The freshman left Ohio runners stranded in both the first and second innings as he settled into the game and finished his afternoon by stranding two runners and allowing only one run to score in the sixth frame after Ohio had runners at second and third base with no outs.
NOTABLES
-Lucas Owens was the only Asheville batter to record a two-hit afternoon, while six other Bulldogs finished with a hit each.
-Andrew Friedholm collected his first collegiate hit in a big way – a two-run homer in the Asheville fourth inning to extend the lead.
-After Carr's six innings, four Bulldog relievers went on to record four strikeouts over the final three innings, allowing five hits as Eric Whitecavage, Adam Spracklin and Zach Greene combined for 2 2/3 innings before Lucas Clarke came on and got the potential go-ahead run to fly out and end the afternoon.
-Joe Tietjen (double) and Joe Zayatz (walked) both reached to start the Asheville second inning. Tietjen scored on Scott Kobos' RBI groundout before Justin Woods reached and both he and Zayatz scored on the same Ohio wild pitch. Later in the second inning, Owens' RBI single down the left field line brought home the fourth Bulldog run of the frame.
-Ohio plated two runs in the third via a pair of RBI singles before Asheville answered with two runs of its own in the fourth inning when Kobos led off the frame with a walk and Friedholm stepped in and delivered his two-run homer down the left field line.
-After Carr got out of the top of the sixth allowing just one run, the Bulldogs used Pete Guy's RBI single back up the middle to get one final insurance run. Asheville would need the breathing room as Ohio plated two runs in the eighth on an RBI single and a wild pitch before Greene shut the door on the inning.
QUOTABLES FROM HEAD COACH SCOTT FRIEDHOLM
On the game – “The turning point was in the first inning when Jordan Carr settled in and gave this team six innings and three runs. We made a couple mistakes behind him and he picked up his teammates. I think after he got through that first and second inning, I think there was a big sigh of relief among the team of 'This freshman can do it. He's there.' Obviously, Andrew Friedholm's first collegiate hit was a big one and helped us extend the lead.”
On the freshmen – “Our freshmen are no longer freshmen – they are now just baseball players in this program. Whitecavage, Hyers, Wilson, Greene, Fahr, Friedholm, Pagano, Madole, Barratta, Kobos – they all played this weekend. We still have a long way to go, but they learned from their mistakes on Friday and Saturday and that's what we've been trying to do.”
UP NEXT
-Following today's win, the Bulldogs prepare for a matchup with regional rival Western Carolina on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at Greenwood Field.
