University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
East Tennessee State
Pagano's 14th Inning Walkoff Homer Lifts Dogs to Win
04.13.2016 | Baseball
THE RUNDOWN
Scores: Asheville 7 – ETSU 5 (14 Innings)
Teams: Asheville (10-24, 2-7 BSC)
ETSU (15-17, 3-6 SoCon)
Location: Greenwood Field / Asheville, N.C.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Freshman Carmine Pagano's first collegiate home run sent the UNC Asheville baseball team home happy Wednesday night, capping a 7-5 victory in the bottom of the 14th inning over visiting ETSU. It was Pagano's second extra-base hit of the season and his second hit of the night in a game that lasted nearly five hours on what turned into a chilly midweek game at Greenwood Field.
THE TURNING POINT
Deadlocked at five-all, ETSU opened the top of the 14th with a double before the Bulldogs eventually loaded the bases with one out to set up the force play. Reliever Spencer Orr – the ninth Asheville pitcher of the night – induced a 4-6-3 double play to get the Bulldogs out of the jam and send an eruption into the night by the Asheville dugout.
In the bottom of the 14th, Danny Wilson led off with a single before being bunted to second base by pitcher-turned pinch-hitter Corey Randall to set up Pagano's walkoff shot over the left field wall.
NOTABLES
-The Bulldogs finished with 15 hits – including two hits apiece from six different players. Lucas Owens and Joe Tietjen both tallied a double in addition to Pagano's homer for Asheville's extra-base hits. Pagano and Teitjen each drove in two runs and Kyle Carruthers also added an RBI.
-Pete Guy was one of the six Bulldogs to tally two hits, while also drawing two walks to up his national lead to 41 total base on balls this season.
-Orr earned his second win of the season, tossing three innings of scoreless relief as the ninth Bulldog pitcher. Wilson tossed five innings and allowed one hit in his start before seven relievers bridged the gap in the bullpen to get to Orr.
-Pagano's 14th inning walkoff home run came just under two hours after the Bulldogs plated one run in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game. Asheville and ETSU combined for five consecutive scoreless innings in between the runs, tallying five combined hits from the ninth through 13th frames.
-Two pitchers had pinch-hit appearances for Asheville in extra innings (freshman Zach Greene and Randall). Greene grounded out to end the 11th, while Randall's sacrifice bunt was the first plate appearance of the senior's collegiate career.
-The Bulldogs jumped out to a three-run lead thanks to Tietjen's RBI double in the first inning and two more runs in the third via Carruthers' RBI single and an ETSU error. The visitors scored a single run in the fifth on an RBI double and two runs in the sixth via an RBI groundout and run scoring double to tie the game after six innings.
-ETSU took the lead in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs before Asheville responded with one run in the bottom of the seventh on Teitjen's RBI single to cut into the deficit. The Bulldogs tied the game in the bottom of the eighth on a two-out error by ETSU on a ground ball of the bat of Owens that allowed Pagano to score.
-Asheville's first chance in extra innings came when Tietjen and Wilson were on second and third with two outs before Greene's groundout ended the threat. The Bulldogs next opportunity came with Owens' leadoff double in the 13th before ETSU retired three batters in a row and set up the 14th frame for both sides.
UP NEXT
-Following tonight's win, the Bulldogs hit the road to the South Carolina coast and a three-game Big South Conference weekend series at Charleston Southern beginning with a 6:00 p.m. Friday night contest. Saturday's game is a 4:00 p.m. start before a 2:00 p.m. Sunday finale.
