Diamond 'Dog Bats Erupt In 12-8 Win Over Davidson
May 01, 2007 | Baseball
DAVIDSON, N.C. – Gardner-Webb rapped out 15 hits, including
eight doubles and two home runs, to spark a 12-8 win over Davidson
Tuesday night.
The Diamond ‘Dogs (20-28) hammered four consecutive doubles in
the top of the first inning, getting those two-baggers from
Jeremiah Lokken, Daniel Cooke, Josh Drewery and Nate MacDonald to
post an early 4-0 advantage over the Wildcats. Cooke's two-run
knock drove in Jay McConnell – who singled with one out –
and Lokken.
Davidson (17-26) responded with a run in the bottom of the first,
but saw Gardner-Webb plate two more runs in the second on an RBI
double by McConnell and a sacrifice fly by Cooke – giving GWU
a comfortable 6-1 lead. The Wildcats cut Gardner-Webb's lead to 6-3
with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, but saw GWU break
the game open with a four-run burst in the fourth – as Cooke
collected an RBI single, stole second base and scored on an RBI
double by MacDonald.
Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to 12-3 with back-to-back solo home
runs from MacDonald and Matt Rizzuto in the sixth. Rizzuto's blast
was his team-best eighth of the season.
Davidson pushed four runs across in the bottom of the sixth to trim
GWU's lead to 12-7 and chasing Bulldog starter Matt Tafazzoli from
the game. Reliever Webster Beal came on to get his ‘Dogs back
into the dugout and held Davidson to just one more run, which came
in the bottom of the eighth.
Devin Campbell, Gardner-Webb's leading passer at quarterback last
season, came on to strike out two Davidson batters in the ninth to
avoid any drama, and preserve the win.
Tafazzoli (3-1) worked 5.2 innings for the victory, scattering 10
hits and allowing seven runs. Beal allowed one run on three hits in
2.1 innings of relief work, and Campbell worked a perfect ninth out
of the pen.
MacDonald (3-for-5, two 2B, HR, three RBI), McConnell (3-for-6, two
2B, three runs, RBI) and Jon Ahearn (3-for-4, 2B, two RBI) paced
Gardner-Webb's offensive attack. Cooke (2-for-4, 2B, four RBI) and
Lokken (2-for-5, 2B, run) also had multiple hits for the
Bulldogs.
Thomas Middour (4-6) started and was tagged with the loss for
Davidson, allowing six runs and six hits in just 2.0 innings of
work. Matt Webb (3-for-5, three RBI) and Zach Kayne (3-for-4, run)
collected nearly half of Davidson's 13 hits in the game.
Gardner-Webb improved to 3-3 on the season against teams from the
Southern Conference, and won for the sixth time in its last seven
games – including a 3-1 mark in its last four road games.
The Diamond ‘Dogs will return home to face North Carolina
A&T on Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm ET in Boiling Springs.
