Diamond 'Dogs Rally In Ninth For 5-4 Win Over Mercer In Rubber Match
April 26, 2008 | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – Gardner-Webb bounced back in a big way
Saturday afternoon, rallying in the top of the ninth to beat
Mercer, 5-4, in the rubber match of a key A-Sun series.
GWU has won four of its last five series in A-Sun play, and now
sits just one game behind Mercer in the league standings –
with two weekends remaining.
With the score tied, 4-4, after the eighth, GWU needed to rally for
the second time in the game. Pinch hitter Josh Drewery got the roll
started, lacing a single to the opposite field. Pinch runner Jon
Ahearn moved to second on Brock Miller's sacrifice bunt and Ty
Boyles delivered a sharp single to plate Ahearn and give GWU a 5-4
lead.
Justin Loyd followed with another hit, but Mercer survived a
potential big inning when Daniel Cooke's sure gapper was robbed by
John Dortch's diving catch in right center – preventing at
least two runs from scoring.
GWU got a strong pitching effort from junior southpaw Ben Campbell
in the nightcap, and led 3-1 after Bubbie Spake hammered a two-run
bomb in the top of the sixth to snap a 1-1 tie.
Campbell got into trouble in the bottom half of the same inning,
walking a batter, then giving up a two-out single to Jason Butts
that wound up putting both men in scoring position. GWU went to
reliever Adam Bullard – who went 3-2 on leadoff man Matt
Crawford – but the payoff pitch caught too much of the plate,
and Crawford promptly belted a triple off the wall in right center
to tie the game.
Bullard worked out of the jam, but got himself in trouble in the
seventh, as Mike Armstrong led off with a sharp double to left,
chasing Bullard from the game. Reliever Wes Cogdill came on, but
Mercer executed a pair of sacrifice plays – a bunt, then a fly
ball – to drive in Armstrong to retake the lead at 4-3.
Cogdill got out of the inning with a strikeout, but GWU would have
to make its push on offense.
The ‘Dogs got a two-out single from Daniel Cooke in the eighth
and Mercer intentionally walked spake after Cooke swiped second
base. Jeremiah Lokken responded with an RBI single to left center,
and Cooke darted home to tie the score, 4-4.
Cogdill mowed through Mercer in order in the bottom of the eighth
to set up Gardner-Webb's rally – and pitched around a leadoff
single in the ninth with the help of some strong defense to pick up
his third win of the season.
The senior southpaw (3-1) worked 3.0 scoreless innings out of the
pen and fanned one of the 11 batters he faced – scattering
just two singles. Mercer closer Josh Lowey (1-3) took the loss,
allowing three hits and the game winner in 1.1 innings of work.
Campbell made his first conference start in more than a month
– and the move paid off for GWU, as he worked 5.2 innings,
scattered eight hits and allowed just three runs.
Brock Miller (2-for-3, SB), Loyd (2-for-5, run) and Spake (2-for-3,
HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs) paced Gardner-Webb's 11-hit attack on offense.
GWU managed four stolen bases in the game, with Miller (19), Jamall
Kinard (19) and Cooke (21) adding to their team-high totals.
Mercer had 12 hits, with five different players collecting at least
two each.
GAME ONE: Mercer 9, GWU 2
In the first game of Saturday's double dip, Gardner-Webb saw
Mercer plate six runs in the bottom of the first and couldn't
muster enough offense to catch up in a 9-2 loss.
GWU used a Mercer fielding miscue to get a run across in the top of
the first, as Brock Miller walked, moved up to second on a one-out
single – and then scored after stealing third and waltzing
home when the throw sailed into left.
Mercer wasted little time getting that run back, and more.
Gardner-Webb starter Webster Beal struggled with control early, and
the Bears pounced on the southpaw's mistakes – plating six
runs on five hits in the bottom of the first to build a very
comfortable margin.
GWU scored its second run in the top of the second without needing
a hit, with Tyler Johnson's sacrifice fly getting Daniel Cooke home
after he reached on an error and moved to third on a failed pickoff
attempt.
Beal settled down, keeping the Bears off the board in the second
and third innings, but it was too late. Steve Karwatt pushed the
lead to 7-2 with a solo home run in the fourth – belting an
0-2 fastball deep to left, and Mercer added further to its lead in
the sixth, getting an RBI double from Matt Crawford to make the
score 8-2. The Bears capped their scoring with a two-out RBI single
from Billy Shaughnessy in the eighth.
The early offense took the pressure off Mercer starter Dan April,
who was masterful. The junior lefty finessed his way through the
Bulldog batting order with relative ease, hanging zeroes from the
third through the sixth as his Bears pulled further ahead.
Beal (3-5) took the loss, allowing 10 hits and eight earned in 6.0
innings of work. April (3-3) won the game for Mercer, pitching a
complete-game five-hitter – and not allowing an earned run to
cross the plate.
Brock Miller had three of the Diamond ‘Dogs' five hits, going
3-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and his 18th stolen base of the
season. Rizzuto (1-for-4) and Kurt Fulginitti (1-for-4) had
Gardner-Webb's only other hits – both singles.
Michael Langley collected a single and a three-run double to pace
Mercer's offensive effort.
Gardner-Webb will travel to Cullowhee, N.C., to face Western
Carolina on Wednesday night at 7 pm ET in its lone non-league game
of the week. The ‘Dogs will travel to Kennesaw State next
weekend for another key series. The Owls swept Campbell on the road
Friday and Saturday.
