Diamond 'Dogs Take Game Two, 9-8, At Charleston Southern
April 24, 2010 | Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Ty Boyles drove in Aaron Miller with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth Saturday, and Adam Izokovic notched his fifth save of the season to lift Gardner-Webb to a 9-8 comeback win in game one of a Saturday doubleheader at Charleston Southern.
Miller laced a one-out double to left center to begin the rally in the ninth and, with two outs, Boyles delivered the game winner. Izokovic pitched around a pair of singles to get the save, getting a 1-6-3 double play to end the game.
Gardner-Webb (18-20, 6-8 Big South) and Charleston Southern (17-25, 6-10 Big South) will play the rubber match later Saturday afternoon.
Charleston Southern raced to a 4-0 lead with four runs in the third inning, getting a solo home run from Jesse Cadenhead and back-to-back hits from Brantley Meier and Jon Matthews to go up 2-0. Matthews later scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 3-0, and Brandon McKinney drove in the fourth run with an RBI single before GWU starter Conner Scarborough could get out of the inning.
GWU plated a single run on an RBI single from Jake Watts in the fourth, but the Bucs rebounded to score two more in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and wild pitch.
Freshman Benji Jackson belted a two-run home run in the fifth to pull Gardner-Webb back within 6-3 and the 'Dogs tied the score, 6-6, with a three-run burst in the seventh, as Zeke Blanton scored on a wild pitch, Daniel Merck doubled to drive in a run and Miller tied the score with a sacrifice fly.
The back-and-forth contest saw CSU pull back in front in the bottom half of the seventh, but Gardner-Webb tied the score again with two runs in the eighth, getting RBI hits from Adam McFarland (single) and Josh Drewery (double).
Jeff Howell (2-2) picked up the win in relief, working two innings without allowing an earned run on two hits.
Gardner-Webb had 10 hits, with Merck (2-for-4, 2B, 3B, 2 SB), Boyles (2-for-5, RBI) and McFarland (2-for-5, 2B) leading the way.
Charleston Southern also had 10 hits, with Cadenhead going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI to pace that effort. Stew Brase (2-4) took the loss, allowing one run on two hits in the ninth. Bucs' ace Tyler Thornburg was touched for six runs on five hits in 7.0 innings of work, despite fanning eight batters.
