Stackhouse Goes The Distance To Give 'Dogs Shot At Big South Title
May 28, 2011 | Baseball
LEXINGTON, Va. - Brett Stackhouse threw 125 pitches and did not
allow an earned run in a complete-game effort on the mound Friday
night, lifting No. 5 Gardner-Webb to a 5-1 win over No. 2 Liberty
and a spot in Saturday's Royal Purple Big South Conference
Tournament Championship Game.
Friday night's game was delayed nearly two hours due to rain in the area, with first pitch coming at 8:46 pm.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (34-22-1) will face No. 1 Coastal Carolina at 1:00 pm at Gray-Minor Field (ESPN3.com). The Flames (35-24) are eliminated. Gardner-Webb would have to beat the Chanticleers (40-19) twice Saturday to win the title. It will be the squad's first appearance in a league tournament title game for the first time since the 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
"We survived long enough to witness a sunrise on Big South Championship Saturday," said GWU head coach Rusty Stroupe. "We've always had to read about it before, now we'll get to live it."
Gardner-Webb jumped on top for good in the top of the second, with Adam McFarland lacing a one-out single to right and scoring with two outs on a high infield chopper that Zeke Blanton legged out for an RBI hit and a 1-0 lead.
Back-to-back singles from Jake Watts, Dusty Quattlebaum and Aaron Miller produced a run in the third, with Miller rolling his through the right side for a 2-0 score. McFarland followed with a double to score Quattlebaum for a 3-0 lead - leaving himself and Miller in scoring position with one out. A fielder's choice and error on the throw home from shortstop allowed Miller to race home and Brad Collins to reach for the squad's fourth run, and John Harris lined a sacrifice fly to left to make the score 5-0.
Liberty threatened in the bottom of the fourth after Matt Williams started the inning by ripping a line drive double off the top of the wall in left center and moving to third on a groundout, but Brett Stackhouse fanned the next two batters to keep the Bulldogs' 5-0 lead intact.
The Flames would finally mount their rally in the ninth, as Williams again led off with a double, this time a line drive into the left field corner. A two-out fielding error allowed Williams to score from second to break up the shutout, but Stackhouse got a pop fly in foul territory that Collins corralled in front of the Flames' dugout to end the game.
Stackhouse's effort preserved a Gardner-Webb bullpen that will be leaned on heavily Saturday and was his first complete-game since a 10-3 win over High Point on May 9, 2009 in Boiling Springs. The Bridgeville, Pa., senior set a new career-high with nine strikeouts and walked just one while allowing five hits with one walk. Stackhouse evened his record at 2-2 on the season, and extended his single-season record for most appearances to 31.
Watts (2-for-3, run) and McFarland (2-for-4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI) each had a pair of Gardner-Webb's eight hits in the game, with Watts also stealing a base and making a diving catch to rob the Flames of a double in left.
Williams (2-for-3, 2 2B, run) led the Flames offensively. John Niggli (4-4) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings pitched (six strikeouts).
Gardner-Webb is the fourth No. 5 seed in Big South history to advance to the league's title game, with Campbell winning the title in 1990 as the fifth seed. GWU was also a No. 5 seed in 2008 when it advanced to the A-Sun title game.
Saturday's championship game will be televised live and carried on ESPN3.com, the worldwide leader's broadband video service. Mike Morgan and Nate Ross will call the action from Gray-Minor Stadium. Should Gardner-Webb win the 1:00 pm game, the second and decisive game will also be televised on ESPN3.
NOTES: Gardner-Webb's Jake Watts leads the Big South Tournament with 13 base hits through five games at the event ... The Runnin' Bulldogs hurled 23.0 consecutive shutout innings until the unearned run scored by Liberty in the ninth inning, dating back to a two-out, two-run home run by Radford's Matt Mack in the fifth inning of Thursday morning's game with the Highlanders.
Friday night's game was delayed nearly two hours due to rain in the area, with first pitch coming at 8:46 pm.
The Runnin' Bulldogs (34-22-1) will face No. 1 Coastal Carolina at 1:00 pm at Gray-Minor Field (ESPN3.com). The Flames (35-24) are eliminated. Gardner-Webb would have to beat the Chanticleers (40-19) twice Saturday to win the title. It will be the squad's first appearance in a league tournament title game for the first time since the 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
"We survived long enough to witness a sunrise on Big South Championship Saturday," said GWU head coach Rusty Stroupe. "We've always had to read about it before, now we'll get to live it."
Gardner-Webb jumped on top for good in the top of the second, with Adam McFarland lacing a one-out single to right and scoring with two outs on a high infield chopper that Zeke Blanton legged out for an RBI hit and a 1-0 lead.
Back-to-back singles from Jake Watts, Dusty Quattlebaum and Aaron Miller produced a run in the third, with Miller rolling his through the right side for a 2-0 score. McFarland followed with a double to score Quattlebaum for a 3-0 lead - leaving himself and Miller in scoring position with one out. A fielder's choice and error on the throw home from shortstop allowed Miller to race home and Brad Collins to reach for the squad's fourth run, and John Harris lined a sacrifice fly to left to make the score 5-0.
Liberty threatened in the bottom of the fourth after Matt Williams started the inning by ripping a line drive double off the top of the wall in left center and moving to third on a groundout, but Brett Stackhouse fanned the next two batters to keep the Bulldogs' 5-0 lead intact.
The Flames would finally mount their rally in the ninth, as Williams again led off with a double, this time a line drive into the left field corner. A two-out fielding error allowed Williams to score from second to break up the shutout, but Stackhouse got a pop fly in foul territory that Collins corralled in front of the Flames' dugout to end the game.
Stackhouse's effort preserved a Gardner-Webb bullpen that will be leaned on heavily Saturday and was his first complete-game since a 10-3 win over High Point on May 9, 2009 in Boiling Springs. The Bridgeville, Pa., senior set a new career-high with nine strikeouts and walked just one while allowing five hits with one walk. Stackhouse evened his record at 2-2 on the season, and extended his single-season record for most appearances to 31.
Watts (2-for-3, run) and McFarland (2-for-4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI) each had a pair of Gardner-Webb's eight hits in the game, with Watts also stealing a base and making a diving catch to rob the Flames of a double in left.
Williams (2-for-3, 2 2B, run) led the Flames offensively. John Niggli (4-4) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings pitched (six strikeouts).
Gardner-Webb is the fourth No. 5 seed in Big South history to advance to the league's title game, with Campbell winning the title in 1990 as the fifth seed. GWU was also a No. 5 seed in 2008 when it advanced to the A-Sun title game.
Saturday's championship game will be televised live and carried on ESPN3.com, the worldwide leader's broadband video service. Mike Morgan and Nate Ross will call the action from Gray-Minor Stadium. Should Gardner-Webb win the 1:00 pm game, the second and decisive game will also be televised on ESPN3.
NOTES: Gardner-Webb's Jake Watts leads the Big South Tournament with 13 base hits through five games at the event ... The Runnin' Bulldogs hurled 23.0 consecutive shutout innings until the unearned run scored by Liberty in the ninth inning, dating back to a two-out, two-run home run by Radford's Matt Mack in the fifth inning of Thursday morning's game with the Highlanders.
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