River Ave. Blues recently sat down with us and wanted to discuss the upcoming MLB draft. I spoke about many different players and their draft stock based on my observations and my conversations with MLB scouts. The full interview is available here.
I know that Red Sox and Yankees fans are not suppose to get along but River Ave. Blues has a ton of great information on the Yankees and is well run.
UNC 10 ECU 0
The North Carolina Tar Heels rolled over East Carolina 10-0 behind a strong pitching performance from Adam Warren who went seven shutout innings to up his record to 8-0. Tim Fedroff picked up four RBI to lead the UNC offense. UNC will be back in action on Wednesday when they host High Point before going to NC State for a key ACC showdown. East Carolina will be back in action this weekend when they host Southern Mississippi.
UNC Recap
East Carolina Recap
Elon 13 Clemson 12
The Phoenix were able to edge the Clemson Tigers 13-12 in a classic slugfest in Clemson SC. Pat Irvine went 2-2 with 3 RBI including a homer and teammate Mike Melillo picked up a homer to lead the Phoenix offense to the victory. Doug Hogan went 2-3 with 5 RBI including a homer to lead the Clemson offense in the loss. Elon will host UNC-Greensboro for a weekend series while Clemson plays South Carolina on Wednesday.
Elon Recap
Clemson Recap
Wake Forest 3 Charlotte 2 (11 innings)
Brett Linnenkohl hit a homer in the top of the 11th inning to give the Wake Forest Demon Deacons a 3-2 lead and Josh Ellis pitched a scoreless bottom of the 11th to break a three game losing streak for the Deacons. Aaron Bray led the 49ers with three hits while Evan Ocheltree went 2-4. Wake Forest will head to Appalchin State on Wednesday while Charlotte will head to George Washington for a conference series on Friday.
Wake Forest Recap
Charlotte Recap
Duke 12 Campbell 0
Nate Freiman hit two homers and Jimmy Gallagher went 5-6 only a triple shy of the cycle to lead the Blue Devils to the 12-0 victory over Campbell. Jonathan Anderson got the victory on the mound by pitching five scoreless innings. Duke will be off until Friday when they head to Wake Forest while Campbell hosts Gardner-Webb in a conference series.
Duke Recap
Campbell Recap
Duke Chronicle
Georgia 10 Georgia Tech 7
The Bulldogs picked up a 10-7 victory over Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs were led by Matt Olson who went 4-5 with six RBI. The Bulldogs jumped on GA Tech starter John Goodman who only lasted 1.1 innings while giving up four runs on two hits and three walks to drop his record to 1-2 on the season. Jason Leaver picked up the victory by pitching going his scheduled three innings while giving up three runs. His record goes to 1-1 on the season. Josh Fields who has struggled throughout the season pitched a scoreless ninth to get his fourth save of the season. Georgia Tech will host Clemson for a weekend series while Georgia plays at Western Carolina on Wednesday.
UGA Recap
GT Recap
West Virginia 13 Maryland 2
The West Virginia Mountaineers blew out the Maryland Terrapins 13-2 in a battle between the Big East and ACC. West Virginia used a 16 hit attack led by Tyler Kuhn who went 3-6 with four RBI in the win. Maryland starter Mike Sufczynski picked up the loss to drop his record to 0-2 while Josh Whitlock got the win by pitching eight innings while allowing only two runs to up his record to 6-3. West Virginia is back in action on Friday when they host St. John's while Maryland will head to Virginia on Friday.
WVU Recap
Maryland Recap
The Diamondback Recap
James Madison 8 Virginia Tech 6
The James Madison Dukes scored four runs on wild pitches as they took a non-conference game from Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Matt Browning went 3-4 with two runs scored to lead the Dukes offense. The Hokie offense was led by Nate Parks who also went 3-4 with one run scored. The Hokies will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Radford while JMU visits UVA on Wednesday.
VA Tech Recap
VT Student Paper Recap
Coastal Carolina headed to Riley Park on Tuesday to take on The Citadel Bulldogs and came away with a 5-1 victory. Matt Rademacher led the offense with 3 RBI and freshman starting pitching Nick McCully pitched 5.0 innings while only allowing one run on four hits and a walk. His record goes to 3-2 on the season. The Citadel starter Matt Reifsnider gave up three runs (two earned) over his five innings to drop his record to 2-2. The offensive star for the Bulldogs were Chris Swauger and Matt Arnold who each had two hits in the game. Both teams will head back to conference action with The Citadel hosting the College of Charleston while Coastal Carolina will host Liberty. Both series start Friday.
Coastal Carolina Recap
The Citadel Recap
FROM NCBWA RELEASE
DALLAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released the Pro-Line Athletic National Player of the Week awards for the period ending April 24, today. Oakland senior first baseman Ryan Heath was named National Hitter of the Week, while St. John's sophomore left-handed pitcher Scott Barnes was named National Pitcher of the Week. The NCBWA Board reviews candidates from each Division I conferences each week and names winners each Tuesday throughout the season.
Heath was 9-25 (.360) with 10 runs scored, two doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI for the week. In Saturday's doubleheader against Western Illinois, he hit a combined 5-7 at the plate with four home runs-including three grand slams-a double, 14 RBI and five runs scored. The Ostrander, Ohio, native was 3-3 with two grand slams, a double, a career high nine RBI and three runs scored in game one. He followed that by going 2-4 with a grand slam, a solo home run, a walk, five RBI and two runs scored in the nightcap. Prior to that day, Heath had not hit a home run this season and had never hit a grand slam. His 14 RBI more than doubled the 12 runs he'd driven home in the 30 games leading up to his career day and his nine RBI in the first game surpassed his previous best of four which he had done twice last year.
Barnes threw the first no-hitter in St. John's Head Coach Ed Blankmeyer's 12-year tenure at the school as he blanked Georgetown, 16-0, and finished with 14 strikeouts, tying his career high. He was three walks from a perfect game and threw 130 pitches in the complete-game shutout. Barnes became the first St. John's pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Gerry McKiernan did it in 1976. The Chicopee, Mass., native punched out the final batter he faced with his 130th pitch of the night on Friday, completing his no-hit bid and earning the Red Storm's second-straight shutout. He worked five 1-2-3 innings, struck out the side three times and helped his own cause by saving a hit in the Georgetown sixth.
With this week's honor, Barnes automatically are named to the watch list for Roger Clemens Award, given to the national collegiate pitcher of the year, sponsored by the Greater Houston Baseball Organization.
Fort Worth-based Pro-Line Athletic supplies the official cap to more than 100 Division I college teams and official uniforms and team wear to six Division 1 college teams. This is the third season Pro-Line has sponsored the NCBWA's Players of the Week. The sponsorship provides for plaques to be awarded to each of the weekly winners and other promotional consideration. For more information about Pro-Line, visit their Website at: www.prolineathletic.com.
After posting its first-ever three-game sweep at Tulane, the Houston Cougars are back in the national rankings. Houston appeared at No. 28 in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll, becoming the fifth different Conference USA school to be ranked this season. The Cougars sit alone in second place in the conference standings, trailing cross-town rival Rice. The Owls, who were 4-0 last week, including a win over No. 6 Texas, have moved up to No. 3 in the national polls. The entire notebook can be viewed here.
Mike Martin is looking at the starting rotation and might be mixing things up this weekend when the Seminoles visit Miami. Florida State has one of the top pitchers in the country in Bryan Henry but Michael Hyde has started to struggle with two consecutive losses and a no-decision in his last start against North Carolina in which he only lasted 3.1 innings. Ryan Strauss also struggled mightly against North Carolina on Sunday by giving up five runs in 3.2 innings. The Tallahassee Democrat discusses the topic here.
Aaron Fitt of Baseball America has recently posted an article about the Big East conference, Houston Cougars, and the Minnesota Gophers. The full article is available here.
Aaron also did a chat about the new Top 25 that Baseball America released Monday. He discusses many different teams and issues in college baseball. The full chat can be read here.
The Boston College Eagles (16-21-1) will head to Fenway Park this Wednesday to take on the Northeastern Huskies in the Beanpot Final. BC is coming off a weekend sweep over Wake Forest in which they had walk-off wins on Friday and Saturday, On Sunday, the Eagles offense came together and put an 18 hit attack to blow out the Demon Deacons 11-5. The Eagles will probably send Ted Ratliff to the mound who has been a very solid mid-week starter. He enters with a 4-1 record and a 4.69 ERA.
Northeastern enters Wednesday game with a solid 19-10 record and took two out of three games with Georgia State this past weekend. The Huskies have been getting solid pitching throughout the season with a Team ERA of 4.80. The Huskies are led on offense by Mike Tamsin (.364 BA) and Dan Milano (.351 BA, 8 HR). The Huskies are expected to start Dan Zehr who is 3-2 with a 4.50 ERA.
I would like to see a great crowd at Fenway on Wednesday supporting college baseball in New England. The weather is suppose to be fine and enjoy a day of baseball at Fenway Park. It is not too often that you can get box seats at Fenway for five bucks.
Harvard will not be participating in the consolation game because of a scheduling conflict with Yale. According to the UMass Athletics site, They will take on Holy Cross at 12pm.
NU Stats
BC Stats
BC Student Paper Preview
The Southern Conference has announced Alex Garabedian of College of Charleston was named the player of the week for the week ending on April 23rd. He hit .522 (12 for 23) with two homers while scoring five runs and driving six runs in.
College of Charleston Release
Southern Conference Release
The Southern Conference also has announced that Western Carolina's Greg Holland. He picked up three wins in four appearances last week.
Western Carolina Release
Southern Conference Release
The Citadel Bulldogs will welcome Coastal Carolina who is ranked 20th in the nation by the NCBWA. The Bulldogs are coming off a series with Davidson over the weekend in which they took two out of three games from Davidson. Matt Reifsnider will get the mid-week start with a 2-1 record and an ERA of 4.39. Coastal Carolina swept VMI in a weekend series and enter with an overall record of 33-8 and also an impressive 11-1 in the Big South. The Chanticleers will send Nick McCully to the hill sporting a 2-2 record and a 3.60 ERA.
The Citadel Game Notes
Coastal Carolina Game Notes
Danny Payne of Georgia Tech was named the ACC Player of the Week after hitting .545 over four games last week. The Yellow Jackets won all four games of the week with a victory over Georgia on Wednesday and sweeping NC State in a three game ACC series this past weekend.
David Duncan also of Georgia Tech and Bryan Henry of FSU were named Co-Pitchers of the Week for the ACC. Duncan pitched 8.2 innings on Friday against NC State in which he only allowed one run on two hits while striking out eleven batters. The Jackets ended up scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to walk-off with a 2-1 victory. Bryan Henry also started on Friday and held the North Carolina Tar Heels to one run on four hits in eight innings. He upped his record to 10-0 on the season.
ACC Release
GT Release
FSU Release
FROM NCBWA RELEASE
DALLAS - The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association continues its tradition of NCAA Division I polls for the 10th year with its 2007 weekly surveys. Weekly polls will be circulated from Feb. 12-June 26 following the NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The poll voters come from 32 college baseball writers and related media persons from throughout the nation. This week's poll has representation by 13 different conferences (ties for highest representation in a 2007 weekly polls by various leagues) among the 293 baseball-playing schools in the '07 NCAA Division I ranks, and 17 circuits have had teams in the polls in '07. For more information or to join the NCBWA, please go to www.ncbwa.com.
Rank-School-Conference-Overall Record-Previous Rank
1 Vanderbilt Southeastern 35-8 1
2 Florida State Atlantic Coast 37-6 3
3 Rice Conference USA 33-11 6
4 South Carolina SEC 31-10 4
5 Texas Big 12 33-12 5
6 North Carolina ACC 33-9 2
7 Virginia ACC 34-9 8
8 Arkansas SEC 32-11 7
9 Oregon State Pacific-10 31-8 9
10 Arizona State Pac-10 32-10 11
11 Wichita State Missouri Valley 34-9 14
12 Oklahoma State Big 12 31-10 15
13 Arizona Pac-10 31-9 10
14 Cal State Fullerton Big West 26-12 17
15 Pepperdine West Coast 30-13 12
16 Texas A&M Big 12 32-10 16
17 Clemson ACC 26-13 13
18 Mississippi SEC 27-15 19
19 Mississippi State SEC 25-10 18
20 Coastal Carolina Big South 33-8 21
21 San Diego West Coast 32-14 22
22 Charlotte Atlantic 10 32-7 23
23 UC Irvine Big West 28-11-1 t27
24 NC State ACC 27-14 20
t25 College of Charleston Southern 31-10 NR
t25 East Carolina C-USA 28-12 NR
27 Oklahoma Big 12 27-15 26
28 Long Beach State Big West 23-14 29
29 Michigan Big Ten 26-8 NR
30 Stetson Atlantic Sun 32-11 30
Others receiving votes (listed alphabetically): Creighton (27-11), Georgia Tech(26-14), Kentucky (27-12-1), Louisiana State (23-18-1), Louisiana-Lafayette (29-12), Louisville (28-11), Miami (Fla.) (25-17), Minnesota (26-7), Missouri (28-12), Nebraska (23-17), New Orleans (27-13), Ohio State (23-10), St. John's (25-12), TCU (30-10), Tulane (28-14), UC Riverside (23-16), Western Carolina(27-12).
Dropped Out: Tulane (24), Louisiana-Lafayette (25), Kentucky (t27)
By conference: Atlantic Coast 5, Southeastern 5, Big 12 4, Big West 3, Pacific-10 3, Conference USA 2, West Coast 2, Atlantic 10 1, Atlantic Sun 1, Big South 1, Big Ten 1, Missouri Valley 1, Southern 1.
The city of Houston broke out the brooms this weekend, as Rice and Houston both swept Conference USA series. The two schools are now 1-2 in the C-USA standings. Marshall also broke into the league win column in convincing fashion over the weekend.
The Furman Paladins edged the College of Charleston 12-10 in 12 innings to salvage the final game of the series. Connor Lind scored the winning run for the Paladins on a throwing error by Chris Campbell who threw the final out of the top of the 12th into the Charleston bullpen to allowing Lind to score from second base. Furman reliever Nick Hollstegge (1-5) picks up his first win of the season. College of Charleston reliever Curtis Dowling (2-1) picks up his first loss on the season. College of Charleston will be back in action on Friday when they visit The Citadel while Furman heads to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday.
Furman Recap
College of Charleston Recap
The Citadel got three hits from Matt Arnold, Bryan Altman, and Zach Brown while Jamie Maxwell pitched two scoreless innings to get the victory for the Bulldogs 9-6 over Davidson on Sunday. Maxwell evens his record at 1-1 for the season. Davidson starter Travis Middour picks up the loss to drop his record to 4-5 by going 6.1 innings and giving up five runs (four earned). The Citadel will be back in action on Tuesday when Coastal Carolina visits Riley Park.
The Citadel Recap
Davidson Recap
The Penn Quakers could have clinched the Gehrig Division title with a doubleheader sweep of Princeton but instead the Tigers took both games by scores of 7-3 (10 innings) and 10-6. Doug Brown started Game 1 for the Quakers and pitched into the 10th inning in his final home start while giving up four runs on twelve hits. He picks up the loss to drop his record to 2-5. Princeton starter David Hale allowed three runs in five innings and was relieved by Brad Gemberling who also went five innings to up his record to 2-0. After the marathon game, The Penn Quakers scored three runs in the bottom of the first but Princeton starter Eric Walz settled down to pitch the complete game and gave up six runs to get his third win on the season. William Gordon came in to close the game in the eighth inning but the Tigers were able to scratch across six runs to take the lead and cruise to the 10-6 victory.
Penn Recap
Princeton Recap
Joseph Krebs put together his longest start of the season to lead No. 5 Texas to a 6-2 win over Nebraska in Big 12 Conference baseball action at Haymarket Park on Sunday evening. With the win, Texas has won all six conference series on the year.
Krebs (5-0) picked up the victory with his longest career outing. He allowed just two unearned runs in the first inning. For the game, Krebs scattered four hits and four walks while striking out three over 6.1 innings. Boone finished the game with 2.2 innings of one-hit relief. He struck out three of the eight batters he faced.
For the second consecutive game, Texas (33-12, 14-4) pounced early with two runs in the top of the first inning. With one out, Chance Wheeless tripled to the wall in right centerfield and Kyle Russell followed with his 23rd home run of the season, a shot over the wall in left centerfield. With the dinger, Russell moved into 10th place on the Big 12 Conference single season home run list.
Nebraska (23-17, 8-10) responded with a pair of error-aided runs in the bottom of the first to tie the score at 2-2. With one out, Jeff Tezak reached on a fielding error by UT shortstop Michael Demperio. A fielder’s choice by put Andrew Brown in Tezak’s place at first. Jake Opitz drew a walk and another error by Demperio on a grounder by Craig Corriston loaded the bases, setting up a two-run single up the middle by Andy Gerch.
Texas regained the lead in the top of the fourth. Nick Peoples hit a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Preston Clark. Travis Tucker hit an infield single to put runners at first and second. Jordan Danks followed with a single to leftfield, plating Peoples. Wheeless kept the rally alive with a single to leftfield driving in Tucker. Russell hit a double to rightfield pushing Danks across. The Longhorns’ fourth run of the inning scored on a fielding error by Nebraska’s first baseman.
Matt Foust (1-2) was saddled with the loss for Nebraska. Foust allowed six runs, five earned on six hits over 1.2 innings.
Russell led UT’s attack, going 3-for-5 with one double, one home run and three RBI. Wheeless went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, one triple and one RBI.
Texas returns to action on Tuesday with a 6:05 p.m. contest against UT Pan American at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
UNC 10 FSU 6
The North Carolina Tar Heels were able to salvage the final game of their series with Florida State on Sunday 10-6. Josh Horton, Tim Federowicz, and Kyle Seager all drove in three runs to account for nine out of the ten runs scored. North Carolina starting pitcher Luke Putkonen went 5.2 innings while surrendering four runs on eight hits. His record goes to 6-1 on the season. Andrew Carignan came in to relieve Putkonen and was roughed up for two runs on a hit and four walks. Tim Federowicz came in to close out the game for the Tar Heels and worked out of a bases-loaded jam with the potential leading run on base to get his second career save. FSU starter Ryan Strauss was roughed up in 3.2 innings giving up five runs. He picks up his first loss of the season to drop to 8-1. Mark Gildea led the FSU offense with his second three hit game of the weekend.
UNC Recap
FSU Recap
Clemson 2 Virginia 1
Ryan Hinson pitched 6.1 scoreless innings while allowing only one hit to Patrick Wingfield in the seventh inning. Hinson gets his record to 4-1 on the season. Alan Farina pitched the final 2.2 innings giving up a run on two hits. He picks up his first save of the season. Sean Doolittle was also strong in his start when allowing only one run in his six innings. Doolittle's record drops to 6-3. Andy D'Alessio and Taylor Harbin each went 2-4 to lead the Tiger attack. Greg Miclat, Sean Doolittle, and Patrick Wingfield each registered a hit to account for all the hits from the Cavs on the day.
Clemson Recap
Virginia Recap
Georgia Tech 7 NC State 3
Luke Murton went 3-4 with two runs scored and two driven in to lead the Yellow Jackets to the 7-3 victory. The Yellow Jackets jumped on NC State starter Jimmy Gillheeney for six runs in his 2.1 innings of work. His record drops to 3-2 on the season. Yellow Jackets starter Ryan Turner only lasted 3.1 innings while giving up three runs. Chris Hicks picked up the victory in relief by going a scoreless two innings to up his record to 2-0.
GT Recap
NC State Recap
Duke 4 Maryland 2
The Duke Blue Devils took the rubber game of their series with the Maryland Terrapins by a 4-2 score. The Devils received a solid outing from Andrew Wolcott who went six strong innings while only giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits. Wolcott ups his record to 4-3. He was relieved by Michael Seader who pitched three hitless innings to earn his eighth save on the season. Maryland starter Kevin Biringer who only lasted 4.1 innings while giving up four runs (three earned) to drop his record to 3-8.
Duke Recap
Maryland Recap
Miami 9 Virginia Tech 5
The Miami Hurricanes showed no mercy this weekend as they swept the Virginia Tech Hokies by score of 9-5 on Sunday. Miami got to Virginia Tech starter Andrew Wells (2-4) for all nine runs in the first six innings of the game. Mark Sobolewski went 4-4 with three runs scored while Dennis Raben went 3-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Eric Erickson got the win to get his record to 5-3 with five innings and allowing all five Hokie runs (only three earned).
Miami Recap
Virginia Tech Recap
Boston College 11 Wake Forest 5
Boston College completed the sweep of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to take over the eighth spot in the ACC standings. Boston College emergency starter Dan Houston got off to a rough start by allowing three runs in the first inning but settled down to throw six innings allowing four runs on six hits and seven walks. The Boston College offense have come alive lately and continued the trend by pounding out 18 hits. The offense was led by second baseman Joseph Ayers who went 4-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Michael Belfiore also drove in three runs and went 3-5 at the plate. Wake Forest starter Charlie Mellies who is coming off elbow surgery gave up six runs in four innings of work. The Wake Forest bullpen combined to give up five runs on eight hits over the final four innings.
Boston College Recap
Wake Forest Recap
Despite gusting winds, a hostile crowd, a bad start and a high pitch count, Longhorns pitcher Adrian Alaniz stayed the same.
Same pitches.
Same focus.
Same result.
Alaniz won his 10th game of the season Saturday, shaking off a rough start to pitch 7 2/3 innings as Texas beat Nebraska 8-4 at Haymarket Park, evening the three-game Big 12 series.
Alaniz (10-2) gave up four runs on seven hits and threw 60 pitches in the first three innings. He looked ready to fall apart.
Instead, he turned everything around, pitching the next five innings without giving up a hit and finished with 10 strikeouts, tying a career high.
"It's just working from inning to inning, from pitch to pitch," Alaniz said. "You don't want to look to the future or to the next inning. It's just staying within the game, within the process. And I was able to do that."
It was what the Longhorns (32-12 overall, 13-4 Big 12) needed after Nebraska (23-16, 8-9) shut out Texas 7-0 on Friday.
"It was about responding," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "About how the players were going to respond to last night's domination. They did a good job."
The Longhorns, who took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Kyle Russell's 22nd home run of the season, responded to a 4-2 deficit in the fourth inning. Preston Clark singled in Nick Peoples to cut the lead to 4-3, and with runners on second and third with two outs, the unlikeliest of Longhorns came through.
Shortstop Michael Demperio, who spent the first part of the season nursing a shoulder injury, singled up the middle to give the Horns a 5-4 lead.
"It's a bonus," Garrido said of Demperio's offense. "He's in there because with (Travis Tucker), we have the widest range on defense up the middle."
Demperio realized the importance of the situation before it happened.
"I looked at the scoreboard right before I went up there and thought, 'Oh, man, there are two runners in scoring position,' " Demperio said. "I knew what I was looking for, and I got it."
Texas added two more runs in the fifth inning as Russell (3 for 4) singled and went to second on an error, before scoring on Russell Moldenhauer's double. Peoples singled to center to score Moldenhauer and give the Horns a 7-4 lead.
"I thought five or six runs would win the game today," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "We knew Alaniz was going to be tough. He started getting his slider over on the first and second pitch, and that made things real tough for us."
Alaniz' effort allowed Randy Boone to pick up his 10th save of the season, as Boone pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings.
Texas Recap
FROM UNC-WILMINGTON RELEASE
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Sophomore second baseman Gary Helmick homered, singled and scored three runs as Towson evened its weekend series at UNC Wilmington with a 6-5 win Saturday at Brooks Field.
The Tigers improved to 15-20 with the win overall and moved to 7-9 in the CAA. The Seahawks, meanwhile, dropped to 18-23 and 9-10.
Senior Matt Holly (3-0), who remained perfect on the season with the win, allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits and a walk over five innings. Freshman Zach Umberger picked up his first career save. The Tiger pitching staff recorded 16 ground ball outs on the game.
Senior third baseman Hans Falkenhan and junior outfielder Brian Conley each collected two hits on the afternoon for the Tigers.
Junior Jeff Hatcher was tagged with the loss to fall to 4-4 on the season. Hatcher, who has dropped three of his last four decisions, allowed five runs, three earned, on six hits in six innings.
Junior outfielder Jason Appel went 3-for-5 while juniors first baseman Daniel Hargrave and third baseman Nate Hall each had tow hits.
UNCW grabbed an early 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the first. Appel singled with one out, stole second and scored on senior catcher Jonathan Batts' two-out single to leftcenter.
The Tigers plated two in the third, one earned, to take their first lead of the series. Helmick drew a leadoff walk and stole second. After a strike out, he moved to third on a throwing error by sophomore shortstop Steve Halford on Skellchock's routine ground ball. Falkenhan delivered a RBI single through the right side for the first run and senior catcher Ryan Schreiter plated the second with a ground out to third later in the inning.
Towson extended its lead to 4-1 with two in the fourth on three hits, a hit batter and an error. With the bases loaded and one out, Skellchock lined a single to left to score one run and junior outfielder Mark Carver mishandled the ball to allow the second to score on the same play.
The Seahawks loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the inning, but junior designated hitter Shane French grounded into a double play that scored one to make it 4-2, and UNCW lost its momentum.
In the fifth, Halford lifted a fly ball to center to score red-shirt freshman second baseman Matt Holt, who reached base on a throwing error by Falkenhan, to make it a 4-3 game.
Towson answered that run in the top of the fifth on Helmick first home run of the season to lead off the inning.
The Tigers added what would prove to be the winning run with two out in the ninth off junior reliever Larry Salefsky. The 6-7 righthander retired the first batters, but surrendered a single to Conley to keep the inning going. Schreiter then lined a double off the centerfield wall to score Conley from first to make it 6-3.
UNCW would rally in the ninth loading the bases again with none out. Holt struck out looking for the first out, but Appel followed with a single to right to narrow the deficit to 6-4. Halford trimmed it to 6-5 with a RBI ground out one batter later.
The series concludes on Sunday with a 2 p.m. start.
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