Box Score Game Box (pdf)Photo GalleryVideo HighlightsCHARLESTON, S.C. – In a Southern Conference Tournament elimination game on Friday night, the Wofford baseball team was down five runs after the first inning but scored five unanswered runs in the eighth and ninth innings to earn a 10-7 win over Davidson. The Terriers advance to play Samford on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Riley Park.
Wofford is 32-27 on the season and are the #6 seed in the tournament. Davidson, the #2 seed, finishes their final season in the SoCon at 29-19 overall. Alec Paradowski led the Terriers with a 5-for-5 performance at the plate, while the pitching staff combined to strikeout season-high 19 Wildcat batters. The two teams combined for 30 hits on the night. Davidson left 14 runners on base, while Wofford stranded ten runners.
"I felt like once we got down 5-0, it's easy to sit there and say that takes away your bunting game or takes away your running game, but we don't score any other way," said head coach Todd Interdonato. "Everyone in this league knows that, everyone in our dugout knows that. I have to give our guys credit – we're hitting and running and bunting down 5-0 and that doesn't make any sense when you're playing traditional baseball. Our guys executed. We have our execution chart in the dugout and it's filled with pluses. I can't be more proud of our guys for buying into our system and being able to execute it. What a good game for us. We're not able to stay another night unless we play almost perfectly on the offensive side of the ball, which is what I thought we did."
Alec Paradowski led off the game with a single up the middle, but he failed to advance. In the bottom of the first, Davidson opened with back-to-back singles and an error to load the bases. A single by Forrest Brandt drove in the first run of the game. An RBI single from Nathan Becker and a sacrifice fly by Sam Foy made it a 3-0 game. Another RBI single by Ben Arkin and an RBI double from Daniel Gerow pushed the score to 5-0 before the first inning ended.
Both teams had singles in the second inning. Demetrius Jennings led off the third with a single and Alec Paradowski followed with a hit and run single to give the Terriers runners on the corners. Seth Neely was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A double to right center by James Plaisted cleared the bases and made it a 5-3 game. Plaisted advanced on a passed ball and scored on a single up the middle by Josh Hyman for a 5-4 score after the top of the third.
In the bottom of the third, Davidson left one runner on base. Demetrius Jennings reached on an error with one out in the top of the fourth. A hit and run single by Alec Paradowski moved Jennings to third. Seth Neely hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 5-5. Davidson led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and an infield single. With two outs, a single by Nathan Becker drove in a run to regain the lead at 6-5.
The Terriers were retired in order in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Luke Leftwich struck out four batters as one reached on a wild pitch. Demetrius Jennings walked with two outs in the top of the sixth inning but was caught stealing second. In the bottom of the sixth, Davidson led off with back-to-back singles but the inning ended with two runners stranded.
Alec Paradowski led off the seventh with an infield single. Seth Neely then hit a double in left center that was six inches from clearing the fence to put runners in scoring position. An intentional walk with one out to Josh Hyman loaded the bases. A fly ball was the second out and the runner from third was out at home on the plate.
Davidson had a runner hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh and he moved to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, a single to shallow right field by David Daniels drove in a run for a 7-5 lead. Conor Clancey led off the top of the eighth with a walk. Matt Ramsay followed with a walk. A bunt single by Derek Hirsch loaded the bases. A single up the middle by Demetrius Jennings drove in a run for a 7-6 score and a walk to Alec Paradowski tied the game at 7-7. A sacrifice fly by James Plaisted brought home Hirsch to give Wofford an 8-7 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, Davidson led off with a single. After two strikeouts, a walk and a wild pitch had runners at second and third. A strikeout stranded both runners to end the eighth inning for the Wildcats. With one out in the top of the ninth, Matt Kaskow walked. A hit and run single by Matt Ramsay gave the Terriers runners on the corners. A bunt single by Derek Hirsch scored Kaskow from third for a 9-7 lead. After a single by Alec Paradowski, a wild pitch scored Matt Ramsay from third for a 10-7 advantage in the middle of the ninth.
The Wildcats had a runner reach base on a walk with one out in the bottom of the ninth. A single was followed by a strikeout. With two runners on base, a strikeout ended the game and Wofford advanced to Saturday.
Wofford starting pitcher Connell Anderson threw three innings and allowed six runs on nine hits with three strikeouts. Connor Foltyn went an inning with two hits allowed and two strikeouts. Luke Leftwich worked an inning with four strikeouts and two hits. Eric Eck (3-3) threw three innings and allowed only one run on two hits with seven strikeouts to earn the victory. Will Stillman went the ninth inning and allowed one hit with three strikeouts. It was his fourth save of the season.
Clark Beeker started for Davidson and went 3.1 innings with five runs allowed on seven hits along with one strikeout. Matt Saeta threw 2.2 innings with two hits and two strikeouts. Cody White went an inning and did not allow a hit with one strikeout, but one run scored. Michael Goldberg (3-4) threw the final two innings and allowed four runs on five hits with one strikeout.
Wofford will face Samford on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. If Wofford wins, the two teams will play a second game at either 5:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m.
"We're going to piece our pitching together as well as we can," said Interdonato. "We don't 'need to win two' tomorrow, we have to win the first one to advance. That's the only way we're going to look at this. We have some resilient pitchers down there. We certainly flushed our bullpen, but we have four or five quality arms that we haven't thrown yet. We're just going to have to go to those guys. If those guys play well and execute, we'll be fine. We're just worried about the first inning tomorrow; we're not worried about two games."
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