GREENVILLE, S.C. – After two-straight seasons of knocking on the door, the ever-resilient Wofford baseball team battled back from the losers' bracket this season to ultimately claim the 2024 Southern Conference Championship. Needing to best No. 2 Samford twice, the No. 5 Terriers did just that by marks of 10-9 and 15-9 to claim the conference crown. With the wins, Wofford improves to 41-18 as Samford falls to 36-22.
 
The championship is the fourth SoCon title in program history, and it is just the second tournament title. This is Wofford's first SoCon Tournament Championship since 2007, and the upcoming NCAA Tournament appearance will be the second in the program's history and the first since that 2007 appearance.
 
This marks the third-straight 40-plus-win season for the program. The 41 victories are the second most in program history and just one shy of the program's record of 42 from the 2022 campaign.
 
Upon the conclusion of the event, the Southern Conference announced its 2024 SoCon All-Tournament Team with three Terriers represented. Brice Martinez and Marshall Toole earned spots on the team. Zac Cowan garnered a selection as well, and the sophomore hurler was more importantly tabbed as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He joins Brandon Waring of the 2007 squad as the only two Terriers to ever earn the honor. David Wiley, a junior finance major with a 3.85 GPA, was honored as the Pinnacle Award recipient. That distinction is bestowed to the member of every SoCon championship team who owns the highest GPA.
 
Game One
Wofford again just needed two pitchers to claim victory. Zac Cowan (9-2) notched the win as the Terrier starter, tossing 7.0 innings with four runs allowed on eight hits and just a single walk. He fanned seven batters, extending his season total to 118 punchouts to move up to third most in a season in program history. Kenny Michaels (2) pitched the final 2.0 innings to secure a save. He gave up five runs on six hits and a walk while striking out two.
 
Samford starter Heath Clevenger (1-3) was tagged with the loss after surrendering three runs on four hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning.
 
The Terrier offense kept rolling from last night's explosion to the tune of 14 hits today in game one. Brice Martinez and Tyler Hare paced the squad with three hits apiece. Martinez drove in one run with Hare notching five RBI. Three of those came on a 404-foot three-run home run. Marshall Toole added a pair of knocks to mark three Terriers with multiple hits. Those were just enough to get him to 90 on the season to set a new single-season program record for hits.
 
Daniel Jackson, Lucas Manning and Andrew Mannelly each tallied an RBI. Mannelly's came on a solo shot that traveled 425 feet. Jackson stretched his on-base streak further with his performance, adding two walks to his one hit for a 47^th-straight game on base. On the basepaths, Toole and Jack Renwick each stole a base.
 
Wofford jumped in front quickly with three runs in the top of the first. Marshall Toole led the inning off with an infield single and promptly swiped second. Brice Martinez worked a walk, and Daniel Jackson delivered a single the other way to push Toole home. From there, Tyler Hare and Lucas Manning delivered back-to-back RBI singles to grant the Terriers a quick 3-0 advantage
 
The Terriers tacked on one more run in the top of the second. Dixon Black singled, and Martinez followed up with a double into the left center gap that allowed Black to race home from first. Wofford held a 4-0 advantage.
 
Zac Cowan worked back-to-back 1-2-3 innings on the bump for Wofford in the bottom of the second and third innings, and his offense rewarded him with two more runs in the top of the fourth. Leading off the frame, Andrew Mannelly connected on a pitch and launched a 425-foot solo shot to right field. Later in the frame, with Toole on first base, Martinez singled to left with Toole advancing to third, but a misplay by the left fielder allowed Toole to advance the extra base and score a run, pushing the Wofford lead to 6-0.
 
Samford finally broke onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back doubles provided the first tally for the Bulldogs, and a single followed to push home the second run. The margin was shaved to 6-2.
 
Wofford got a run back in the top of the seventh. A walk and single placed runners on the corners for Tyler Hare, who put down a perfectly placed squeeze bunt. Jackson beat the throw home as the RBI bunt single made the lead 7-2.
 
But the Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the frame, lifting a two-run home run to cut into the lead. Wofford still led, however, 7-4.
 
The Terriers added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth with one swing of the bat. Martinez singled to precede a Jackson walk, and Wiley bunted the duo to third and second. But the extra bases proved irrelevant as Hare connected on a pitch and drove a three-run blast 404 feet to right field to push the Wofford lead to 10-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
 
Those insurance runs proved vital as Samford rallied for five runs in the bottom of the ninth. But Kenny Michaels clutched up on the bump, striking out the final batter with the tying run on base to secure the 10-9 victory and force the winner-take-all championship bout.
 
Game Two
Yet again, Wofford required only two arms to triumph. Camden Wicker (4-3) started and earned the win after tossing 6.1 innings with six runs (three earned) surrendered on six hits and two walks. He struck out three. Champ Davis hurled the final 2.2 innings and allowed three runs on four hits. He struck out one and walked none.
 
Samford starter Noah Berry (0-3) suffered the loss after giving up four runs on five hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
 
The Wofford offense continued to roll into the championship match-up, posting 15 runs on 18 hits. A trio of Terriers – Marshall Toole, Daniel Jackson and Lucas Manning – each tallied three hits. Jackson and Manning both drove in two runs with Toole adding one RBI. Jackson pushed his on-base streak to a staggering 48 games.
 
Four more players – Dixon Black, Brice Martinez, Tyler Hare and Andrew Mannelly – notched two hits each. Mannelly tacked on three RBI with Black and Hare adding two each. Martinez drove in one run with Jack Renwick adding two RBI.
 
Power was on display for Wofford as Black, Jackson, Hare and Mannelly all lifted big flies in the contest. Speed was displayed, too, with Toole and Manning swiping a bag each.
 
The Terriers rode their momentum from the first contest into the second, scoring four runs early to jump in front. Three-straight doubles by Dixon Black, Brice Martinez and Daniel Jackson plated a pair. After a flyout, Tyler Hare stepped up and blazed a two-run homer 420 feet to right field. The onslaught provided Wofford an early 4-0 advantage.
 
Samford responded in the bottom of the inning with one run. A pair of errors placed two runners on base, and an RBI groundout put the Bulldogs on the board. But Camden Wicker put a Samford batter down swinging for out three to limit the damage to hold the margin at 4-1.
 
After neither team scored in the second, Wofford added four more runs in the top of the third. A single was followed by a pair of hit batters to load the bases for Jack Renwick, who roped a ball to right that one-hopped the wall. The automatic double pushed home a pair of runs, and Marshall Toole's infield single brought in another. Black then followed up with a sacrifice fly to push the Terrier lead to 8-1.
 
Samford responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs. An error and a single put two runners on base, and a double pushed one of them home. A sacrifice fly plated another, making the score 8-3.
 
The Terriers tallied another four-run frame in the top of the fourth to stretch the lead further. Back-to-back walks put two on, and a Hare sacrifice bunt moved them both up a base. Manning singled to center to push them both home, and he then scored when Andrew Mannelly laced a two-run clout that traveled 416 feet to right and bounced off the picture of his own face on the videoboard. The Terriers held a 12-3 lead.
 
Mannelly struck again with an RBI double in the top of the sixth to make it a double-digit margin at 13-3. The Terriers then added two more in the top of the seventh with a pair of solo long balls clubbed by Black and Jackson. Wofford went to the bottom of the seventh up 15-3 looking for a run rule.
 
Samford fought back, however. An RBI single preceded a two-run double, and with those three runs the Bulldogs remained alive by trimming their deficit to 15-6.
 
Neither team plated a run in the eighth with Wofford held scoreless again in the top of the ninth to send the game to decisive final half inning. Needing a big rally to stay alive, the Bulldogs tallied three runs on a three-run homer. But it would be all they could muster. Fittingly, Champ Davis lived up to his first name and induced a fly ball to center. As the ball nestled in the glove of Marshall Toole, the Terriers became Southern Conference champions and began to celebrate their 15-9 title tilt triumph.
 
Wofford has secured the SoCon's automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for 12:00 p.m. tomorrow and will be aired on ESPN2. The Terriers will host a watch party tomorrow for the selection show that will be open to the public. The event will be hosted in the Harley Room of the Richardson Physical Activities Building on the Wofford College campus. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. A note to the media: coaches and players will be available for interviews upon the conclusion of the selection show.
 
After finding out their regional destination, the Terriers will begin their next step in postseason action this coming weekend.