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WCU baseball team goes 2-1 at Coastal’s Beach Resort Rumble
Western Carolina’s baseball team won two of three games last weekend at the Springmaid Beach Resort Rumble, played at Coastal Carolina’s Watson Stadium.
The Catamounts defeated Kent State 4-1 on Friday and James Madison 4-3 on Saturday before losing to 23rd-ranked Coastal Carolina 4-3 on Sunday.
WCU 4 Kent 1
Caleb McConnell (2-1) struck out 10 batters, while walking none, in the win over Kent. He allowed six hits and one run in seven innings.
Former Smoky Mountain standout Derrick Hawk pitched two scoreless innings to earn his second save.
Kent got on the scoreboard first on Joe Tucker’s RBI single in the bottom of the third.
WCU answered with three runs in the fourth. Jared Greenwood doubled to drive in a pair, and Nate Hall had an RBI single.
Steven Strausbaugh homered to provide an insurance run in the ninth.
Hall and Brandon Zollman each had two hits for the Cats.
Tucker and Chuck Moore led the Golden Flashes with two hits apiece.
Kent starter Evan Smith took the loss.
WCU 4 JMU 3
Blake Murphy’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth broke a 3-3 tie giving the Cats the 4-3 victory over James Madison.
Jeremy Ellenburg (1-0) was the winner in relief. He allowed two runs while striking out four and walking no one in 4.1 innings. Brian McCullen pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
Trey McDaniel got Western started in the bottom of the second with a solo home run.
JMU tied it in the third on Matt Bristow’s homer.
WCU went up 2-1 in the bottom of the third as Zollman tripled and scored on a wild pitch.
The Cats made it 3-1 in the fourth on Strausbaugh’s RBI single.
The Dukes tied it 3-3 in the fifth on Skyler Doom’s RBI single and Michael Cowgill’s sacrifice fly.
Zollman had two hits in four at-bats while Bristow and Kellen Kulbacki led JMU with two hits apiece.
Starter Bobby Lasko was the losing pitcher.
Coastal 4 WCU 3
Coastal scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to pull out the 4-3 win. Jon Foisey drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, and Aaron Verrett had an RBI double as the Chanticleers overcame a 3-2 deficit.
Coastal scored an unearned run in the first as Danny Morgan drove in a run with an infield out.
The Chants made it 2-0 in the second on Kevin Entsminger’s RBI single.
Strausbaugh’s two-run single tied it 2-2 in the fourth.
The Cats went up 3-2 in the seventh on Tim Hallam’s RBI single.
Verrett led Coastal’s offense with two hits. Hallam, Strausbaugh and Jonathan Greene all had two hits for WCU.
Andy DeLaGarza was the winning pitcher in relief. Hawk (0-1) took the loss.
A game at UNC-Asheville on March 2 was called off.
Western was scheduled to play home games against Georgia State on Tuesday and Wednesday. Results were not known at Herald press time.
The Cats will open Southern Conference action at home at 3 p.m. Friday against Appalachian State. The teams will also play at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
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