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Western Carolina wins two of three games in series at Appalachian State
Western Carolina won two of three Southern Conference baseball games over the weekend at Appalachian State.
The Catamounts (17-11, 6-3) opened the series with an 11-0 win Friday behind the pitching of Brock Thornburg (2-1). He yielded five hits and two walks with two strikeouts in seven innings.
Donnie Wilson had three hits in four at-bats. Trey McDaniel and Blake Murphy both had two hits.
Solo home runs by McDaniel in the second and Murphy in the fifth gave WCU a 2-0 advantage.
Wilson’s two-run shot in the sixth and a solo blast by Steven Strausbaugh upped the margin to 5-0.
The Cats added five more runs in the eighth to go up 10-0. The first scored on a wild pitch, and Murphy had an RBI single. Scott Ward’s three-run double was the big hit.
McDaniel had an RBI single for the final run in the ninth.
David Rubinstein was two of two for the Mountaineers.
ASU starter Jonathan Reeder took the loss.
Adam Beasley’s sacrifice fly in the sixth proved to be the difference in Appalachian’s 4-3 victory Saturday.
Strausbaugh’s homer put the Cats up 1-0 in the first.
The Mounties took a 3-1 lead in the second. Rand Smith had a two-run single, and Nick DeRose’s bunt single drove in a run.
WCU tied the game 3-3 in the top of the sixth on Jonathan Greene’s two-run homer.
Appalachian starter Jason Rook got the win. He scattered seven hits over 6.2 innings. Garrett Sherrill worked a perfect ninth for the save.
Western starter Tyler Sexton (5-2) was the loser.
Chris Baker and Joey Robinson both had two hits for the Mounties.
Strausbaugh and Greene led the Cats with two hits apiece.
Western won the rubber game of the series with a 15-4 rout Sunday. Murphy was four of four, including a three-run homer, with six RBIs.
Western jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first. Murphy had a two-run single, and Wilson singled in a run. Greene added a sacrifice fly.
The Cats extended the margin to 7-0 in the second. The runs scored on a balk, Strausbaugh’s sacrifice fly and Murphy’s RBI double.
The Mounties cut the gap to 7-2 in the third on Ben Billingsley’s two-run homer.
They made it 7-4 on RBI ground outs by Joey Robinson in the fourth and Bryan Ford in the fifth.
McDaniel’s homer upped the margin to 8-4 in the seventh.
Western broke the game open with five runs in the eighth for a 13-4 lead. Strausbaugh and McDaniel both had RBI singles before Murphy belted a three-run homer.
The Cats concluded the scoring with two runs in the ninth. Tim Hallam had an RBI single, and Barrett Shaft drove in a run with a ground out.
WCU reliever Brian McCullen (3-1) allowed one run over four innings for the win.
Sherrill, ASU’s starter, took the loss.
Hallam and McDaniel both had three hits while Wilson added two.
DeRose led the Mounties with three hits. Billingsley and Rubinstein had two apiece.
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