CLINTON, S.C. - The Presbyterian College baseball team (20-28, 7-11 Big South) returns home to the PC Baseball Complex for its final home series of the season as the squad takes on the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bullodgs (27-22, 9-9). The first game begins on Friday at 3 p.m. PC will look to rebound from a four-game road stretch that ended with a loss to Auburn but included a 7-2 win over No. 13 UCF.
The Blue Hose will honor their 13 departing players with a Senior Day ceremony 15 minutes prior to Saturday's 3 p.m. game. The squad will bid farewell to Kenny Bryant, Ryan Burt, Stewart Curry, Nick Ferguson, Gabe Grammer, Buck Mosteller, Steven Richardson, Andrew Williams, Tyler Hill, Tony Micklon, Matt Nodelman, Jordan Pace and John Wagner. The 13 Blue Hose have helped guide PC to its best years in Division I and set the foundation for its transition as a full-fledged D-I program.
Free live audio will be available for the games on Saturday and Sunday.
Gardner-Webb holds a 9-1 lead in the Division I series and has taken the last five meetings. PC's lone win came on March 26, 2010, in the series opener at the PC Baseball Complex. In last year's series in Boiling Springs, N.C., Tony Micklon went 6-for-12 while Brad Zebeids tallied five RBI and hit a home run while going 3-for-8 (.375).
Gardner-Webb enters the weekend with a 27-22 overall record and a 9-9 league marker after taking two of three from Radford, winning the first game in 10 innings (2-1) and the second (8-2) as well. Ryan Hodge paces the team in batting average (.337, 57-for-169) while Dusty Quattlebaum's six home runs and 39 RBI lead Gardner-Webb in those categories.
PC will likely start Chad Sanders, Chandler Knox and Beau Dees opposite Gardner-Webb's Matt Fraudin, Andrew Barnett and Beau Hilton. Knox picked up his team-leading fourth win on Saturday with a complete game effort over No. 13 UCF, picking up Big South Conference Pitcher of the Week honors in the process. Chad Sanders will make his first start since March 11 after throwing seven innings on Saturday against UCF in relief. Knox ranks 10th in ERA in the Big South (3.18) and sixth in innings pitched (76.1) while Dees checks in at 10th in innings pitched (71.2).
PC fell to Auburn on Monday night, 18-2, after winning one game in a three-game set at No. 13 UCF. The Blue Hose took a 7-2 victory from the Knights on Sunday, giving the team its first win over a ranked opponent since a 4-3 win over No. 16 Clemson on March 16, 2011. PC scored six runs in the sixth inning en route to the win.
On Monday, the Big South Conference named Chandler Knox The Crons Brand Pitcher of the Week for his performance against UCF. The sophomore struck out a season -high six batters, and after surrendering solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings, he retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth before striking out the final two batters for the win. Knox held UCF to a .167 average (4-24) against lefthanders and allowed just one hit in 13 at-bats (.077) with runners on base.
Over the last five games, Brad Zebedis' final game against Radford helps him to lead the squad with a .421 batting average (8-for-19) and six RBI. Gabe Grammer ranks second in regular starters with a .375 average (6-for-16) while Aaron Preston has batted .400 (4-for-10) after appearing in five games and starting three.
Andrew Williams (fourth of the season) and Gabe Grammer (third) each hit home runs against UCF over the weekend, both setting individual career highs for home runs in a season. The Blue Hose come into the weekend with 30 on the year, second-most in the Big South. Kenny Bryant ranks second among all active players with 24 career home runs (thanks to a team-leading eight homers this season), while Tony Micklon leads with 27. Brad Zebedis ranks third, with 18. Nine different players have gone yard this season for the Blue Hose.
Andrew Williams enters the weekend on a 14-game on-base streak, tying Robby Swab and Billy Motroni for the longest of the season. Gabe Grammer's six-game hitting streak puts him in the lead in that category, two short of his (and the team's) season-long, shared by Wiliams.
Kenny Bryant's .319 batting average puts him in the midst of a career year. The senior's previous best came in 2010, when he hit .276. He has also already set a new career high in doubles for a season (15) and he leads the team in RBI (30), home runs (eight), slugging percentage (.566), as well as tallying 16 multiple-hit games and seven multiple-RBI games to lead the team.
