CLINTON, S.C. – Presbyterian College baseball received a pitching gem from David Sauer (Irmo, S.C.) before holding off a ninth-inning comeback bid to topple the visiting Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon, 4-3.
PC's (14-5, 1-1 Big South) Sauer held Gardner-Webb (11-8, 1-1 Big South) to only three hits and one run over his 7.2 innings pitched. The junior walked three and struck out seven to set a new career-high as a Blue Hose while improving to 2-1 on the year. Brian Kehner (Marietta, Ga.) secured the game's final two outs for the first save of his career.
The two teams play the rubber match on Monday at 3 p.m.
The Blue Hose scored three runs over the first two innings and led 4-1 until the Runnin' Bulldogs plated two in the ninth. Peter Johnson (Seattle, Wash.), Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) each tallied two hits, including a leadoff home run for Lizanich in the fifth. Johnson extended his hitting streak to nine games in the win.
PC wasted no time in scoring first. A wild pitch strike three allowed leadoff man Tyler Weyenberg (Marietta, Ga.) to take first and a Lizanich single to right center put two aboard with nobody out. Brandon Martin (Gray Court, S.C.) bunted the pair over with the first out before Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) hit an RBI groundout chopper to third for a 1-0 PC lead.
PC struck again in the second as Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) ripped a 2-2 pitch through the right side to score Rob Koski (Bel Air, Md.) from second. Glen Casaceli (Jupiter, Fla.) followed with a run-scoring single of his own in the same spot for a 3-0 Blue Hose lead.
Gardner-Webb scored its first run via sacrifice fly in the top of the third. Sauer closed the door from there, however, limiting the damage to the lone score.
Lizanich hit a solo home run to left center to kick off the bottom of the fifth for a 4-1 lead. The Blue Hose threatened in the sixth by placing a runner on third with one away but could not convert.
Gardner-Webb mounted a comeback bid in the ninth. A throwing error allowed leadoff man Sam Fulginiti to reach and take second, who then immediately scored on a Will Canady RBI double to cut PC's lead in half, 4-2.
Another single and a double steal put the tying run at second with nobody out. Third baseman Ryan Hedrick (Rock Hill, S.C.) then made a great defensive play, fielding a ground ball and tagging the runner at third for a fielder's choice. Kehner then entered the game and picked off Gardner-Webb's runner at first for the second out. Two singles scored another run to pull the visitors one run away from tying, but Kehner slammed the door with a slow groundout to first for the win.
Taylor Fisher led Gardner-Webb with two hits. Three different Runnin' Bulldogs drove in a run. Matt Fraudin took the loss to move to 3-1.
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Gardner-Webb........ 001 000 002 - 3 7 0 (11-8, 1-1 BSC)
Presbyterian College 120 010 00X - 4 9 1 (14-5, 1-1 BSC)
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Pitchers: Gardner-Webb - FRAUDIN, Matt; HILTON, Beau(7) and HUGGINS, Blair; THACKER, Collin.
Presbyterian College - SAUER, David; THOMPSON, Russell(8); WORTKOETTER, Ethan(9);
KEHNER, Brian(9) and KOSKI, Rob.
Win-SAUER, David(2-1) Save-KEHNER, Brian(1) Loss-FRAUDIN, Matt(3-1) T-2:26 A-278
HR PC - LIZANICH, Jay (2).
Weather: Low 70s, clear and bright
