SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team scored 11 runs for the third straight time en route to its fourth consecutive win, toppling Wofford at King Field on Wednesday night, 11-6.
PC improves to 10-3 and will head to Davidson, N.C., this weekend for two games against Richmond (Friday, 6 p.m. and Sunday, noon) and Davidson (Saturday, 6:30 p.m.). Wofford falls to 9-4.
PC scored five runs in the third and added six runs late in the game for the victory.
Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) hit a three-run home run to give PC a lead it would never lose and finished the day with a 3-for-5 line with four RBI. Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) posted three RBI on two hits while Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) also added three hits.
Starting pitcher Brian Kehner (Marietta, Ga.) set a new career-high in strikeouts by fanning seven Terriers to earn the win and move to 1-1. The sophomore threw five complete innings with four runs (all earned), six hits and three walks.
Wofford's Carson Waln led the Terriers with three hits. Max McDougald drove in two runs.
Wofford struck first in the bottom of the first when Kody Ruedisili hit a solo home run to left field for a 1-0 Terriers lead. The Terriers manufactured another run in the second, using a walk and single to put a runner on third for McDougald, who beat out a bunt single for a 2-0 lead.
PC wasted little time in answering, pulling ahead in the top of the third on four straight base hits and a Midkiff home run. Two singles brought up Peter Johnson (Seattle, Wash.), who smacked the first pitch he saw to center field to cut Wofford's lead in half. McRae followed with an RBI single of his own to left, tying the game at 2-2. Following a flyout, Midkiff cleared the bases with his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to left that pushed PC ahead, 5-2.
Kehner cruised through the middle innings until running into a spot of trouble in the sixth. The sophomore allowed three baserunners from the third through the fifth, striking out the side in inning number five.
Wofford broke through in the sixth. A walk and a single prompted PC to tap Russell Thompson (Alcolu, S.C.) for relief. The Terriers used a sacrifice bunt to set up Carrier, whose RBI single made it a 5-3 game. McDougald hit an RBI groundout in the next at-bat to pull Wofford within one, but Hayden Deal (Newton, N.C.) entered the game and secured the final out of the frame to keep PC ahead, 5-4.
PC restored its three-run lead immediately and tacked another run onto it. Lizanich and Johnson hit back-to-back singles to bring in reliever Jacob Condra-Bogan, who balked and moved runners to second and third. McRae cashed in on the miscue, hitting a 2-1 pitch back up the middle for a two-run single and a 7-4 PC edge. AJ Priaulx (Warner Robins, Ga.) then walked and Midkiff struck again, hitting a run-scoring base knock that pushed PC's lead to 8-4 heading into the seventh-inning stretch.
Back-to-back doubles made it an 8-5 game as Wofford began to mount a rally. Another double scored the team's sixth run, but Deal induced a 6-3 groundout to head into the eighth with a two-run lead.
PC added to its lead in the eighth. The visitors manufactured a run with two straight bunts, a single, a stolen base and a wild pitch to go up 9-6 before a Lizanich double widened the gap to 10-6. An error scored Lizanich for five runs of breathing room heading into the bottom of the eighth, 11-6.
Cole Norwood (Darlington, S.C.) retired Wofford quietly in the eighth and Ethan Wortkoetter (Greer, S.C.) took the mound in the ninth. After allowing a leadoff single, the sophomore struck out the final three batters to preserve the 11-6 win.
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Presbyterian College 005 000 330 - 11 15 1 (10-3)
Wofford............. 110 002 200 - 6 11 2 (9-4)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - KEHNER, Brian; THOMPSON, Russell(6); DEAL, Hayden(6);
NORWOOD, Cole(8); WORTKOETTER, Ethan(9) and McRAE, Cam. Wofford - John Caskey;
Connell Anderson(7); Jacob Condra-Bogan(7); Josh Simpson(8); Jordan Accetta(8);
Will Stillman(8); Merritt Huber(9) and Carson Waln.
Win-KEHNER, Brian(1-1) Loss-John Caskey(0-1) T-3:12 A-124
HR PC - MIDKIFF, Jacob (1).
HR WOF - Kody Ruedisili (2).
Weather: 68 and partly cloudy, SSW at 9
KEHNER, B. faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Simpson faced 1 batter in the 8th.
