CLINTON, S.C. – Presbyterian College baseball dropped both games of its Sunday Senior Day doubleheader, falling to Coastal Carolina in a pair of 10-7, 9-2 losses.
PC falls to 23-21 on the year and 4-14 in the Big South. The Blue Hose break for final exams this week before traveling to Georgia Tech next weekend for a three-game Saturday-Sunday series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. before playing the Sunday finale at 1 p.m. Coastal Carolina improves to 30-13.
Tyler Weyenberg (Marietta, Ga.) went 5-for-9 on the day with two RBI and Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) went 4-for-9. Billy Motroni (Goose Creek, S.C.) and Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) led the seniors with three hits apiece, including a home run from McRae in the first game.
Senior Beau Dees (Blenheim, S.C.) became the first Blue Hose pitcher in the Division I era to record 200 career strikeouts when he fanned seven in game one. Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) also took over the PC Division I games started record, with 206 at the end of the day.
No. 24 Coastal Carolina 10, PC 7 (Game One)
The two sides played an evenly-match opening game of Sunday's doubleheader, each posting 12 hits and two errors. Weyenberg and McRae each went 3-for-5 with two RBI to lead the Blue Hose offensively. Beau Dees (Blenheim, S.C.) took the loss to move to 2-4 despite a strong outing, allowing four runs—two earned—with seven strikeouts in seven innings.
PC scored first in the second inning. McRae knocked a leadoff double to the left field corner and advanced to third on a groundout. An error allowed Peter Johnson (Seattle, Wash.) to advance and McRae then crossed the plate on a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play for a 1-0 PC lead.
Coastal Carolina loaded the bases in the third on an error, hit-by-pitch and a walk. The Chanticleers converted using a hit and another error for three total runs—two coming unearned—as the visitors took a 3-1 lead.
PC cut the Chanticleers' lead in half in the fourth. Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) singled and eventually scored on a two-out RBI single from Jacob Midkiff, cutting the score to 3-2.
The Chanticleers restored its two-run lead in the top of the fifth on a Zach Remillard RBI single.
The Blue Hose left the bags full to end the fifth and Coastal Carolina capitalized in the seventh, scoring five runs to take a 9-2 lead.
PC put a dent in the Chanticleers' lead shortly after, plating four in the bottom of the frame. Two straight hits brought up Weyenberg, who singled to left for a pair of runs. McRae then bashed an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for a two-run shot, his fifth home run of the season. The dinger pull PC within three, 9-6.
A Tyler Chadwick solo home run in the ninth gave the Chanticleers four runs of breathing room, but PC mounted a comeback bid in the bottom of the frame. The Blue Hose loaded the bases with nobody out to bring up McRae, and the senior hit into a controversial double play to score a run in the process. Unfortunately for the Blue Hose, the home side could not dig out of the hole as the Chanticleers held on, 10-7.
Three different Chanticleers tallied two hits, led by Connor Owings four RBI. Austin Kerr improved to 8-0 with six innings of work.
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Coastal Carolina.... 003 010 501 - 10 12 2 (29-13, 13-4 BSC)
Presbyterian College 010 100 401 - 7 12 2 (23-20, 4-13 BSC)
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Pitchers: Coastal Carolina - KERR, Austin; HOPECK, Zack(7); BECKWITH, Andrew(7) and
SCHROEDER, Casey; BEAIRD, Matt. Presbyterian College - DEES, Beau; LESIAK, Aaron(7);
DEAL, Hayden(7); WORTKOETTER, Ethan(7); SAUER, David(8) and McRAE, Cam.
Win-KERR, Austin(8-0) Save-BECKWITH, Andrew(2) Loss-DEES, Beau(2-4) T-3:06 A-380
HR COASTAL - CHADWICK, Tyler (4).
HR PC - McRAE, Cam (5).
Weather: Mid 70s, clear, wind NW 12 mph
HOPECK, Z. faced 3 batters in the 7th.
No. 24 Coastal Carolina 9, PC 2 (Game Two)
Coastal Carolina scored seven unanswered runs before the Blue Hose scored two in the seventh en route to a 9-2 victory.
Midkiff and Weyenberg each went 2-for-4. Tanner Chock (Loris, S.C.) delivered a solid outing in the loss (2-3), allowing five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and five walks. David Sauer (Irmo, S.C.) pitched a shutout inning in the second game and Russell Thompson (Alcolu, S.C.) pitched a scoreless two-thirds.
The Chanticleers scored a run in the third before plating four in the fourth. A 1-2-3 double play in the fourth helped limit the damage, but two scoring base hits and a hit-by-pitch allowed the visitors to take a 5-0 lead.
The Chanticleers scored a sixth run in the sixth inning, but only before the Blue Hose turned two to end the inning. Tyler Weyenberg caught a fly ball for the second out, and then hit Lizanich on the cutoff for the shortstop to throw to Glen Casaceli at third for the final out.
PC found the scoreboard in the seventh after another Chanticleer run. Singles from Guy Casaceli (Jupiter, Fla.) and Weyenberg preceded two wild pitches to score one. Motroni then beat out an infield single to score another and cut the Chanticleer lead to 7-2.
Two more from Coastal Carolina in the eighth put the game away, however, as the visitors sealed the sweep.
McRae did not reach base in the second game, ending his reached base streak at 26 consecutive games. The streak fell one short of Kenny Bryant's 2010 PC Division I record of 27.
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Coastal Carolina.... 001 401 120 - 9 12 0 (30-13, 14-4 BSC)
Presbyterian College 000 000 200 - 2 7 1 (23-21, 4-14 BSC)
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Pitchers: Coastal Carolina - SAWCZAK, Shane; DURKIN, Tom(6); HUNTER, Brock(8) and
SCHROEDER, Casey; BEAIRD, Matt. Presbyterian College - CHOCK, Tanner; HAYES, Trey(6);
THOMPSON, Russell(7); DEAL, Hayden(8); SAUER, David(9) and BURT, Patrick; KOSKI, Rob.
Win-SAWCZAK, Shane(2-3) Loss-CHOCK, Tanner(2-3) T-2:51 A-380
Weather: Mid-70s, wind NNW 10 mph
