CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team returns to the diamond on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. road contest against Wofford from Russell C. King Field in Spartanburg on ESPN+.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (13-20) at Wofford (23-8)
WHERE: Russell C. King Field (Spartanburg, S.C.)
WHEN: 5 pm (Tues.)
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Wofford Leads 18-17
FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Sidearm Stats
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+
LIVE AUDIO: Fox Sports Spartanburg (98.3 FM, 1400 AM)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES
ON THE MOUND
Tuesday
PC – LHP Mason McDaniel (2-1, 8.46 ERA, 16 K)
WOF – RHP Matthew Marchal (5-1, 4.68 ERA, 45 K)
About the Blue Hose
• The Blue Hose hit the road for the first of four straight on Tuesday against Wofford looking to avenge a 16-3 defeat to the Terriers from a few weeks back in Clinton. PC comes off a weekend that saw the Blue Hose tag #14 Campbell with its first league loss while Wofford took two-of-three from ETSU over the weekend.
Scouting Wofford
• Wofford comes in with a 23-8 record including a 4-2 SoCon mark following the Terriers series win over ETSU. Ryan Galanie leads the Terriers hitting at a .425 clip which sits inside the top 20 in the NCAA with nine doubles and nine homers along with a team-high 36 runs knocked in. Cameron Gill comes in with a .393 average. Trey Yunger leads the Terriers with 15 stolen bases as Marsahall Toole and Galanie have 13 apiece. Renwick is tops in NCAA with 15 sacrifices. On the mound, Holden Wilder has allowed one earned run over five innings to lead the Terriers in ERA. Lucas Mahlstedt is 4-0 with a 2.11 ERA over 13 outings he's tossed 47 innings with five walks compared to 41 strikeouts. Wofford currently leads the NCAA in walks allowed per nine innings (1.61) and sacrifice bunts (49).
Head to Head vs Wofford
• Wofford and PC have met 35 times in the Blue Hose DI history with the head-to-head series being led by the Terriers at 18-17. Wofford enters Wednesday's tilt winning the last five matchups including a 16-3 win a few weeks ago in Clinton.
• The Presbyterian College baseball team fell in non-conference play on Wednesday by the score of 16-3 against the visiting Wofford Terriers at the PC Baseball Complex. Fahr led the offense on Wednesday with two hits including his fourth double of the season which opened the offense. With his two-run single, Rios tallied his first multi-RBI game of his college career.
Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Jack Gorman enters the contest on Tuesday tied for eighth in the league with nine doubles.
• Kyle Decker is tied for ninth in the league with 11 steals. Decker is tied for second in league games with six steals as the fifth-year senior has gone 6-for-7.
• Fahr is tied for the top spot in the league with three triples on the season.
• Tanner Smith is atop the league in saves with six. Luke Gibson is eighth in the league with a pair of saves.
• Charlie McDaniel is tops in the Big South with a 6.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. McDaniel is tops in the conference with 1.26 walks allowed per nine innings.
• Colbey Klepper is third in the league and sixth in the nation in appearances with 19 on the season.
• As a team, PC leads the conference with nine saves led by Smith with six saves.
Late Offense & Solid Pitching Pushes PC to a DH Split with #14 Campbell
• Behind a three-run bottom of the eighth highlighted by a two-run double from Senior Kyle Merkle, the Presbyterian College baseball team was able to take game two by the score of 3-1 from #14 Campbell on Thursday night at the PC Baseball Complex. The Camels took game one by the score of 14-7 before the Blue Hose game two triumph. Merkle finished with five runs knocked in during the doubleheader highlighted by his game-winning two-run double in the late going on Thursday night.
• PC's victory in game two marks the first win over a ranked opponent since April 14, 2015, when the Blue & Garnet downed the #27 ranked South Carolina. It's the highest win over a ranked opponent since 2012 when the Blue Hose defeated UCF who was ranked #13 at the time of the win. The win is the second in eight tries for the Blue Hose in defeating a ranked opponent on their home field. PC's last home win over a ranked opponent was in April of 2009 when the Blue Hose downed #19, Coastal Carolina.
Smith Goes Back-to-Back with Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week Honors
• Following two Big South saves in the Blue Hose series win over Charleston Southern, Presbyterian College baseball senior Tanner Smith (Laurens, S.C.) has been Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week for the second straight week for games played March 20-26, as announced by the league office on Monday.
• Smith opened the week with three strikeouts over 1.1 scoreless frames at home against Davidson. He opened the outing with a walk before recording three strikeouts over the next five batters to earn the scoreless outing.
• He carried his momentum into Friday's outing with a scoreless inning totaling two strikeouts and facing one over the minimum in the ninth of the Blue Hose 6-3 win over CSU to earn his fourth save. He needed just 16 pitches to get out of the inning against the Bucs.
• He bounced back on Saturday he needed just 12 pitches and worked around a leadoff hit by pitch to record his second save in as many games as PC clinched the series with a 2-1 victory. Smith tallied a strikeout in the inning of work on Saturday.
• Smith has not allowed an earned run over his last 8.1 innings as the senior has totaled 12 strikeouts and allowed three hits in that stretch. He continues to lead the Blue Hose bullpen with a minuscule 1.12 ERA over his 16 innings of work this season. He is currently tied for 15th in the nation with his five saves
• He becomes the first Blue Hose player to earn back-to-back Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week honors since last April 4 & 11 when Logan Ymker earned two straight honors.his third save of the season and give PC the 7-6 league opening win.
