Shayne Moody's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth lifted Charlotte to a 9-2 A-10 record Saturday. |
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Niners Get Fourth Win in Final Home At-Bat in 6-5 Win over Xavier
April 12, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - The Charlotte 49ers evened their Atlantic 10 baseball series on a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth by shortstop Shayne Moody as Charlotte outlasted Xavier 6-5 Saturday afternoon at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium. The Niners improved to 27-6, and went back into a tie for first in the A-10 with Duquesne at 9-2. Xavier dropped to 13-17 and 7-4 in league play.
In the eighth inning, center fielder Brad McElroy used a solo home run in his final at-bat to extend his hit streak to 25 games, two shy of the second-longest run in school history.
After falling in the series opener Friday, the Niners staved off consecutive losses, a streak that has reached 94-straight games, dating back to the end of the 2006 season.
Charlotte got on the board first in the bottom of the third with the first career home run by freshman catcher Ross Steedley. He hit a laser to left on a 1-1 pitch with two outs in the inning.
Xavier finally got to starter Zach Rosenbaum in the fifth inning. Adam Pasono was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and second baseman Drew Schmidt sacrificed him to third after a balk. Left fielder Steve Brown drove him home with a single up the middle to tie the game. Rosenbaum allowed another hit, but quelled the threat by leaving two on base to end the inning. He did not get a decision in the contest.
Charlotte added runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Steedley drove in a right fielder Alan Parks from third with a sacrifice fly, while first baseman Rob Lyerly doubled in McElroy from second in the sixth.
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In the eighth, Xavier got one run back on a pair of hits. Jordan Conley lined a controversial leadoff triple down the line that caused the third base umpire to dive out of the way spill to the ground. After much discussion and huddling amongst coaches and umpires, the call stood. Reliever Luke Stahl recorded two outs, Pasono lined a ball off of Stahl's ankle to bring home Conley.
In the bottom half, McElroy fouled off several pitches to get the 1-2 pitch he liked and launched it down the left field line for the homer and to keep the hit streak alive.
In the ninth, Steve Brown hit a leadoff single that caromed off of the jaw of reliever Sam Pierce, who had to be walked to an ambulance. He had the wherewithal to try to throw to first, but the ball got away for an error, putting Brown at second. Pierce was lifted for B.J. Hagen, who gave up two straight singles to left center, the second by Zac Richard to score Brown. Conley hit a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner John McCambridge and pinch hitter Sean Farrell doubled to tie game by bringing home pinch runner Nick Egloff.
Corey Shaylor punched a one-out single to center in the bottom of the ninth and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Steedley. Aaron Bray was intentionally walked for Moody, who lifted the 0-1 pitch to left center off of reliever David Hartman to score Shaylor from second and win the game. Hartman took the loss for Xavier for his first decision of the year.
Charlotte pitched its way out of some jams, with Rosenbaum stranding two runners on base three times of Xavier's 12 left on for the game. Rosenbaum was tagged with only one run on six hits, two walks and three hit batters. He recorded two strikeouts.
Xavier starter Michael Lucas gave up three runs on eight hits and one walk. He struck out three in six innings for his no-decision.
Kelly McLain got the win by finishing the ninth. He gave up a hit and struck out a batter to improve to 3-0 this season.
Xavier's Brown and designated hitter Bobby Freking had three singles each to lead the team.
Moody had three hits to lead the Niners. Lyerly and Steedley had the game high with two RBI each.
The deciding game of the series is Sunday, with a noon start time.
NOTES: It was the third game-winning hit for Moody at home this season of four game-winning hits this season (Aaron Bray has the fourth), who hit a two-RBI double to beat Saint Louis in 10 innings at home on March 22 and a two-RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to beat Cleveland State on March 2. Charlotte has not lost consecutive games since the last two of the 2006 season at their first Atlantic 10 Tournament. Charlotte's pair of home runs totals 27 at home (out of 34 overall). Charlotte now has 10 multi-homer games in 2008, already outpacing last year's total of six. Charlotte has the same record through 33 games as it did in last year's record-setting 49-12 season.
