Senior Chris Taylor belted two homers and drove in six runs in a blowout win at UMass Friday. |
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Chris Taylor Records Fourth Two-Homer Game of Season in 18-3 Win at Massachusetts
April 18, 2008
Amherst, Mass. - The Charlotte 49ers broke out with 22 hits, including a pair of home runs by senior catcher Chris Taylor and freshman Joe Yermal tossed his second complete game of the season in an 18-3 win over Massachusetts on the road in Atlantic 10 baseball at Earl Lorden Field Friday afternoon. The Niners are 28-8 overall and 10-3 in league play. UMass dropped to 11-16 on the season, 4-9 in the A-10.
A loss by Duquesne to Temple on Friday put Charlotte back into a tie for first place in the A-10.
The two homers by Taylor was the third time this season he has hit a pair out of the ballpark. He drove in six runs to tie his season and career-high mark. Taylor drove in six with a pair of homers at No. 3 South Carolina in March of this season.
The Niners posted five runs for Yermal in the first before he took the field. The first three batters reached base on a double by Aaron Bray, a single for Shayne Moody and a walk to Brad McElroy. Taylor brought them all home with a double. He was brought home on a Corey Shaylor sacrifice and O'Brien Taylor hit a line-drive home run to left center for the fifth run of the opening frame.
The first of Chris Taylor's homers came in the second. After McElroy reached second on two errors, Taylor blasted a 1-0 pitch from Minutemen starter Mitchell Clegg to right, giving Charlotte a 7-0 lead.
McElroy got his first hit of two for the day in the fourth, giving him a hit in 28 consecutive games, clearing Keith English from 1995 for the second-longest in school history.
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Charlotte scored six more runs in the sixth, with two homers in that frame. Chris Taylor hit a leadoff homer, his team-leading and career-high 12th of the season, to right center on another 1-0 pitch from Clegg. After a flyout, Clegg gave up two singles through the middle before he was lifted for freshman Garrett Butt. The youngster gave up an RBI double to outfielder Cory Tilton and a home run down the left field line to first baseman Alex Burt, his second of the season. Bray then singled and Moody doubled to put up a six on the scoreboard.
In the bottom half, Massachusetts scored their first run against Yermal on two hits and a hit batter.
The Niners got that one back in the sixth, when Burt had an RBI single to left to score O'Brien Taylor from second. Burt later added his fifth RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
UMass was able to score two more on a two-run homer by second baseman Adam Tempesta in the sixth, but the Niners added three more in the eighth and a run in the ninth on an RBI by Tilton to get to 18 runs.
All nine starters for Charlotte had at least two hits and one run scored. Moody, Tilton and both Taylors had three hits, and O'Brien Taylor has the game high of four runs.
Yermal allowed just six hits and one walk, with five strikeouts to improve to 7-0. He has a complete game in two of his last three starts, all in conference play, tossing 23.1 innings in that span. His season ERA is 2.59 with 32 strikeouts.
Clegg took the loss, dropping to 1-4. He was tagged for eight earned runs on 10 hits and two walks, with one strikeout. All four pitchers gave up at least one run in the contest.
Charlotte revisits UMass for a 1 p.m. Saturday game.
NOTES: Chris Taylor has hit two homers in a game four times in his last 38 games, including two in the Columbia, S.C. regional in the elimination game against North Carolina State last June. He belted two against Cleveland State on March 1, and two more against Saint Louis on March 22. He also passed McElroy for the team lead in doubles, now at 14. He is slugging at .717 with 49 RBI and a .372 batting average. He led the A-10 in RBI coming in to the week. McElroy's two hits give him 17 multi-hit games and his pair of runs puts him at 13 multi-run games during his 28-game hit streak, improving his batting average from .219 to .401 in the stretch. He has a hit in 33 of Charlotte's 36 contests this year.
