Kelly McLain is 5-0 with one save in 10 A-10 appearances this season. |
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Charlotte Logs 22nd Come-From Behind Victory of Season in 8-7 Series-Opening Win Over Richmond
May 8, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - The Charlotte 49ers logged their 22nd comeback win of the season, scoring two in the bottom of the seventh to outlast visiting Richmond 8-7 to open an Atlantic 10 baseball series at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium Thursday night in baseball action. Charlotte slides into first place alone in the league standings by a half-game with the victory. The Niners are now 35-13, 15-7 in league play. Richmond falls to 19-26-2, and a 9-12-1 league record.
The Spiders got out to an early lead off of Charlotte starter Joe Yermal, scoring three runs off him in 3.1 innings and adding two more off of reliever B.J. Hagen in the fourth on a two-RBI double by Mike Mergenthaler to get a 5-0 lead after four innings.
Charlotte stormed back to a tie with five in the bottom of the fourth on five hits, including a solo home run for Rob Lyerly, his 13th blast of the season. O'Brien Taylor drove in two or his three RBI with a single in the fourth which got the game tied.
The Spiders added a run in the fifth on a Ryan Metzroth single and extended the lead to two with an RBI single from second baseman Chris Cuppia in the sixth inning.
The Niners produced a run in the sixth, as Taylor drove in first baseman Alex Burt from third, after he doubled and got there on a fielding error in that frame.
The game-winning run came on a pair of errors in the seventh. Second baseman Corey Shaylor singled to right and third baseman Aaron Bray walked, both with one out in the inning. On a double steal attempt, Spider catcher Evan Stehle threw the attempt to catch Shaylor into left field to score the tying run. Left fielder Hank Coogan overran the ball to allow Bray to come home and give Charlotte the lead.
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Neither team could score the rest of the way to finish at 8-7.
Taylor's three RBI were the game-high, with Shaylor, Bray and Burt all scoring twice for Charlotte.
Charlotte reliever Kelly McLain took his record to 5-0 with the win in relief. All five wins have come against conference opponents in comeback wins. He tossed three innings of shutout baseball to close out the game, allowing two walks.
Reliever Josh Horn was the hard-luck loser for Richmond. He gave up one hit and one walk in the last two innings, but neither runs scored on him was earned. Starter Matt Zielinski got a no-decision after six innings, leading most of the way. He left with the 7-5 lead.
The two teams will meet again Friday night at 6 p.m. with junior Zack Rosenbaum opposing senior Alex Hale.
NOTES: Charlotte is 21-6 at home this season, 34-9 all-time since the new park opened last March 30. Charlotte is 56-20 in the Atlantic 10 since joining in the 2006 season. Lyerly's homer was his 33rd extra-base hit in 61 total hits. He is the only Niner with more extra base hits than singles this season. He is slugging at .701, which leads Charlotte. McLain's five wins were versus Saint Louis, at La Salle, versus Xavier, versus Duquesne and Richmond and his save was at Fordham. He is 5-0 with one save in 18 relief appearances, with a relief ERA of 1.27. In 10 conference appearances (all in relief), he has an ERA of 0.73 on 21 strikeouts and five walks, allowing two earned runs in 24.2 innings pitched.
