web Charlotte

Oct. 21, 2009

Charlotte, N.C. - The Green team puts itself in position to take a 3-2 series lead as play was halted in the bottom of the sixth inning before game five of the Niner World Series due to class schedules. Green is leading 10-5 entering the bottom of the 6th when play will resume on Thursday.

The game began as a pitchers dual as starters Chad Rothlin and Jordan Hudson cruised through the first two innings. Both pitchers were touched up in the third and neither made it through the fourth.

In the top of the third, Green outfielder Cory Tilton led off with a walk and was followed by a single from Shane Basen. Tilton scored on an RBI single from Kevin Gillespie. Basen later scored thanks to some heady baserunning at third. A short flyout to second was caught, and Basen tagged to began down the line towards home. When the fielder dropped his head, Basen scored easily for the 2-0 Green lead.

White answered three runs in the bottom half to take the lead. Sophomore outfielder Shane Brown reached on a fielding error to lead off the inning. Sophomore Justin Roland doubled Brown home and later scored when Zane Williams hit a towering home run to left field.

Green took control in the fourth with a five-run outburst on three walks and five singles. Tilton, Basen, Gillespie, Zack Dunn, and Ryan Lanzenby each scored to give Green a 7-3 lead.

Green expanded the lead to 10-5 in the top of the sixth off of a pair of singles and an RBI double from Shane Basen, after which the game was halted. White will be coming to bat with Michael Green leading off the bottom of the sixth.

Academics are very highly stressed as can be seen from the Niners track record off the field. Head coach Loren Hibbs has graduated over 90 percent of the players that have played at Charlotte in the last 18 years. The Niners were ranked in the Top Ten percent of the initial NCAA APR report that tracked graduation rate and retention of student athletes entering a four-year institution. Over the course of the study, Charlotte is one of only three schools to appear in the Top Ten percent of the APR and also have a Top Ten winning percentage on the field. Over the past six semesters the Niners have routinely had a team grade point average above a 2.8 and have had semesters where the team GPA has been 3.0 or higher.

Game five will be finished on Thursday at 3 p.m., with a seven-inning game six to follow that afternoon. A game seven, if necessary, will be played on Friday at 3:30 p.m. All games are free of charge and will be played at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium.

	1    2    3    4    5    6    7		 R	 H	E
Green	0    0    2    5    0    3    -		10	11	4
White	0    0    3    0    2    -    - 	 5	 4	3

Series tied 2-2 Michael Green is leading off the bottom of the 6th for the White team when play resumes.