March 22, 2007

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, N.C.—A balk called in the eighth inning broke a 1-1 tie and Wingate University added three runs in the ninth to pull out a 5-1 non-conference baseball victory over host St. Andrews Presbyterian College on Thursday afternoon at Clark Field.

The Bulldogs, winners of four straight games, evened their overall record at 15-15 while the Knights fell to 12-21 after dropping their sixth consecutive decision.

Wingate senior second baseman Shaughn Neal (Matthews, N.C.) doubled to lead of the top of the eighth inning and later scored from third when the home plate umpire made a late balk call on the St. Andrews pitcher. Neal added two insurance runs for the Bulldogs with a two-run triple in the ninth.

St. Andrews grabbed an early lead with a run in the bottom of the second. Junior Chad Heckler (Sidney, Ohio) led off with a walk and advanced to third on a freshman Sam Williams (Rockingham, N.C.) double down the left field line. Junior Eric Stone (Laurinburg, N.C.) drove in Heckler with a groundout that put the Knights on top.

Senior Josh Benton (Gold Hill, N.C.) tied the contest up at 1-1 with a solo homer run in the top of the sixth that set up the late inning rally for Wingate. Benton ripped his eighth blast of the season over the center field fence. After Neal hit his two-run triple to right-center in the ninth inning, he scored on a single by Benton to conclude the visitors scoring.

Sophomore right-hander Brian Karcewski (Downingtown, Pa.) improved to 4-1 on the season after only giving up one hit in 1 2/3 innings of work. Freshman Bryan Bialecki (Richlands, N.C.) had a game-high seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings from the starters roll for Wingate.

Freshman starter Mark Dlugoienski (Naples, Fla.) pitched five scoreless innings for the Knights in the no-decision while ringing up six strikeouts. Freshman Jordan Cudney (Charlotte, N.C.) took the loss allowing four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings of action.

The Bulldogs doubled-up the Knights with a 12-6 hit advantage including two hits from Neal, Benton, sophomore Nick Siega-Riz (Clemmons, N.C.), and freshman Grayson Tanner (Sumter, S.C.).

St. Andrews will visit conference rival Anderson University in three-game CVAC series this weekend. Saturday’s doubleheader will begin at 12 Noon while Sunday’s finale is slated for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.