HIGH POINT, N.C. - #3 Charleston Southern took down #6 Presbyterian in the opening day of the Big South Championship on Wednesday afternoon. The Buccaneers won the game 12-2 with the offense tallying nine runs between the first two innings and lights out pitching from Parks Ledwell and Chris Foster helping to seal the result.
In the first, Presbyterian tallied a run in the top of the first for an early lead, their only of the game. The bottom half of the inning saw the early momentum the Blue Hose built get surrendered to the Buccaneers as they tallied four in their half. Kain Collins and Kaden Smith each had singles and Tuupo moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. After this, Charleston Southern picked up three consecutive RBI singles with AJ Martin, Aidan McAskie and Nathan Martinez each having one while Martinez' scored two.
In the second, the Buccaneers went on to score five more with the first four batters reaching first safely. Lew Rice had a leadoff walk followed by Blake Edgmon drawing a hit by pitch. Collins had an RBI single through the left side to score Rice. Smith reloaded the bases and Tuupo had an RBI groundout after it. This led to the first pitching change for the Blue Hose. AJ Martin had a double to center field as the first batter to face to new pitcher to score Collins and he was brought home on a McAskie two-run home run off the videoboard in right field.
Charleston Southern tallied another two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as Rice had an RBI triple and Edgmon had a sacrifice fly to push the scoreline to 11-1.
The two teams traded a run in the seventh inning. Chris Foster entered the game during this inning to follow the tremendous start by Parks Ledwell. Foster inherited the bases loaded with one out and retired both of the Presbyterian batters he faced by strikeouts to prevent any more damage being done. In the Charleston Southern half, Rice had a sacrifice fly to center field that scored McAskie and got the lead back to double digits at 12-2 which proved to be the final.
Ledwell improved to 3-2 on the season as he tossed a season-long 6.1 innings. He allowed just three hits during his time on the mound and gave up two earned runs while striking out three batters. Foster was the only other pitcher used and threw a scoreless 2.2 frames, allowing just two baserunners, each off a hit and struck out five batters.
Collins and Martin tied for the team-lead in hits with three apiece while McAskie and Martinez each had two. McAskie finished the day with three runs scored and three RBIs as well. Collins, Martin and Rice each touched home twice with Martin, Rice and Martinez each driving two runs home themselves. As a team, they finished with 13 hits, four walks drawn and two hit by pitches.
#3 Charleston Southern returns to Truist Point tomorrow afternoon to face #2 High Point. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. with the game to be available live on ESPN+. The winner of the contest will be off for the remainder of the day and face the winner of #1 USC Upstate and #5 Winthrop on Friday at 11:00 a.m. while the loser could be playing that evening, depending on the result of the previously mentioned matchup.