HIGH POINT, N.C. – #3 Charleston Southern eliminated #5 Winthrop and #2 High Point on Friday at Truist Point in the Big South Baseball Championships to punch their ticket to Saturday's finals against #1 USC Upstate. They defeated the Eagles to start the day by a 13-12 final score after 11 innings which was followed by an 18-8 ballgame against the Panthers to avenge their loss yesterday. Additionally, the second victory of the day knocked the defending champions out of the tournament and secures that a new winner will be crowned in 2025.
GAME ONE – The Buccaneers claimed the opening game by a 13-12 scoreline, needing extra innings to get the win and overcoming a four-run deficit in the final three innings. They were never able to take the lead in the contest until they scored the game-winner in the eleventh.
Each team got off to an incredible start by tallying four runs in the first inning. In the Charleston Southern half, Chandler Tuupo got the action started with a two-run home run to left field. It was followed by a sacrifice fly by Nathan Martinez to bring AJ Martin home and a single by Lucas Pringle through the right side to tie it up at four apiece.
In the second, Winthrop regained the lead off a sacrifice fly. Charleston Southern tied it back in the third off a wild pitch that allowed Aidan McAskie to score from third. The two teams traded two run frames in the fourth followed by a single run each in the fifth. The Buccaneers got theirs off McAskie with two RBIs off a fielder's choice and an RBI double by Kaden Smith.
The Eagles stretched their lead back to four as in the sixth and seventh they had two runs in each. In the Buccaneers' half, Smith had a two RBI double followed by Martin with an RBI fielder's choice to cut it to one. Charleston Southern was able to tie it in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded on a McAskie groundout to first.
The Buccaneers tallied the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eleventh with them getting the bases reloaded. On the first pitch of Martin's at bat, he was hit by the pitch to score Collins and clinch a spot in the nightcap for their rematch with #2 High Point.
Smith led the team with four hits on the day and tied for the team-lead in RBIs with three alongside McAskie. Collins scored four times for the most on the squad as he collected three hits while Tuupo and McAskie each added two. As a team, they had 15 hits, eight walks drawn and five hit by pitches with Martin getting hit by three in it.
On the mound, Ryan Cole earned the starting nod and had 3.2 innings of work and picked up four strikeouts in it. Tyler Henshaw was the first out of the bullpen and threw 2.2 frames. Christian Krause and Kyle Lewis then split the remaining 4.2 of the game to shut the door on the Eagles offense. Krause had 1.1 of work, allowing two hits and a walk. Lewis then stepped in and threw 3.1 recording four strikeouts and retiring all 10 batters he faced.
GAME TWO – Lew Rice tied the single-game school record for RBIs by an individual with eight for #3 Charleston Southern to rout #2 High Point on Friday evening. The game ended with a score of 18-8 for the Buccaneers to avenge their 15-14 extra-inning, walk-off loss to them the night prior.
The Panthers got out to a big six-run lead in the game by tallying all of these in their half of the first inning. Charleston Southern did not flinch, scoring in the top of the second inning for their first on a double steal with Lucas Pringle trying for second and Nathan Martinez going home.
After this, the Buccaneers went off for eight runs in the top of the third inning for their first lead of the day. The scoring started with Kaden Smith having an RBI double down the left field line to score Collins which was followed by RBI singles by Chandler Tuupo, Aidan McAskie and Nathan Martinez. Lew Rice capped off the frame with a grand slam for his first hit of the day to give Charleston Southern a 9-6 advantage. High Point cut into the lead during their half of the inning with a pair of runs to bring the score to 9-8.
After this, however, the Panthers were unable to score for the rest of the night while the Buccaneers went on to score nine unanswered to push the scoreline to 18-8. In the fifth, Martin had a two RBI single followed by Rice having a two RBI double for himself in it. In the seventh, they tallied four more runs with a Martinez RBI walk, Pringle RBI single and Rice two RBI single. The scoring came to an end in the top of the ninth with Edgmon sending a single up the middle to score Martinez and push their advantage to double digits.
Joel Rodriguez had the start for the Buccaneers and threw the first two innings of the game. Camden Chalfant entered in the third and threw for the next 6.0 innings to pick up the win. He allowed just one earned run to the nation's top offense while issuing a walk, a hit by pitch and four hits and struck out seven batters. Kyle Lewis ended the game by throwing the ninth and striking out a pair of Panthers.
As a team, Charleston Southern finished with 20 hits, seven walks and three hit batters with everyone in the lineup getting on base at least twice with seven players reaching three of more times. Rice had the team-high of eight RBIs with Martin and Martinez each having two RBIs. Martinez led the team in runs scored with four while Martin and McAskie each did three times.
CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY – The victories on Friday punched #3 Charleston Southern's ticket to Saturday's finals where they will face #1 USC Upstate. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch and with a Buccaneers win in that contest, a winner-take-all game for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will occur 45 minutes after the conclusion of it.