Reliever Kelly McLain improved to 4-0 while fanning six in three innings of relief Friday night. |
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Niners Baseball Wins on Bases-Loaded Walk in Tenth, 5-4 over Duquesne
April 25, 2008
Charlotte, N.C. - Charlotte elicited a bases-loaded walk by closer Danny Brown in the bottom of the tenth and won 5-4 over visiting Duquesne in Atlantic 10 baseball action Friday night to start a weekend series at Robert and Mariam Hayes Stadium. Charlotte improves 31-10 overall and 12-4 in the A-10, alone in first place. The Dukes have dropped four straight conference decisions and fall to 16-22 overall, 10-6 in league play.
The win was the sixth for Charlotte in its last at-bat, and second-straight victory in the final bottom-half.
The Dukes got the scoring started in the first inning, tallying three hits off of freshman Joe Yermal in the opening frame. Catcher Derek Mechling hit a leadoff double down the left field line and scored on a single by Mike Carroll to put Duquesne up 1-0.
That score held until the fourth, when Charlotte tied the game on an RBI groundout by right fielder Alan Parks, who brought home Corey Shaylor after he hit a leadoff double and advanced to third on a balk by Dukes starter Ryan Juran.
Duquesne took the lead back in the fifth. After Mechling was hit by a pitch, Carroll hit a towering home run down the left field line on a 1-0 pitch to put the Dukes up 3-1. He drove in a game-high three runs.
Charlotte scratched back to tie again in the bottom half of the fifth. To lead off the inning, third baseman Aaron Bray walked and shortstop Shayne Moody singled up the middle. Center fielder Brad McElroy brought home Bray when he reached on an infield error and catcher Chris Taylor plated Moody with a sacrifice fly to center for the tying run at 3-3.
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In the sixth, Duquesne scored a run on a pair of hits and an error. Dukes center fielder Eric Morrison came home from third with the bases loaded on a ground ball double play by Andrew Heck.
The Niners tied the game in the eighth on a line-drive solo homer by Chris Taylor. It was his team-leading 14th of the season, driving in his team-best 54th run of the season.
Duquesne starter Ryan Juran lasted to the tenth inning, but gave up a walk and a single down the first base line before being lifted after 113 pitches. He left runners at the corners for closer Danny Brown, who got a groundout, but walked O'Brien Taylor and then Parks for the deciding run. Parks got the game-winning RBI, as he Chris Taylor tied the team-high with two each.
Yermal lasted seven innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on eight hits and two walks, striking out three.
The winning run was charged to Juran, who absorbed the loss (4-6). He scattered 11 hits and a pair of walks, with two strikeouts. All five runs were earned.
Reliever Kelly McLain pushed his record to 4-0. He saw no baserunners, while striking out six hitters in his three perfect innings of relief.
Moody had the game-high three hits for Charlotte, which has scored five or more runs in 34 of 41 games this season.
Charlotte and Duquesne will try to get in game two Saturday, with a scheduled first-pitch at 2 p.m.
NOTES:
- Taylor's homer extended his career-best season total and is the most for a Niner in a season since Jamie Rusco hit 14 blasts in 2005.
- His 14 also tie for fifth-most in team history with three other players.
- Taylor's 54 RBI are the second-most in his career, closing in on his 65 from 2007.
- With two hits, Shaylor passed McElroy for the team batting lead, at .393 for the season.
- Charlotte has hit 28 of 44 homers at home this year (64 percent).
- Charlotte has outscored opponents 7-5 in extra innings this season.
- Lyerly's hit in the tenth extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games, fourth longest on the team this season.
