April 18, 2010

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com)- Looking to salvage game in the weekend series, Davidson College pounced on North Carolina Central University 8-0 in the first two innings and cruised to the sweep with a 14-4 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Durham Athletic Park, sending the Eagles to its fifth straight loss.

Davidson came out in the top of the first and immediately put two runs on the scoreboard when Drew Gadaire singled followed by a Danny Weiss walk. Andrew Barna drove in the days first run with an RBI single to center field, and a sacrifice fly by Sam Payne put the Wildcats up 2-0 before the Eagles came to bat.

In the bottom of the first sophomore Akeem Hood (Raleigh, N.C.) singled to begin the frame, but NCCU bats simply could not drive him in after senior Justin Goodson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) bunted him over to second base.

That's when Davidson came in for the kill and scored six runs on five hits and two Eagle errors including a situation where NCCU had DC's James Cerbie picked off but an error by first baseman Derrell Parker (North Miami Beach, Fla.) allowed Cerbie to move to second, followed by a passed ball and he was standing on third with no outs. Wildcat catcher Seth Freeman then hit an RBI double to make it 3-0 and it was all downhill from there. Gadaire and Barna both singled to drive in runs after Weiss was hit by a pitch, and Sam Payne ended the frame with a solo home run to put the Cats up 8-0.

Credit Davidson's pitching in the ballgame as the Eagles after seeing the deficit grow to eight runs could not muster up any offense until the fourth inning after the Wildcats added another run to make it 9-0. NCCU's first run of the game came on the heels of Nate Smith's (Raleigh, N.C.) fifth triple of the season down the right field line. Senior Tim McAllister drove in the Smith on an RBI groundout to Barna and the Eagles averted the shutout trailing 9-1 after four innings.

The Wildcats added a run in the fifth, a run in the seventh, and a run in the ninth to put their total at 14, and the Diamond Eagles finally got some type of offense going in the bottom of the ninth when Edward Pegues (Laurinburg, N.C.) drove in his ninth RBI of the season following a Smith walk, McAllister single, and an Anthony Wilson (Fort Washington, Md.) walk to load the bases. Pinch runner Tim Rennard (Knightdale, N.C.) scored the third Eagle run of the day when sophomore catcher Brandon Strickland (Bunn, N.C.) ground into a double play by Barna and Pegues came around to score the final run for NCCU on the day as senior Kurt Wilson (Riverdale, Ga.) reached on an error by DC third baseman Barna putting the final tally at 14-4 sending the Diamond Eagles to its fifth straight loss.

Glenn Frye (Lillington, N.C.) could not replicate his performance from Tuesday night lasting just four innings and surrendering 10 hits and five earned runs while walking two batters, plunking two more, and striking out just two in the frustrating outing.

NCCU (1-35) managed just seven hits and Hood (2-for-5, one double) and Pegues (2-for-4, one run, one RBI) accounted for four. Smith scored twice for the Eagles and racked up his team-high fourth triple of the year.

The Diamond Eagles have a couple days off to prepare for its next opponent the Charlotte 49ers who enter the week 25-8 overall 10-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. NCCU and Charlotte are scheduled to meet Wednesday evening at 6:00 at the Robert and Mariam Hayes Baseball Stadium.

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