UNCW edges Charleston; plays for CAA Baseball title Saturday

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WWAY) — UNCW beat the College of Charleston Friday in the winner’s bracket game of the double elimination CAA Baseball Tournament. UNCW is the only team without a loss so far in the tourney.

The Seahawks rallied to beat the Cougars 4-3 in 10 innings.

UNCW advances to the championship round Saturday at 1 p.m. in Mount Pleasant, SC. (It’ll be a rematch with the Cougars).  If UNCW wins on Saturday they’ll be the CAA champions. If Charleston wins on Saturday the two teams will meet again on Sunday to determine which team gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

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MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (UNCW) — Andy Austin’s two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the 10th plated Corey Dick with the eventual game-winning run as UNCW advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association Baseball championship with a 4-3 win over College of Charleston on Friday at Patriots Point.

The Seahawks ran their record to 38-16 with their fifth consecutive win. Thirteenth-ranked CofC dropped to 42-12. UNCW will play for the championship on Saturday at 1 p.m.

UNCW held the Cougars to a season-low three hits as starter Evan Phillips and Jordan Ramsey combined for 11 strikeouts. Phillips limited CofC to two hits, walked three and struck out eight over 6.1 innings. Ramsey picked up the win to improve to 8-2 by holding the Cougars to a hit over 3.2 innings.

Kennard McDowell led the UNCW lineup with three hits and a run batted in. McDowell’s RBI double in the fifth broke a scoreless deadlock. Gavin Stupienski, Corey Dick and Luke Dunlap each added two hits as UNCW finished with a 12-3 advantage in the hit column.

Reliever Nathan Helvey (7-4) was the hard-luck loser, allowing the winning run, unearned, on four hits and a walk over 2.2 innings. Starter Brandon Glazer went seven strong innings, allowing a run on six hits and struck six.

Alex Pastorius went 1-for4 and knocked in the go-ahead runs for Charleston in a three-run seventh. Ryan Brown and Erven Roper added hits.

How it happened: In the fateful 10th, Dick drew a one-out walk and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. With two outs, Terence Connelly extended the inning, reaching on a CofC fielding error. Austin would follow with his sixth pinch hit of the season, dropping a ball into short rightfield to score Dick.

Inside the box score: Charleston did not get a leadoff hitter on base safely in any inning … UNCW finished with three two-out RBI’s while Charleston had two … All three of CofC’s hits came with two out … UNCW totaled seven two-out hits … Neither team excelled with RISP, UNCW was 3-for-15 while CofC was 1-for-6.

Notes: The Seahawks advance to the championship game for the first time since 2012 and their sixth time overall … UNCW has won the conference tournament on three occasions … The win was the first in four attempts this season against Charleston and the second all-time at Patriots Point (2-7) … Terence Connelly pushed his on base streak to 25 games and Corey Dick extended his hitting streak to eight games … Charleston entered the game 39-0 when leading after seven innings … UNCW moved to 13-14 when tied or trailing after seven innings … UNCW scored once in the fifth and twice in the eighth, its highest scoring innings of the season … In his last three appearances, two being starts, Phillips has a 1.06 ERA, struck out 19 in 17 innings and limited opponents to a .210 batting average.