Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 RALEIGH, NC- The Chowan University baseball team lives to see another day after the first round of play at the CIAA Baseball Championship. The Hawks dropped the opening game in the double-elimination tournament with an 8-7 loss to Virginia State University before surviving a late rally by Saint Augustine's University in elimination play. Chowan advances to Friday's semifinal game where they will face the loser of the Winston-Salem State University and Virginia State University semifinal contest.
In Chowan's first game of the day, the Hawks jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first after an RBI single by
Tanner Woods and three-run homerun by
Aaron Flanagan. Tashaun Taylor's RBI double in the top of the second and Colton Gunn's two-run single in the third put the Trojans back within striking distance before
Stephen Hux's groundout in the third gave the Hawks a 5-3 cushion.
Tyler Burden's groundout in the fourth pushed Chowan ahead 6-3. Virginia State and Chowan exchanged runs in the fifth to make the score 7-4 before a three-run sixth inning by the Trojans knotted the score 7-7. Zachary Jordan hit a sacrifice fly in the eight to give the Trojans an 8-7 edge. The late surge proved to be just enough to secure the win for Virginia State, sending the Hawks into the elimination bracket.
Kyle Cross,
Will Gurganus,
Aaron Flanagan and
Tanner Woods each tallied two hits in the setback.
Evan Hart threw five innings in the game, surrendering nine hits and four runs (four earned) over the course of five innings of work.
Scott Edge, Gurganus and Burden each entered the contest in relief with Gurganus taking the loss.
Chowan grabbed an early lead again in game two, plating three runs in the bottom of the first off of Flanagan's RBI double and Cross' two-run single. Saint Augustine's used an RBI single by Jason Baytop in the third to get on the board before Cross came through with another RBI single and Flanagan scored on a passed ball. Holding a 5-1 lead, Chowan tacked on an additional run in the fourth on a groundout by Woods.
The Falcons dug deep to score five runs off of four hits and one error in the top of the fifth to knot the score 6-6. Alexis Garcia's groundout in the top of the seventh gave the Falcons the go-ahead run but
Josh Martin's two-run double in the seventh restored the advantage to the Chowan Blue and White.
After a scoreless eighth inning, Burden took the mound in the ninth with two runners on and recorded the final three outs to secure the win.
Bobby Mason earned the win on the mound for the Hawks while Burden was credited with the save, his fourth of the season. Cross had three hits and three RBIs in the win while Flanagan tallied two hits in the contest.
Winston-Salem State and Virginia State square off on Friday at 1:00pm. The loser will battle Chowan at 5:00pm. All games will take place at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
