Saturday, March 25, 2006

PACERS SQUEEZE PAST SAINTS IN TWIN BILL

Dahlonega, Ga. – The #10 University of South Carolina Aiken baseball team squeezed two late-inning wins over North Georgia College & State University on a breezy afternoon at the Saints Baseball Complex.

In game one, the Saints (18-16, 1-7 PBC) took control in the third inning when Davy Wallach singled through the left side to lead off.  A sacrifice hit from Dusty Tate and single by Brian Lauderdale advanced Wallach to third.  Another sacrifice hit by Anders Oster brought in the first run of the game giving the Saints a 1-0 lead.

Superb pitching by both Michael Whiting and Pacers’ Peden Rucker kept the game at a standstill until the eighth inning.   Pacers’ Casey Derhak was walked, which resulted in Saints’ pitcher Kyle Potts being brought in to close the game.  After two more walked batters, Brad Johnson doubled to left-center field and scored three runs for the Pacers.  Pacer’s pitcher Nick Wandless closed out the last inning of the game, which gave USC Aiken a 3-1 victory.

Rucker earned the win for the Pacers and tallied four strikeouts in eight innings pitched.  Wandless earned his eighth save of the season.  Potts received the loss.

In game two, the Pacers’ starting pitcher Gary Lee halted any offensive attack from the Saints holding them scoreless until the sixth inning.  The Pacers’ offense jumped into action in the third as Derhak singled to bring in Marc Joehnk to score, giving the Pacers a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth, Ian Kowalchuk hit a deep sacrifice fly to bring in another run.

The Saints’ offense scored two runs in the sixth off an error by Johnson, which tied the game 2-2 heading into the last inning of regulation play.  Both pitchers kept any runs from scoring and took the game into an extra inning.  The Pacers scored a run off of a suicide squeeze and Wandless finished the night in short order giving the Pacers’ a 3-2 win.

Lee earned the win and Wandless tallied his second save of the night.  Cory Gilleland took the loss for the Saints with 7.2 innings of work.

Box Score, Game 1

Box Score, Game 2

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