 |
 Redshirt sophomore left-hander Drew Saberhagen tosses seven solid innings but did not receive a decision on Sunday at East Carolina. |
 |
March 4, 2007
Greenville, N.C. - East Carolina's Brandon Henderson drove in teammate Dale Mollenhauer from first base with an RBI, walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon to lead the Pirates to a 3-2 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts in the final game of the 2007 Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
Western (6-4) went 1-2 in the three-day event with a win over 20th-ranked N.C. State in the opener on Friday before back-to-back close losses to the 12th-ranked Pepperdine Waves, 3-1 on Saturday, and the one-run defeat to the host Pirates on Sunday.
After opening the ninth with a groundout, WCU closer Greg Holland (0-1) allowed a single to right field on an 0-1 pitch to Mollenhauer before striking out first baseman Stephen Batts on three-straight pitches. Henderson, though, lifted a two-out double down the right field line to score Mollenhauer from first to end the game.
Holland was the tough luck loser, surrendering just two hits and the lone earned run in an inning of work with one strikeout. Left-handed starter Drew Saberhagen scattered 11 Pirate hits, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings
East Carolina (7-6) opened up its half of the first inning with a lead-off double followed by a single and a hit batsman to load the bases with no outs. Saberhagen, however, forced the next three batters to fly out, ending the early Pirate threat.
Western opened the scoring in the fourth inning on a two run double by junior Steven Strausbaugh. Juniors Jason Haynes and Blake Murphy reached base after being hit by Pirate starting pitcher Josh Dowdy before Strausbaugh hit one to the gap in left center to plate the first two runs of the game.
With one aboard in the home half of the sixth inning, the Pirates answered with a two-run home run by catcher David Forbes knotting the score at two apiece. The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth when Henderson delivered the game-winning RBI.
WCU struggled at the plate on Sunday, only mustering three hits off of Pirate pitching. Haynes finished the game 1-for-2 with a strikeout and was hit by two pitches to reach base. Freshman third baseman Nick Liles was 1-for-3 with Strausbaugh's double in the fourth rounding Western's hits.
East Carolina tallied 13 hits on the afternoon, stranding 11 base runners.
The Catamounts wrap up their five-game road swing this Tuesday (March 6) when they will face former Southern Conference foe, East Tennessee State, at 3:00 pm in Johnson City, Tenn. Following the road trip to visit the Bucs, Western will play nine of its next 10 games at home, beginning Wednesday (March 7) with the Mercer Bears at 3:00 pm.
