February 19, 2016

No. 8 Baseball downs Greenville in home opener, 4-1

More news about: Birmingham-Southern

Batting

Greenville
2B: none
3B: none
HR: none
Birmingham-Southern
2B: Taylor McCracken; A.J. Hunt; Nathan Qualls
3B: none
HR: none
full stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Featuring another strong performance by junior Ryan Gaines on the mound, the No. 8 Birmingham-Southern baseball team defeated Greenville, 4-1, Friday afternoon at Striplin Field.

BSC moved to 3-1 in its home opener, while Greenville fell to 0-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • BSC got on the board in the bottom of the first after senior Taylor McCracken led off with a single to right field and advanced to second on a balk and third on a strikeout. Senior Matt Brown then grounded out to bring McCracken home and put the Panthers up 1-0.
  • The Panthers added another in the bottom of the third, with sophomore Brayden Housel leading off with a single and then going to second on a Greenville error. A McCracken ground-out put Housel on third before a Brown RBI single plated Housel to put BSC up 2-0.
  • BSC went up 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth when freshman Tyler Wise scored on a ground-out by freshman Preston White.
  • Greenville got on the board in the top of the sixth, scoring on a BSC error to cut it to 3-1.
  • BSC answered in the bottom of the sixth after senior Nathan Qualls led off with a double; a ground-out from junior Jack Rhodes moved Qualls to third, and an RBI single up the middle by Housel plated Qualls to extend the lead to 4-1 in what would be the final run of the game.
  • Greenville's lead-off hitter walked in the top of the ninth, and after a foul-out, BSC ended the game by turning a double play.

NOTABLE

  • Junior right-hander Ryan Gaines had another outstanding game, throwing seven innings and giving up three hits and no earned runs with 10 strikeouts to move to 2-0.
  • Sophomore right-hander Ross James pitcher the final two innings and picked up his first save of the year.
  • Housel was 2-3 at the plate and McCracken was 2-5, while Brown led with two RBI.
  • BSC out-hit Greenville 8-3, with 11 Greenville batters being struck out.

UP NEXT

  • Greenville will take on Transylvania tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Striplin Field, and BSC and Greenville will face off again tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. BSC will then take on Transy at 5:30 p.m.