April 16, 2016

Weisberg passes 300 career wins as No. 9 BSC sweeps Berry

More news about: Birmingham-Southern

Batting

Birmingham-Southern
2B: none
3B: Tyler Wise
HR: Jack Rhodes
Berry
2B: none
3B: none
HR: none
full stats

ROME, Ga.—Picking up his 300th and 301st career victories, Head Coach Jan Weisberg guided the No. 9 Birmingham-Southern baseball team to two wins today to sweep the conference series against Berry on the road.

The Panthers won by the scores of 2-0 and 9-7, coming from behind in the second game today, to move to 29-9 overall and 17-4 in the Southern Athletic Association. The Vikings fell to 25-14 overall and 11-10 in the SAA. The two teams also faced off yesterday evening in game one of the series, with BSC winning 6-3.

Weisberg has been with the BSC program since 2007 and is in his ninth season, amassing 280 career wins at BSC and 21 wins at Transylvania prior to coming to the Hilltop.

GAME 1

  • The Panthers' lone runs of the game happening in the top of the fourth inning when freshman Tyler Hamel sent the ball over the fence for his second home run of the year.
  • BSC got runners to third in the fifth, eighth, and ninth innings, but was unable to score again, and also held the Vikings scoreless the whole way.
  • Junior Ryan Gaines (9-1) pitched the complete-game shutout, giving up five hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
  • Hamel was 3-of-4 at the plate with two RBI; senior Matt Brown went 2-of-4, and seniorTaylor McCracken and freshman A.J. Hunt were both 2-of-5.

GAME 2

  • Both teams scored a run in the first inning, with BSC's score courtesy of a sac-fly by freshman Tyler Wise.
  • Berry pulled ahead in the second, scoring four runs, partly because of a BSC error, to go up 5-1.
  • The Vikings scored on another BSC error in the third to go up 6-1 before the Panthers added two in the top of the fourth thanks to a McCracken RBI single and a sac-fly by junior David Scott, cutting it to 6-3.
  • Berry added one more in the bottom of the fourth for its final run of the game, scoring on a wild pitch.
  • With just two innings left to come back, sophomore Jack Rhodes led off the sixth with a home run, his second of the year.
  • A Brown RBI single after that scored sophomore Brayden Housel, cutting the Berry lead to 7-5.
  • After retiring three straight batters in the bottom of the sixth, the Panthers scored on an error in the top of the seventh to cut it to 7-6, and a Housel RBI single tied things up.
  • A McCracken sac bunt scored the go-ahead run for BSC before a Scott RBI single put the visitors up 9-7.
  • Junior right-hander Easton Fuller sat down three straight Vikings in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the victory for the Panthers; he retired all 11 of the batters that he faced after coming in in the bottom of the fourth.
  • Fuller (2-3) got the win after throwing the final 3.2 innings and giving up no hits or walks.
  • Senior Kyle Royalty started and freshman Jake Cook also saw action on the mound.
  • Housel went 4-of-4 at the plate, while McCracken was 3-of-4 and Scott was 2-of-3.

UP NEXT

  • BSC will face non-conference regional foe Piedmont this Tuesday, April 19, at 6 p.m. at Striplin Field before beginning post-season play next weekend.
  • The Panthers will host one half of the SAA Championship opening round again this year, playing as the top seed and taking on eighth-seeded Sewanee on Friday, April 22, at 6 p.m.