Friday, March 14
Davidson, N.C.
6:00 p.m.
Davidson College
vs
The Citadel
Andrew Pope has seen success batting leadoff
Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com
Davidson Adjusts Weekend Baseball Schedule
3/13/2014 4:13:00 PM | Baseball
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- Davidson will open its three-game series against The Citadel Friday at 6 p.m. on Wilson Field as scheduled, but due to the expected inclement weather Sunday, the two teams will now finish the series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
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- The series was originally scheduled with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. and the finale Sunday at 1 p.m. However, the NOAA weather forecast for Saturday calls for mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 70 degrees, while Sunday's calls for a 100 percent chance of rain, with three quarters to one inch possible, and a high of only 55 degrees.
- The Wildcats are 7-3 at Wilson Field so far this season after sweeping four games in two days this past weekend. The four-game winning streak is the 'Cats longest since 2012 when the they won five straight. All of Davidson's road losses have been to ACC teams, including two that were nationally ranked.
- 1B Ben Arkin leads the Southern Conference with a .424 batting average. RF Nathan Becker ranks third in the nation, second in the conference and tops on the team with six home runs. He also ranks 15th in the nation, fourth in the league and tops on the team in RBIs.
- Becker, SS Sam Foy and 2B Andrew Pope are all riding seven-game hitting streaks. DH Ryan Lowe has reached base in all 13 games.
- CF Forrest Brandt enters as the reigning SoCon Player of the Week. He hit .471 in five games last week and posted a .571 on-base percentage, helping the Wildcats to a 4-1 week. He also had three doubles and one home run among his eight hits, with five runs scored. Brandt also drew four walks. On Sunday, he was 4-for-4 with a walk, five RBIs and three runs scored in the 9-8 win over the Minutemen. Brandt is the first Wildcat to receive the weekly honor since Andrew Barna '13 in 2010.
THE SERIES
LAST WEEK: Davidson squeezed in five games, despite rain forcing a doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, and won the last four. First, No. 15 North Carolina scored nine runs in the final four innings to defeat Davidson, 10-3, Wednesday afternoon in Boshamer Stadium. Davidson out hit North Carolina, 10-9, but issued nine walks to the Tar Heels' two, and also allowed two unearned runs. Ryan Lowe led all batters going 3-for-4, while Ben Arkin (1-for-3), Andrew Pope (1-for-4) and David Daniels (0-for-3) each drove in a run for Davidson. The game was tied 1-1 after the second inning, but UNC broke it in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI-double, and then added four runs the next inning for a 6-1 advantage that they only added to.
Davidson held North Carolina A&T scoreless after the first inning and added runs in the fourth and sixth innings to defeat the Aggies, 3-1, Saturday evening at Wilson Field. RHP Charles Cantrell went the distance for the Aggies, but four Davidson pitchers combined to limit the Aggies to one run, scattering seven hits and six walks, while striking out nine. Sam Foy led the Wildcats with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with one run scored, while left fielder Lee Miller (1-for-2) homered.
Later Saturday night, Davidson scored 11 runs with two outs in the sixth inning en route to a 13-3 victory over Massachusetts. In the decisive inning, Davidson sent 15 batters to the plate with all nine batters in the lineup scoring at least once. Forrest Brandt (2-for-3, 3 RBI) and Nathan Becker (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) scored twice, while Sam Foy (2-for-4, RBI) reached twice with a pair of singles. The 'Cats totaled six hits and six walks in the frame. Pitching was the story early though, as the game was scoreless through five innings. RHP Danny Mooney (2-1) was perfect until allowing a walk in the fifth, and he then allowed two hits and a run in the sixth inning to lose the no-hitter.
Forrest Brandt reached base five times, going 4-for-4 with five RBIs, and Davidson fended off a late rally to complete a two-game series sweep of Massachusetts, 9-8, Sunday. As they did the previous night against UMass, cleanup-hitter Brandt and five-hole batter Becker led the Davidson offense, accounting for all eight RBIs. Brandt's four hits included his first home run of the season and two doubles. Becker went 2-for-5 with his fifth home run of the season and three RBIs. RHP Nick Neitzel (2-0) allowed just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings of work, but the Minutemen nearly erased a seven-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning. RHP Michael Goldberg and RHP Matt Saeta earned the final two outs though to stop the rally.
Davidson completed a four-game weekend sweep of Massachusetts and North Carolina A&T with a 7-4 victory over A&T in the series finale Sunday. Nathan Becker continued a strong weekend at the plate for Davidson, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including his third home run in as many games. When the Wildcats faced their largest deficit of the game to North Carolina A&T, 3-1 after the top of the third inning, Becker drove in a run with a base hit and also advanced Ryan Lowe (1-for-3, BB, RBI) to third, allowing him to score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat and tie the game at 3-3 after three innings. The Aggies went back ahead by one in the sixth inning, but Becker answered by slugging a home run on to the golf course beyond right field to tie the game at 4-4. Andrew Pope (2-for-5, 2 R), then led the seventh inning off with a double to right field, and he scored on an RBI-single by Lowe.
SO LONG SOCON: It is Davidson's final season in the now 10-team Southern Conference, as the Wildcats will move to the Atlantic 10 for the 2015 season. All 10 teams will be included in the SoCon championship tournament in Charleston, but the top-six in the regular season standings will avoid a play-in round.
SENIOR WINS: Senior relievers Justin Charles and Michael Goldberg have both earned their first career wins this season. Charles did it by pitching 0.2 innings against North Carolina A&T (3/9). Goldberg earned his with a perfect inning against Miami (Ohio) (3/2). He began his career in 2010 as an infielder, but primarily became a pitcher as a sophomore in 2011, seeing limited action. Injury cost him all of 2012, but he was able to redshirt. Goldberg made a career-high 13 appearances last season, including two starts, totaling 18.1 innings.
GRIDIRON TO DIAMOND
FLIP-FLOP: After snow forced the cancelation of Davidson's opening series against Buffalo, soggy conditions on Wilson Field also forced Davidson to flip-flop its home-and-home series against Wake Forest. The Wildcats traveled to Wake for their opener when they were supposed to host, but they will now host the Demon Decons on March 18.
LAW OF AVERAGES: Miami (OH) was the first team to shutout Davidson (2/28) since The Citadel did so on May 6, 2012 – a span of 58 games – and the first team to hold Davidson to just one hit since Niagara did so on Mar. 1, 2008 – a span of 294 games. However, Davidson responded the following day (3/1) against Miami with 21 hits, its most in a single game since getting 23 against Mt. St. Mary's on Feb. 28, 2010.
SLAM SUNDAYS: Davidson has now hit two grand slams in the first eight games of the season, with both coming in Sunday series finales. Nathan Becker hit the first against Mount St. Mary's (2/23) in the final game of the 2014 opening weekend, and Ryan Lowe hit a crucial one against Miami (Ohio) (3/2). Lowe's proved to be the first of 12 unanswered runs the 'Cats would score to erase a five-run deficit and win by seven.
WALK THIS WAY: Ryan Lowe tied a school record for walks in a game with four against Mount St. Mary's (2/23). Many have achieved the feat, but Lowe was the first to do it since Michael Zeblo '13 in 2012. He is among the conference leaders in the category with 12 bases on balls this season.
BLANKED: Davidson used five pitchers in its shutout win over Mount St. Mary's (2/23). It was the first time Davidson had five pitchers combine for a shutout since 2009. The final three pitchers used against The Mount - Cody White, Jonathan Carkhuff and Chase Plebani - were making their collegiate pitching debuts.
DOUBLE DUTY: Ryan Lowe is one of 28 players in the country this season that is in the everyday lineup and weekend pitching rotation.
Catching the Action
Admission to Wilson Field is free. Live video and live stats will be available for all three games. Twitter updates will be available from @DavidsonWildcat.
LEADING OFF
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Davidson (7-6, 0-0 SoCon)
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The Citadel (8-9, 0-0 SoCon)
|
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| Friday (6 p.m.) | LHP Rob Bain (5.79, 0-1) | LHP Logan Cribb (4.76, 1-1) |
| Saturday (2 p.m.) | RHP Danny Mooney (1.42, 2-1) | LHP James Reeves (3.38, 2-1) |
| Saturday (45 minutes after) | TBA | TBA |
- Davidson will open its three-game series against The Citadel Friday at 6 p.m. on Wilson Field as scheduled, but due to the expected inclement weather Sunday, the two teams will now finish the series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
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- The series was originally scheduled with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. and the finale Sunday at 1 p.m. However, the NOAA weather forecast for Saturday calls for mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 70 degrees, while Sunday's calls for a 100 percent chance of rain, with three quarters to one inch possible, and a high of only 55 degrees.
- The Wildcats are 7-3 at Wilson Field so far this season after sweeping four games in two days this past weekend. The four-game winning streak is the 'Cats longest since 2012 when the they won five straight. All of Davidson's road losses have been to ACC teams, including two that were nationally ranked.
- 1B Ben Arkin leads the Southern Conference with a .424 batting average. RF Nathan Becker ranks third in the nation, second in the conference and tops on the team with six home runs. He also ranks 15th in the nation, fourth in the league and tops on the team in RBIs.
- Becker, SS Sam Foy and 2B Andrew Pope are all riding seven-game hitting streaks. DH Ryan Lowe has reached base in all 13 games.
- CF Forrest Brandt enters as the reigning SoCon Player of the Week. He hit .471 in five games last week and posted a .571 on-base percentage, helping the Wildcats to a 4-1 week. He also had three doubles and one home run among his eight hits, with five runs scored. Brandt also drew four walks. On Sunday, he was 4-for-4 with a walk, five RBIs and three runs scored in the 9-8 win over the Minutemen. Brandt is the first Wildcat to receive the weekly honor since Andrew Barna '13 in 2010.
THE SERIES
VS. THE CITADEL: Davidson trails in the all-time series, 63-117, but has claimed two out of the past three series, including last season's at "The Joe." Davidson suffered its worse loss of the season in the series opener, but swept a doubleheader the following day. The Bulldogs won the last series in 2012 at Wilson Field after taking the final two games.
SCOUTING THE CITADEL
The Citadel enters conference play with an 8-9 mark in non-conference action, but is 0-3 in true road games. The Bulldogs opened the season with wins over Virginia Tech and No. 8 Louisville, and won a series over Nebraska two weeks ago. Hughston Armstrong leads the team with a .355 batting average, while Bo Thompson has hit three home runs and driven in 18 RBIs. The Citadel was picked to finish second in the SoCon.SCOUTING THE CITADEL
LAST WEEK: Davidson squeezed in five games, despite rain forcing a doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, and won the last four. First, No. 15 North Carolina scored nine runs in the final four innings to defeat Davidson, 10-3, Wednesday afternoon in Boshamer Stadium. Davidson out hit North Carolina, 10-9, but issued nine walks to the Tar Heels' two, and also allowed two unearned runs. Ryan Lowe led all batters going 3-for-4, while Ben Arkin (1-for-3), Andrew Pope (1-for-4) and David Daniels (0-for-3) each drove in a run for Davidson. The game was tied 1-1 after the second inning, but UNC broke it in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI-double, and then added four runs the next inning for a 6-1 advantage that they only added to.
Davidson held North Carolina A&T scoreless after the first inning and added runs in the fourth and sixth innings to defeat the Aggies, 3-1, Saturday evening at Wilson Field. RHP Charles Cantrell went the distance for the Aggies, but four Davidson pitchers combined to limit the Aggies to one run, scattering seven hits and six walks, while striking out nine. Sam Foy led the Wildcats with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with one run scored, while left fielder Lee Miller (1-for-2) homered.
Later Saturday night, Davidson scored 11 runs with two outs in the sixth inning en route to a 13-3 victory over Massachusetts. In the decisive inning, Davidson sent 15 batters to the plate with all nine batters in the lineup scoring at least once. Forrest Brandt (2-for-3, 3 RBI) and Nathan Becker (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) scored twice, while Sam Foy (2-for-4, RBI) reached twice with a pair of singles. The 'Cats totaled six hits and six walks in the frame. Pitching was the story early though, as the game was scoreless through five innings. RHP Danny Mooney (2-1) was perfect until allowing a walk in the fifth, and he then allowed two hits and a run in the sixth inning to lose the no-hitter.
Forrest Brandt reached base five times, going 4-for-4 with five RBIs, and Davidson fended off a late rally to complete a two-game series sweep of Massachusetts, 9-8, Sunday. As they did the previous night against UMass, cleanup-hitter Brandt and five-hole batter Becker led the Davidson offense, accounting for all eight RBIs. Brandt's four hits included his first home run of the season and two doubles. Becker went 2-for-5 with his fifth home run of the season and three RBIs. RHP Nick Neitzel (2-0) allowed just two hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings of work, but the Minutemen nearly erased a seven-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning. RHP Michael Goldberg and RHP Matt Saeta earned the final two outs though to stop the rally.
Davidson completed a four-game weekend sweep of Massachusetts and North Carolina A&T with a 7-4 victory over A&T in the series finale Sunday. Nathan Becker continued a strong weekend at the plate for Davidson, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including his third home run in as many games. When the Wildcats faced their largest deficit of the game to North Carolina A&T, 3-1 after the top of the third inning, Becker drove in a run with a base hit and also advanced Ryan Lowe (1-for-3, BB, RBI) to third, allowing him to score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat and tie the game at 3-3 after three innings. The Aggies went back ahead by one in the sixth inning, but Becker answered by slugging a home run on to the golf course beyond right field to tie the game at 4-4. Andrew Pope (2-for-5, 2 R), then led the seventh inning off with a double to right field, and he scored on an RBI-single by Lowe.
NOTES
BECKER BREAKS OUT: Nathan Becker started all 49 games last season for Davidson and totaled one home run and 14 RBIs. He has six home runs and 19 RBIs through 13 games this season.SO LONG SOCON: It is Davidson's final season in the now 10-team Southern Conference, as the Wildcats will move to the Atlantic 10 for the 2015 season. All 10 teams will be included in the SoCon championship tournament in Charleston, but the top-six in the regular season standings will avoid a play-in round.
SENIOR WINS: Senior relievers Justin Charles and Michael Goldberg have both earned their first career wins this season. Charles did it by pitching 0.2 innings against North Carolina A&T (3/9). Goldberg earned his with a perfect inning against Miami (Ohio) (3/2). He began his career in 2010 as an infielder, but primarily became a pitcher as a sophomore in 2011, seeing limited action. Injury cost him all of 2012, but he was able to redshirt. Goldberg made a career-high 13 appearances last season, including two starts, totaling 18.1 innings.
GRIDIRON TO DIAMOND
- Senior Jonathan Carkhuff became Davidson's all-time passing leader as a four-year starter for the football team, but is now concluding his Wildcat career as a relief pitcher.
- He is one of 20 Division I football players to be playing baseball this season
- Carkhuff and Florida State's Jameis Winston are the only two starting quarterbacks from the 2013 football season to be playing college baseball this season.
- He had not played competitive baseball since high school, where he was an all-area player.
- Carkhuff made his debut against Mount St. Mary's (2/23), contributing to a combined shutout with a scoreless inning in which he surrendered two hits and a walk. He has two appearances so far.
FLIP-FLOP: After snow forced the cancelation of Davidson's opening series against Buffalo, soggy conditions on Wilson Field also forced Davidson to flip-flop its home-and-home series against Wake Forest. The Wildcats traveled to Wake for their opener when they were supposed to host, but they will now host the Demon Decons on March 18.
LAW OF AVERAGES: Miami (OH) was the first team to shutout Davidson (2/28) since The Citadel did so on May 6, 2012 – a span of 58 games – and the first team to hold Davidson to just one hit since Niagara did so on Mar. 1, 2008 – a span of 294 games. However, Davidson responded the following day (3/1) against Miami with 21 hits, its most in a single game since getting 23 against Mt. St. Mary's on Feb. 28, 2010.
SLAM SUNDAYS: Davidson has now hit two grand slams in the first eight games of the season, with both coming in Sunday series finales. Nathan Becker hit the first against Mount St. Mary's (2/23) in the final game of the 2014 opening weekend, and Ryan Lowe hit a crucial one against Miami (Ohio) (3/2). Lowe's proved to be the first of 12 unanswered runs the 'Cats would score to erase a five-run deficit and win by seven.
WALK THIS WAY: Ryan Lowe tied a school record for walks in a game with four against Mount St. Mary's (2/23). Many have achieved the feat, but Lowe was the first to do it since Michael Zeblo '13 in 2012. He is among the conference leaders in the category with 12 bases on balls this season.
BLANKED: Davidson used five pitchers in its shutout win over Mount St. Mary's (2/23). It was the first time Davidson had five pitchers combine for a shutout since 2009. The final three pitchers used against The Mount - Cody White, Jonathan Carkhuff and Chase Plebani - were making their collegiate pitching debuts.
DOUBLE DUTY: Ryan Lowe is one of 28 players in the country this season that is in the everyday lineup and weekend pitching rotation.
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