Career Nights Lead Baseball Over The Citadel, 13-3

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DAVIDSON, N.C. – Nathan Becker extended his home run streak to four games and career nights by LHP Rob Bain and leftfielder Ty Middlebrooks led Davidson to a 13-3 victory over The Citadel in the Southern Conference baseball opener for both teams, Friday evening at Wilson Field.

The win extends Davidson's (8-6, 1-0 SoCon) winning streak to five games, while The Citadel (8-10, 0-1 SoCon), picked to finish second in the SoCon this season, dropped its third-straight game to the 'Cats dating back to last season.

Bain (1-1) pitched a career-high eight innings in his first career Friday night start, allowing just nine hits and three runs, while striking out five and not issuing a single walk.

Middlebrooks was one of three Davidson batters to post three hits, but he accomplished the feat after entering the game in the fifth inning, going 3-for-3 with his first career home run and a game-high four RBIs. The junior had totaled just three RBIs in 59 career at-bats entering the game.

Seven of the 10 batters the Wildcats used had multi-hit games, as they totaled 19, while four hit home runs.

Davidson jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings. In the first, third baseman David Daniels (2-for-5) hit his first home run of the season to start the scoring, and shortstop Sam Foy (3-for-5, R) later drove in two with a double to right field. Catcher Daniel Gerow (2-for-5, 3 RBIs) then hit his first homer of the season in the second with one on.

Catcher Ryan Kilgallen (1-for-4) hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning to pull the Bulldogs within three, but that was as close as they would come, as Middlebrooks made it a 6-2 game with an RBI-single in the bottom half of the frame.

The Wildcats then added seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Becker (2-for-4, 3 R, BB) homered to lead off the seventh, and first baseman Ben Arkin (3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBIs) and Gerow both added RBI-doubles before the frame ended. Right fielder Tyler Griffin (1-for-4) had an RBI-single in the top of the eighth for The Citadel, but Davidson added three more in the bottom half, as Arkin drove in one with a single, and Middlebrooks then followed with a home run over the centerfield fence.

The Citadel used a total of six pitchers, as starting LHP Logan Cribb (1-2) was lifted after 2.0 innings after surrendering the first five runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout. Shortstop Johnathan Stokes paced the Bulldogs at the plate, going 3-for-4, while designated hitter Bo Thompson went 2-for-4.

Reigning SoCon Player of the Week Forrest Brandt did not drive in any runs for the Wildcats, but he reached base three times on a pair of singles and a walk and scored two runs.

One of the more bizarre double plays in recent memory took place in the sixth inning. With one out and Thompson on first, Griffin hit a hard grounder that hopped in between Daniels' legs at third, and rolled into the outfield. Foy hustled from short to pick up the ball in the outfield grass, and he gunned it back in to Daniels at third, who saw Thompson straying too far off second base. Daniels threw to second baseman Andrew Pope, who chased Thompson back towards third. Pope, then threw back to Daniels, who chased Thompson down and tagged him out just before he reached second, but Griffin was attempting to reach second, so Daniels kept on running and tagged him out just before he reached second base for the inning-ending double play.

Due to expected inclement weather Sunday, the two teams will finish the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1 p.m. The second game will start 45 minutes after the first one finishes.

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