Bobcats oust Hurricanes

Bobcats stifled a late inning rally by Georgia Southwestern State University to cling to a 2-1 victory March 29 at John Kurtz Field.

The win marked a turning point for the Bobcats, whose last five loses have been by only one run per game.

“Winning a close game is always great for morale, especially after our last five loses,” Head Coach Chris Calciano said.

Pitcher Travis Spell picked up his first win of the season by tossing six scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and striking out seven batters.

“That’s the best Travis has been this season,” Calciano said. “He looked sharp.”

Spell was pleased with his performance, but refused to take all the credit.

“We had good defense,” Spell said. “The infielders played really well.”

The Bobcats’ only runs in the game came courtesy of a two RBI homerun by Wes Sorrells in the fourth inning. “Sorrells is swinging the bat pretty good right now,” Calciano said. “He got a pitch up in the zone he could handle and put a good swing on it.”

The Bobcats only other offense came from Mike DeVeaux and Hans Stancil who each doubled and John Caruso who reached base on a single to left.

Christian Castorri came on in relief in the seventh inning and retired the side in order.

Castorri got into trouble in the eighth when he loaded the bases on three consecutive singles and then walked in a run. He regrouped and ended the inning with a strikeout.

“Castorri had a nice seventh then struggled with his stuff in the eight and walked in a run. That’s something that can’t happen,” Calciano said.

Jayson Bennett came on to close the game in the ninth inning, but the Hurricanes were not going to go quietly.

The Bobcats were surprised when the Hurricanes leadoff batter in the ninth bunted for a single.

The Hurricanes then advanced the runner to second on a sacrifice bunt.

Bennett retired the next hitter, and, with the tying run on second base, struck out the final batter to seal the win for the Bobcats and pick up his second save of the season.

“Bennett came in and threw hard and tucked it away for us,” Calciano said.

The Bobcats host Augusta State this weekend at John Kurtz Field.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 1 2005. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry