CHARLESTON – Charleston Southern claimed both ends of the Saturday doubleheader against Bucknell to officially sweep the series on season opening weekend. This marks the first time since 2015 that the Bucs have swept their opening weekend when they did over Chicago State.
In the first game,
Kain Collins stole four bases to tie the single game school record in the statistic. In the second, the team collected 17 strikeouts as a pitching staff to tie the single game record in the program's D1 era.
GAME ONE
The Buccaneers cruised through the first game of the day, holding their visitors scoreless through the first six innings while building a 6-0 lead.
Charleston Southern jumped out to the early lead with
Lucas Pringle having a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score
Kain Collins. In the third, Collins scored again, but on a throwing error and shortly thereafter, Pringle traveled the final 90 feet after a failed pickoff attempt. Later in the inning,
Alex Marot crossed the plate on a wild pitch. In the sixth,
Gabe Gutter had an RBI double to score
Caden Wolfley and
Blake Edgmon had an RBI single to bring
Michael Rogers home.
Bucknell had a sacrifice flyout in the seventh. This marked their lone run of the game and cut their deficit to 6-1.
In the eighth, the Bucs tallied five to push their advantage into run rule territory and end it in that frame. They got their first off a wild pitch to score Collins followed by a single from Gavin Spiers with the bases loaded that brought everyone in following a fielding error in the outfield. Wolfley then brought Spiers around with an RBI single up in the middle to end the game at 11-1.
In total, Charleston Southern ended with 11 hits with Marot leading the squad with three while Collins, Wolfley and Edgmon each had two. Additionally, they drew nine walks and three hit by pitches for them, Tuupo drew three walks to pace the team.
On the mound,
Brady Bickett had the start and threw a shutout over his 4.2 of work to earn the win. He allowed just one hit and three walks and struck out four batters.
Jack Bunnell came out of the bullpen in relief for him and tossed the final 3.1 allowing just two hits and a walk. He collected six strikeouts with one earned run charged against him.
GAME TWO
Similar to the first game of the series, Bucknell was able to tally the first run of the game with Garrison Bullock hitting a solo home run for an early 1-0 lead.
This was short lived as the Bucs' offense immediately responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the frame.
John Emendorfer had a sacrifice fly to right to score Gavin Spiers.
Kain Collins then had a two RBI double followed by a
Caden Wolfley RBI single to center to cap it off. In the third, Emendorfer had an RBI single through the middle to put the Bucs lead at 5-1.
The Bison drew closer in the fourth with Garrett Mathias getting a two-run home run in the fourth over the fence in right to place the score at 5-3.
In the Bucs' half of the inning,
Kain Collins laid down a bunt single and during the fielding, the Bison's first baseman threw the ball into their dugout while trying to check Edgmon going for third on the play. Due to that, Edgmon advanced home and Collins was placed on third and was brought home on a Tuupo sacrifice fly, pushing the lead back to four runs.
Bucknell was able to tally one run in the fifth and ninth to try and bring it closer, while Charleston Southern's Collins had an RBI single to the pitcher to have the final score fall at 8-5.
Collins led the team at the plate with three hits and three RBIs.
Ethan Reader also had multiple hits with two in the ball game in his Buccaneer debut. As a team, they had eight hits to go with seven walks and three hit by pitches.
Charleston Southern threw five different arms in the game, with three players making their Buccaneer debuts.
Matt Gallant had the start and earned the win as he threw 3.2 frames while picking up five strikeouts.
Hunter Porter worked the next 1.1 and allowed one hit and one earned run to go with three punchouts.
Drew Dawson tossed a scoreless 2.0 with four Ks with
Corbin Payne worked the eighth, striking out the side.
Hayden Henry threw the ninth and struck out a pair of batters. As a staff, they ended with 17 strikeouts to be tied for the most in a single game in the program's D1 history.
UP NEXT
The Buccaneers hit the road on Tuesday, February 17 for their first midweek game of the year. They are traveling down to Jacksonville to play at North Florida with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
