ASHEVILLE – Charleston Southern baseball stormed back in the top of the 9^th to regain the lead and clinch the weekend series over UNC Asheville on Saturday with their 7-4 win. The Bucs scored five runs in the final frame after trailing 4-2 entering it.
 
The win clinched the series against the host Bulldogs and marks the first time since 2021 that the Bucs have won each of the first two Big South weekends of the year. Additionally, Charleston Southern now sits at 4-1 early in the league schedule with them sitting in a tie for 2^nd with USC Upstate in the standings.
 
The Bulldogs scored in the first and got an early lead. They scored on sacrifice fly that brought Ty Kaufman home.
 
The Buccaneers responded in the top of the second as Peter Werth hit a double to right and was brought home by a Christian Bauman single up the middle. This tied the game at one apiece.
 
UNC Asheville then got another run of their own in the bottom of the second to regain the lead. On a Ben Hemphill groundout, he advanced a runner home from third to score the Bulldogs' second of the day. In the third, they got another to push their lead up to 3-1.
 
Over the next four innings, both teams stranded four runners each and were unable to score any runs with Bulldogs still leading entering the final two innings.
 
In the eighth, Cade Conway came in as a pinch hitter for the Bucs to lead off the inning. He did his job, sending a solo home run just over the center field wall to bring the deficit to one run. In the Bulldogs' half of the inning, they had a solo homer of their own to push their advantage back to two runs with the score at 4-2.
 
In the ninth, the Buccaneers offense finally exploded putting up five runs to flip the game on its head and find themselves ahead 7-4 at the end of their half of the frame.
 
Bauman and Emendorfer each had singles to start the inning and an Urlaub sacrifice bunt moved each of the runners up a base. The Bulldogs then decided to intentionally walk Conway and load the bases with them leading 4-2 with one out. Kuehler came on as a pinch hitter and saw a wild pitch go by to score Bauman, before Kuehler eventually walked on four pitches. Gavin Bogdanchik then drew a walk after falling down 1-2 early in the count and brought the score level at 4-4.
 
Charleston Southern gained the lead on a Dakota Miller sacrifice flyout to right center that brought Conway home and put them up at 5-4. The bases then got loaded up again as Chandler Tuupo drew a walk on a new pitcher. Werth delivered the final blows of the inning off a single through the left side to score two and have CSU ahead 7-4 heading into the bottom of the 9^th.
 
Dylan Matsuoka came on to throw the final inning and closed the door on the Bulldogs. He retired the first two batters he faced while the next two reached, the first off an error and the second on a hit. The game ended on a flyout to right center to complete the Buccaneers' come-from-behind victory.
 
The Buccaneers had Brett Gastman start the game throwing 1.0 innings and allowing a pair of runs. Evan Truitt was the first out of the bullpen and threw the next 7.0 innings with 112 pitches. He allowed two runs to score but struck out five batters and kept the Bucs in the game. Matsuoka was the third and last CSU pitcher used, throwing the final inning in the game.
 
Charleston Southern had 11 hits in the game and were led at the plater by Bauman who had three hits as well as an RBI. Bogdanchik and Werth each had two hits with each scoring a run as well. Miller, Tuupo, Emendorfer and Conway had one hit apiece in the game.
 
The weekend series finale is on deck tomorrow with the game scheduled for noon at Homewood Field. The game will be available live on EPSN+ as the Bucs will be going for their first weekend sweep of the season.