BOX SCORE
Forest City, N.C.----Wingate University sophomore right-hander
Justin Somers (Wilmington, N.C.) struck out 11 in 7 1/3 innings of work, allowing one unearned run to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-1 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament victory over the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University at McNair Field. Wingate improves to 32-20 overall and moves on to the winner’s bracket final to face Newberry College Friday at 12 p.m. LMU faces Catawba College in an elimination game at 3:45 p.m.
Junior outfielder
Dodson McPherson (Graham, N.C.) had a double and an RBI for the Bulldogs to lead the offense. Redshirt sophomore infielder
James Tedder (Clemmons, N.C.) had an RBI, while redshirt sophomore first baseman
Brian Yeung (Raleigh, N.C.) and junior outfielder
Casey Allison (Horse Shoe, N.C.) each had a hit and a run scored.
Senior outfielder
Deaun Williams (Beech, Ind.) was one-for-four with an RBI for LMU. Junior infielder
Gelson Perez (Gurabo, P.R.) was two-for-four with a run scored, while senior infielder
Juan Alvarez (Carolina, P.R.) added a two-for-five night.
The Bulldogs got on the board first in the second, plating a pair of runs. Yeung was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Allison followed with a double to left center, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Freshman infielder
Cody Shelton (Charlotte, N.C.) plated the game’s first run with an RBI groundout. Tedder followed with a two-out RBI single to make it 2-0.
The Bulldogs added one more run in the third. Junior shortstop
Chris Vazquez (Tyrone, Ga.) reached on a one-out single down the left field line. He scored on an RBI double from McPherson to push the lead to three. LMU scored its lone run in the fourth. Perez got it started with a single, then scored on an RBI groundout from Williams to make it 3-1.
The Railsplitters looked to score more in the following inning, loading the bases with no outs for the heart of the order. Somers struck out senior outfielder
Cody Pack (Andersonville, Tenn.) and senior infielder
John Couch (Bonnyman, Ky.) for the first two outs, while inducing a fly-out to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
Somers struck out two more in the seventh as LMU left two more on base. The second team All-SAC selection struck out senior designated hitter
Eric Kitts (Blaine, Tenn.) in the eighth, his final batter of the night. Redshirt sophomore
Josh Karr (Richmond, Va.) came in to finish the eighth, striking out the two batters he faced. Karr would get Lincoln Memorial in order in the ninth, striking out Alvarez swinging to end the game, the 14th strikeout of the night for Wingate pitching.
Somers improves to 7-3 overall on the year, while lowering his ERA to 2.56. He allowed seven hits on the night (six singles) while walking three. Karr notched his second save of the year, retiring all five hitters he faced. Sophomore right-hander
Austin Johnson (Versailles, Ky.) took the loss, falling to 6-2 overall. He allowed three runs on five hits in nine innings of work, striking out six.
(Wingate University assistant sports information director
Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)
Wingate University baseball statistics
http://www.wingatebulldogs.com/custompages/baseball/2011/teamstat.htm
