USC Aiken Holds on Against GCSU

aiken-1May 10, 2007
Spartanburg, S.C. - Sixth-seeded USC Aiken opened a 10-0 lead in the eighth inning but had to hold off a tremendous rally from top seed and fifth-ranked Georgia College & State University to take an 11-10 victory in the first game of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon at Harley Park.

USCA (36-20) advances to take on the loser of the #3 Francis Marion-#4 USC Upstate game.  Aiken will play Friday at 3:00 p.m.  GCSU falls to (44-13) and plays the loser of the game between #2 Columbus State and #5 Armstrong Atlantic State on Friday at 11:00 a.m.

Aiken used an unorthodox pitching strategy, using eight different pitchers in the game.  That strategy kept the GCSU bats off balance and enabled the Pacers to jump out to the large lead.

“The pitchers came in and mixed things up,” said GCSU head coach Chris Calciano.  “We weren’t able to get a rhythm going at the plate.”

Aiken jumped on top with five runs in the third inning.  Matt Spivey singled to drive in a run and Darryl Pui hit a two-run homer to highlight the inning.  Josh Eachues drove in a pair of runs on a double.

Leading 7-0, Aiken scored three runs in the eighth inning.  Ken Raborn drove in a pair of runs with a double and Chad Jacobsen drove in a run with a double of his own.

Then things got interesting.  GCSU plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth and then made a tremendous rally to get back into the game in the ninth.  After Aiken scored a run to open an 11-2 lead heading into the bottom of the  ninth, GCSU scored five runs before Aiken recorded the first out in the inning.

Trailing 11-7, Bryan Shaughnessy was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to get the Bobcats to within 11-8.  Rich Janofsky grounded to the shortstop to drive in a run and trim the deficit to 11-9.  Andrew Evans grounded into a fielder’s choice, driving in a run along the way as GCSU got within one, 11-10.  After pinch runner Hans Stancil stole second, Aiken’s reliever, Adam Lovelace, got Chandler Snell to fly out to left to end the rally and the game.

“It got ugly in the last inning,” said USC Aiken head coach Kenny Thomas.  “GCSU is a good ball club and they battled hard to the end.  We just couldn’t get that first out in the inning.  Once we got that first out, we were more at ease.  We scored 11 runs and played good defense.  That’s how we won.”

Jon Paul (7-7) tossed two innings of relief to pick up the win for Aiken.  Michael Antonini (7-5) lasted just 2 2/3 innings to take the loss.  Lovelace earned the save for the Pacers.

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