Posted: Mar 18, 2009
Salem, VA—The Roanoke College baseball team will be taking on Emory and Henry College this Wednesday, March 18 at Salem Memorial/Lewis Gale Field. They will host Ferrum the following day at 7 p.m. at Kiwanis Field. The Maroons are 5-8 overall and 1-1in the ODAC so far this season. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.
Series Info vs. the Wasps
The Maroons are 9-4 against the Wasps since 2002. They are on a nine game winning streak against the Wasps, having not lost to Emory and Henry since the first of two games in 2004.
Last Meeting
The Roanoke College baseball team defeated Emory & Henry, 6-4 at Salem Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening. With the win, the Maroons improved to 9-12 overall and 4-4 in the ODAC. The Wasps dropped to 5-19, 0-10 in the ODAC. The nine wins this season and over a month left of baseball, the Maroons have equaled last season's win total.
Down 4-1 in the bottom of the third, Chris Zachodzki hit his second home run and first-career grand slam to give the Maroons a 5-4 lead. Graham Thacker's double scored Zachodzki in the eighth to give the Maroons an insurance run. Thacker knocked in Brad Greenway in the second inning to give him two RBI for the game.
Cody Kidd (1-3) earned his first win of the season, going 6.2 innings and struck out three and allowed only one earned run. Chris Caputo earned his first save of the season, allowing three hits and struck out one in 2.1 innings.
Zachodzki went 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs and four RBI. Greenway scored two runs and had a base hit to pace the Maroons.
Brennan Thacker has 124 hits for his career and needs three more to pass Robbie Hoopes '06 for second all-time. He recently passed Nathan Unroe '07 for second all-time in runs scored and needs four more to hold the school-record. His 24 doubles are third all-time and needs four more to pass Sean Sturgill '06 for second on that list. He currently is tied for fourth in triples (6) and recently broke the school's stolen base record (16).
Defensively, Thacker needs seven more assists to break the school-record currently held by Mike Eubank '05. With 62 career RBI, he moves into fifth all-time, needing four more to pass Brandon Coates '06, whom he recently passed for third in career at bats (384). Thacker is currently fifth in career batting average (.322). With a walk against W&L, Thacker broke the school's all-time record with 33.
Jake Furry is tied for fifth in career home runs with eight. His 17 doubles place him sixth, needing two to enter the top-five. Furry needs two more walks to enter the top-five in that category. Noah Davidson needs one more triple to enter the top-five. Alan Moore is fourth in doubles with 21, seventh in home runs (6) and RBI (43).
Series Info vs. Ferrum
The Maroons are 1-7 against the Panthers, with their win coming last season win a 6-3 decision. The win was historic for the team, as it gave the team their third most wins in a single season with 14 at the time.
Last Meeting
The Roanoke College baseball team defeated Ferrum, 6-3 at Kiwanis Field on Monday evening. The win was the first for the Maroons over the Panthers since baseball was brought back to the school seven years ago. The Maroons improved to 14-19 on the season while the Panthers dropped to 8-19.
The win gave the Maroons the first win of the series against Ferrum (1-7). The closest the Maroons came to a win was a 12-11 loss in 2006. The win also give the Maroons the third most wins in a single-season, next to 15 wins in 2006 and 16 wins in the 2004 season.
Pitcher Cody Kidd got into a jam early in the second inning as Ferrum got a base hit and a walk to put runners in scoring position. A single by the Panthers' Jason Butterworth to right field seemed far away enough to advance the runner home but was thrown out at home to end the inning.
The Maroons threatened to score in the bottom of the second. Matt Vessstarted off with a walk, then with two outs Alan Moore was hit by a pitch. Ferrum walked Brad Greenway to load the bases and set up a golden opportunity to score, but Michael Kluge hit into a fielder's choice as Moore was out at third to end the threat.
The Panthers broke the scoreless game in the top of the sixth with a two-run blast by Kevin Marshall to put the Panthers up, 2-0. They added another run in the seventh as Jesse Fuller doubled down the left field line to score DJ Phillips, who just hit a double earlier that inning to put them ahead, 3-0.
The Roanoke baseball team then did what they have done all season – come from behind to take the lead with a big seventh inning.
Jake Furry started the inning with a walk followed by Moore's single to put Furry in scoring position. Greenway reached on base on an error to load the bases. Kluge and Noah Davidson walked to score two runs to load the bases again, which set the stage for the team's best hitter, Graham Thacker.
He stepped to the plate and cleared the bases with a three-run single and advanced to second on a fielding error by the leftfielder to give his team the lead, 5-3. Thacker set the school's single-season hits record with 53 as of tonight. He is third in single-season at bats (129), needing nine more to break the school-record. His 31 RBI this season is third all-time and needs four more to break the single-season mark.
After a sacrifice fly by Brennan Thacker to advance his brother to third, Vess singled to bring in Thacker and made the score, 6-3.
Barrett Henderson relieved Kidd in the eighth and retired the side, striking out two batters against his former team to end the inning. In the ninth, Drew Wallace earned his third save of the season as he came into the game with one out and bases loaded with the bulk of the Panthers lineup ahead. Wallace delivered, as he struck out the first batter and a fly out to dead center gave him a share of the single-season record for saves (3) and the Maroons' first win over their local rival.
Kidd (4-4) moved into a tie for second in single-season wins with Chris Caputo and needs one more to tie the school mark. He went seven innings and struck out two batters while allowing one walk. Wallace (56.2) and Henderson (55) are sixth and seventh, respectively for innings pitched in a season.
Davidson went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. He moved into fourth all-time in runs in a season (30). He is already the single-season walks leader with 25 on the season. Vess had a single and an RBI and is now tied for sixth in single-season runs (25). Moore had his first multi-hit game since W&L (3/22) and his 10th of the year, including his team-leading ninth double of the year.
Roanoke will try to accomplish only their second trip to the ODAC Tournament as they will travel to Farmville, Va. to battle Hampden-Sydney in the final doubleheader of the season. The Maroons are 2-8 against the Tigers and have not defeated them since 2005. The doubleheader is a big one for both teams as it has post-season implications with the winner advancing to the ODAC Tournament.
The seven ODAC wins already matches last season's win total and is tied for the second-most conference wins in a season. They need one more win to tie the school-mark of eight set in 2005 which was their only ODAC post-season appearance.
Last Time Out
SALEM, Va. --- The Roanoke College baseball team fell short against Milligan College for the second time this season as they lost 4-3 at the Salem Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening. The Buffaloes improved to 14-7 as the Maroons fell to 5-8 overall.
Junior Alan Moorewent 3-for-4 in the contest and was one single away from hitting for the cycle. He also scored two runs and had one RBI. Moore leads the team with a .380 batting average and 19 hits.
Milligan was the first to score in the second inning off of a series of singles from Crouch, Williams, and Rabon. Roanoke responded in the bottom of the inning after Noah Davidsonsingled, Patrick Collins doubled and Chris Zachodzki's fielder's choice sent Davidson home.
Both teams remained scoreless until the top of the fifth when Jones hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1 Buffaloes. Milligan had four hits to score two more runs in the top of the sixth for a 4-1 edge. The Maroons cut the deficit to two (4-2) in the bottom of the inning off of a triple from Moore and a Jay Laramore RBI.
Moore hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to heat up the bats and make the score 4-3. A single from both Davidson and Collins followed suit but a Buffalo pitching change ended the inning with two left on base. Both Milligan and Roanoke failed to score in the ninth ending the game 4-3.
Collins hit one of three Maroon doubles in his 2-for-4 performance. Davidson went 1-for-3 with one run and one walk.
John Terlesky (0-3) pitched 5.1 innings for Roanoke and struck out four batters. He allowed only one walk in the defeat. William Ruberrystruck out two batters in his 3.2 innings of play.
Scouting the Wasps
The Emory and Henry Wasps are 2-8 this season and 0-2 in the ODAC. They have lost their last five games, with their most recent games rained out. Their last loss came to Methodist with a score of 0-16. The team only recorded two hits on 29 at bats.
Scouting the Panthers
Overall this season the Panthers are 9-5 with a 1-1 record in the USA-South. Their last game resulted in a 9-3 win over Hampden-Sydney College with sophomore Kevin Marshall leading the team with two doubles, four RBI's and a run. Pitcher Brian Mays allowed three hits and two earned runs.
Alan Moore leads the Maroons in batting (.380), games played and started (13-13), at bats (50), hits (19), home runs (2) and total bases with 30. Graham Thacker tops the team in games played and started with Moore (13-13) along with 12 runs scored and five doubles. He also leads the team defensively in assists with 36. Noah Davidson has started in all 13 games and has 10 runs batted in to lead the Maroons.
On the mound, Chris Caputo has a team-best two wins in three starts and 18 innings of work. Cody Kidd leads the bullpen with five appearances, four starts, one complete game, 18.2 innings pitched and 16 strikeouts.
About the Maroons
The Maroons are 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the ODAC so far this season. Their last win came against Eastern Mennonite University with an 11-5 win. Chris Caputo recorded his second victory on the season, pitching five innings with a strikeout on three different batters. Barrett Henderson earned his first career save with five strikeouts in four innings. Davidson recorded two runs and an RBI, with four other Maroons collecting two hits.
Coach Wood
Wood is in his fourth season with the Roanoke baseball program. In his first three seasons he has tallied 39 wins, 21 in the ODAC. Last season, the Maroons were 15-21 and 8-10 in the ODAC, which was the best statistical year since the program was restored in 2002. Previous to joining the Maroons, Wood coached the Glenvar High School baseball team in Salem, Va for twenty years, winning multiple “coach of the year” titles.
