Buccaneers fall to College of Charleston, 14-9

Jordan Haar had four hits, including his 28th career homerun

CHARLESTON, SC – Wednesday afternoon’s cross-town battle between the College of Charleston and Charleston Southern was mid-week college baseball at its best. Or, depending on your perspective, at its worst.

Lots of hits, runs, errors and pitchers make up mid-week college baseball games on most days and College of Charleston’s 14-9 win over the Buccaneers was one of those days. The Cougars won their eighth consecutive game and equaled their best start ever at 17-5, banging out 16 hits and taking advantage of CSU’s shoddy defensive play and ineffective pitching.

Junior left fielder Byron Barber had four hits and four runs batted in, while third baseman Jeff Easterling added three hits and three RBI for the Cougars, who scored 10 or more runs for the 10th time this season. For Barber, the performance was his fourth consecutive game with at least three hits.

Eight different Cougars had at least one hit on the day, par for the course for a squad hitting over .350 as a team. Thirteen of the 16 hits were singles while CSU committed five errors, walked four hitters and hit four others.

Charleston Southern, 10-14 on the season, had 14 hits in the slugfest with center fielder Jordan Haar picking up four, including his fifth homerun of the season. Jeff Kolhagen added two hits and three RBI in defeat.

“Offensively we’re making strides and starting to put the ball in play much better, but our pitching has not been as solid as we thought it would be,” said CSU head coach Gary Murphy. “Giving up 21 hits to The Citadel (on Tuesday) and 16 more hits today. Gosh that makes it really tough to win games, regardless of how well you’re hitting.”

The Cougars scored a run in the first and posted a five spot in the second. With two outs and the bases loaded, CSU starter Ian Holmen walked Brett Anderson then hit Matt Hallett with a pitch. Jeff Easterling followed with a two-run single and Matt Kirkpatrick had an RBI single, ending Holmen’s day and taking a commanding 6-0 lead.

The Cougars added two runs in the fourth on Steve Friend’s two-run homer to left. CSU scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth as Cougar starter Ryan Edell allowed two singles and then proceeded to walk three consecutive batters, making the score, 8-2.

It appeared the game was on ice after College of Charleston scored three runs in the seventh for an 11-2 lead. However, the Buccaneers posted four runs in the bottom of the inning as Haar and Kolhagen each belted two-run homers.

The Cougars added three unearned runs in the top of the eighth and the Buccaneers answered with three in the bottom half, but CSU left two runners on in each of the last two innings. All total, the teams combined to leave 25 runners on base.

Nick Chigges (2-1) recorded the victory for College of Charleston, despite allowing three runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief work. Holmen (2-3) took the loss for Charleston Southern, allowing six runs in 1 2/3 innings.

The College of Charleston hits the road this weekend for a three-game Southern Conference series with Appalachian State, while CSU opens their Big South Conference schedule at home with a three-game set against Liberty.

Friday's game with Liberty can be heard live on csusports.com beginning at 2:55 pm.