PBC Baseball Notes - May 4

	Armstrong Atlantic State (38-17, 15-12) -- AASU wrapped up the 2009 regular season with four wins on the week, tying for fourth in the PBC regular season standings ... The Pirates began the week with a 12-0 rout of Erskine on Tuesday ... Kenny Cail went 4-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs while Blake Culberson hurled seven innings of shutout ball ... Senior Jeff Chase hurled a complete game four-hitter as the Pirates knocked off Lander, 6-1, on Friday ... Saturday's first game of a doubleheader lasted until Sunday thanks to rain, but when play resumed, John Roberts' two-run pinch-hit home run erased a 4-3 deficit and gave the Pirates a 5-4 win ... Sunday's final game was won by the Pirates, 4-1, behind Thomas Gray's 7 2/3 innings of six-hit, one-run ball ... Ryan Smith earned two saves in the final two games, hurling 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief ... AASU pitching was stout all week long, giving up just three earned runs in four games for an 0.75 ERA ... Juan Dorado extended his NCAA single-season record sacrifice hit total to 38 with five on the week ... Cody Walden earned his 11th win of the season, one shy of the AASU single-season record of 12, set by three pitchers previously ... AASU will be the No. 5 seed in the upcoming PBC Tournament on Saturday, facing fourth-seeded North Georgia at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 9.
	Augusta State (25-30, 11-16) -- Augusta State went 2-1 this past week, improving to 25-30 on the season and 11-16 in the Peach Belt Conference… The Jaguars traveled to Milledgeville, Ga. over the weekend to take on Georgia College & State… The Jags split a doubleheader on Saturday, May 2, taking game one 11-5 and then dropping game two 17-6… On Sunday, May 3, ASU took the series with a 9-8 victory over the Bobcats… Senior Tim Rawlings paced the Jags offensively hitting .462 (6-for-13) with three RBI… Sophomore Alex Walker hit .429 (6-for-14) with two homers and two RBI… Freshman Wilson Taylor and sophomore Patrick Lowe each earned wins on the weekend… Taylor pitched 8.1 innings and allowed five runs on 10 hits and booked two strikeouts… Lowe only gave up three hits and struck out one in 3.1 innings.
	Columbus State (27-22, 12-14) -- Columbus State ended its regular season with a non-conference game at GCSU last week and it was a dandy - especially for pitchers. The Cougar and Bobcat staffs limited hitters to just eight hits total - four by each team...The difference in the contest was the long ball as GCSU hit a pair of solo homers for the 2-1 win...The Cougars enter the PBC Tournament as the #7 seed and will open the event at 9 AM on Saturday morning...Alex Montes is the hottest hitter for the Cougars entering the event...He is coming off his record-setting performance in the last weekend of PBC play and enters the tournament at .391 for the season...Jarrett Coker was solid at GCSU with three shutout innings and figures to be the starter against FMU on Saturday...The Cougars will be looking to throw off their tendency to play in spurts this season and put together a run at the PBC Tournament title in the new single-elimination format.
	Francis Marion (33-13-1, 16-9) -- FMU beat Erskine 7-2 last week to end its regular season with a school-record 12-game winning streak, besting the old record of 11 set in 2006. FMU is averaging 11.9 runs per game over that streak....Junior DH Jacob Wallace was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs in the win over Erskine, and extended his hitting streak to 13 games....Senior 3B Keon Graves was 3-for-3 to take over the PBC batting lead at .441. He was named the team MVP at the annual athletic banquet.....FMU’s second-place finish in the PBC equals its best finish ever (previously accomplished in 2006)....Senior C Jared Barkdoll is hitting .379 this season and has broken the school career records for RBIs (158) and total bases (351), and is second in career hits (247), doubles (48), and HBPs (38)......Junior OF Martin Gordon played for South Africa in the recent World Baseball Classic. Since returning to FMU he has raised his average from .261 to .426 by going 37-for-79 with 24 runs scored in 18 contests. He had a 14-game hitting streak stopped by Erskine..... Junior SS Barrett Kleinknecht (.386) leads the team with 16 doubles and 59 RBIs, while sharing the team lead with 45 runs scored and 8 homers.....FMU has three walk-off homers this year: Sophomore 1B Preston Shuey (2) and Kleinknecht (1).....Six Patriots have had double-digit game hitting streaks in 2009: Gordon (14), freshman OF Tyler Boyd (13), Wallace (current 13, and a 12-game streak), Kleinknecht (12 and a current 12-game streak), Barkdoll (11), and Graves (10)....Junior RHP Brandon Forshee is 3-2 with 4 saves in a team-leading 27 appearances......Senior RHP David Walters is 7-3. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 47th round but chose to return to school. Earlier this season, he had a string of 16.1 scoreless innings.....Junior LHP Jeremiah Meiners beat Erskine to raise his mark to 6-1 (3.49 ERA)....FMU has outscored its opponents 56-25 in the fourth inning and 61-20 in the fifth inning, and is 29-1 when leading after six innings....FMU has an all-time record of 942-609-3 in 36 seasons…..FMU is 152-47-1 in its last 200 home games at “The Cliff”....FMU plays Columbus State in the opening game of the PBC Tournament on May 9.
	Georgia College & State University (37-16, 16-11) -- #13 in Collegiate Baseball Magazine, #21 in PING!, #14 in NCBWA, #2 in NCAA Southeast Region ... Bobcats went 2-3 this week, losing 15-5 to Valdosta State Tuesday, beating Columbus State 2-1 Wednesday and dropping two of three with Augusta State over the weekend; ASU won the DH opener Saturday 11-5, GCSU got the nightcap 17-6 and then the Jaguars took Sunday's game 9-8 ... Pete Paris hit .333 (6-18) on the five-game week, swatting home runs in each of the final three games and pacing the team in runs (6) and RBI (7) for the week ... Alex Burkard dealt masterfully in the non-conference start against CSU, picking up his first career win, going 5 1/3 in the start, allowing just three hits and one run while fanning five ... The Bobcats have been spectacular all season in a comeback role, getting five wins when trailing after eight innings, and seven when trailing after seven ... Closer Martin Dewald has 14 saves this season, one shy of the PBC record and one off the D2 lead this year ... Derek Johns leads the squad in both multi-hit games (20) and multi-RBI contests (16) ... The Bobcats will square off with UNC Pembroke Saturday in the opening round of the PBC Tournament at 12:30 p.m. ... UNCP took the season series in Pembroke, N.C. 2-1.
	Georgia Southwestern (19-33, 8-19) -- The Hurricanes, 1-0 last week, finished 2009 on a high note with a 10-0 win at home over Albany State on Monday. Southwestern scored a run in the first and held a one-run advantage until the sixth when they tacked seven runs on the SIAC's East Division champions; the game was called after the seventh when the 'Canes added two more runs in the home half of the inning. Byron Haynes led the GSW offense with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate with two doubles and two runs scored. Seniors Daniel Lynn and Trey Reeves knocked in two runs apiece in their final collegiate games. Shane Doyle had two RBI, as well. Ryan Lackey picked up his third win of 2009 with the seven-inning shutout. Lackey scattered six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out five. GSW hurlers finished the season with 16 consecutive scoreless innings, thanks to back-to-back shutouts from Lackey and Zach Whitman. Bud Long, who started 50 of 52 games, finished with a .345 average to lead the 'Canes. Whitman led the GSW pitching staff with a 3.86 ERA in 86.1 innings of work.
	Lander (25-23, 8-17) -- Lander saw its season come to an end Sunday when the Bearcats were swept by Armstrong Atlantic, 6-1, 5-4, 4-1. Centerfielder Bud Lanier finished the season as the Bearcats top hitter as he batted .379 with 10 homeruns, one triple, six doubles and 36 RBI. He led the team in RBI, hits (64), total bases (102) and home runs. Robert Skinner wasn’t far behind Lanier as he batted .350 with five homers, eight doubles and 33 RBI. Billy Veal recorded a 4-0 record on the mound. Veal had a 3.57 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 40.1 innings pitched. Tim Rau went 5-3 with a 4.48 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 68.1 innings.
	North Georgia (32-23, 15-12) -- The Saints went 3-1 last week, dropping a midweek game against Emory University, before coming back and sweeping Flagler College in a three-game series over the weekend. Against Emory, the Saints held a 3-1 lead after seven innings, but the Eagles came out with five runs in the eighth inning to steal a 6-3 victory over the Saints. North Georgia then hosted Flagler for a three-game series over the weekend in the battle of the Saints and swept the soon-to-be conference opponent. In game one, North Georgia used a pair of four-run innings and held a nine-run lead before the rains came and gave the Saints a 9-0 rain-shorted victory over Flagler. Michael Patton shut down Flagler in game two, allowing six hits and no runs while striking out six in 7.0 innings of work as the sophomore extended his scoreless innings streak to 16. The Saints used five extra base hits to score three runs in the victory. North Georgia completed the sweep on Sunday afternoon, scoring early once again and riding 7.2 innings from Tyler Musslewhite for regular season finale win. The Saints will oppose Armstrong Atlantic State University Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., the third game of the day in the opening round of the 2009 PBC Tournament. In the regular season, North Georgia hosted the Pirates and took two out of three from AASU, taking game one 13-1, before Brad Hall sent the stadium into eruption with a walk-off homer in game two, a 15-13 thriller in 12 innings. In the series finale, Armstrong jumped on top 11-2, before holding on for a 14-12 victory.
	UNC Pembroke (36-16, 13-13) -- UNCP closed out its regular season campaign on a sour note, dropping its first league series in the month of April to seventh-ranked USC Aiken … The Braves captured their fifth victory over a nationally ranked team by snapping the Pacers’ school record 16-game winning streak with a 17-3 rout in game one of the set, but were outscored 35-11 in dropping both games of a Saturday doubleheader … UNCP helped USC Aiken tie a pair of PBC records in the opener of the series-closing doubleheader as the Pacers reached base nine times on hit by pitches, including four in the eighth inning alone … UNCP tallied seven home runs and crossed the plate 28 times in the set, but also committed 13 errors and recorded a 8.67 team ERA in the set … Junior righthander Matt McGovern finished off a perfect regular season (8-0) with eight phenomenal innings in the series opener in which he allowed just a lone unearned run and struck out six … Kevin Dietrich eclipsed a pair of school records over the weekend, tallying his record-breaking 86th hit of the campaign on Friday, while belting his school record-breaking 16th home run of 2009 on Saturday … UNCP will now get a two-week hiatus away from competition before heading to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, May 9-10, at Roberto Hernandez Stadium in Aiken, SC … The appearance at the PBC event will mark the first for the Braves since the 1999 campaign.
	USC Aiken (39-16, 18-9) -- USC Aiken concluded its banner 2009 regular season on Saturday, May 2 with a 17-1 win over Erskine ... The Pacers split with Erskine in a two-game set last weekend to finish last week 2-1 as they also defeated Conference Carolinas champion Belmont Abbey earlier in the week ... The dominating win over Erskine was not the important part of the day for the Pacers with USC Aiken learning early into the game with the Flying Fleet on Saturday that they had earned the 2009 Peach Belt Conference championship outright due to a Augusta State win over GCSU ... USC Aiken had already claimed at least a share of the Peach Belt Conference regular season championship last week by taking two of three from UNC Pembroke in Pembroke, N.C. ... The only team that had a chance to catch them was Georgia College & State, but the Bobcats needed to sweep all three games from Augusta State at home to acquire a share of the championship ... The Bobcats would not be able to accomplish the feat with Augusta State taking an 11-5 win in game one between the two in Milledgeville, Ga. on Saturday afternoon ... The loss by the 13th-ranked Bobcats guaranteed the Pacers sole possession of the 2009 PBC regular season championship ... The Pacers finished the PBC regular season 18-9 in league play to obtain the championship ... The PBC regular season championship is the second overall and the first for the Pacers since 1994 ... The Pacers also have two PBC Tournament crowns, having won the league tournament in 1992 and 1993 ... USC Aiken enters this weekend’s single elimination Peach Belt Conference Tournament at Roberto Hernandez Stadium as the No. 1 seed ... USC Aiken begins the tournament on Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. against the eighth seed ... USC Aiken concluded the regular season overall with a 39-16 record overall ... The Pacers are currently ranked fourth in NCAA Division II.