2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball wins opening OVC series
Jered Staubs
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Sports
The JSU baseball team took two of three games against conference foe Murray State over the weekend.
The games were the Gamecocks' (9-12, 2-1 OVC) first against an OVC opponent and were a successful start to the season though manager Jim Case was hoping for more.
"We got off to a good start, and I'm happy about that," Case said, "but you get greedy and want to sweep the series."
The Gamecocks have prepared for the conference season by playing a difficult non-conference schedule, and some members of the team had been struggling at the plate.
The past few weeks have seen that turn around, especially preseason OVC Player of the Year Clay Whittemore and Steven Leach. Leach (.351) and Whittemore (.341) have both been hot lately, and are the only members of the team hitting over .300.
Leach, a sophomore, went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs — including two in the bottom of the ninth — as JSU won its conference opener 4-3.
Murray State led 3-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, but JSU rallied to win in its final at-bat for the third time this season. Murray's Jake Donze loaded the bases without JSU getting a hit, and then pinch-hitter Matt McLaughlin singled to pull JSU within a run and set the stage for Leach.
Leach ran the count full and singled to the right side, scoring Bert Smith and John David Smelser.
Brian Booth got the win in relief of Mitch Miller, who had a career-high 11 strikeouts.
The second game of the Saturday doubleheader saw a brilliant pitching performance from Ben Tootle.
Tootle was named Co-OVC Pitcher of the Week after striking out ten in 6 1/3 innings of JSU's 2-1 victory over Murray.
The sophomore pitcher carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and left after allowing only five hits and the one run.
"We did some things better, there were some good signs, and I was really pleased with Ben Tootle," Case said. "But we still have some things we need to improve."
Those were made evident in the final game of the series, an 8-6 Murray State win.
JSU made two crucial errors that allowed Murray to turn a slender 3-1 lead into a comfortable 8-1 lead.
JSU rallied to within 8-6 through a Bert Smith two-run triple and an RBI single by Kyle McCreary, but got no closer.
The Gamecocks return to non-conference play with a midweek home-and-home series against Alabama before returning to OVC play by traveling to Austin Peay.
The games were the Gamecocks' (9-12, 2-1 OVC) first against an OVC opponent and were a successful start to the season though manager Jim Case was hoping for more.
"We got off to a good start, and I'm happy about that," Case said, "but you get greedy and want to sweep the series."
The Gamecocks have prepared for the conference season by playing a difficult non-conference schedule, and some members of the team had been struggling at the plate.
The past few weeks have seen that turn around, especially preseason OVC Player of the Year Clay Whittemore and Steven Leach. Leach (.351) and Whittemore (.341) have both been hot lately, and are the only members of the team hitting over .300.
Leach, a sophomore, went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs — including two in the bottom of the ninth — as JSU won its conference opener 4-3.
Murray State led 3-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, but JSU rallied to win in its final at-bat for the third time this season. Murray's Jake Donze loaded the bases without JSU getting a hit, and then pinch-hitter Matt McLaughlin singled to pull JSU within a run and set the stage for Leach.
Leach ran the count full and singled to the right side, scoring Bert Smith and John David Smelser.
Brian Booth got the win in relief of Mitch Miller, who had a career-high 11 strikeouts.
The second game of the Saturday doubleheader saw a brilliant pitching performance from Ben Tootle.
Tootle was named Co-OVC Pitcher of the Week after striking out ten in 6 1/3 innings of JSU's 2-1 victory over Murray.
The sophomore pitcher carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and left after allowing only five hits and the one run.
"We did some things better, there were some good signs, and I was really pleased with Ben Tootle," Case said. "But we still have some things we need to improve."
Those were made evident in the final game of the series, an 8-6 Murray State win.
JSU made two crucial errors that allowed Murray to turn a slender 3-1 lead into a comfortable 8-1 lead.
JSU rallied to within 8-6 through a Bert Smith two-run triple and an RBI single by Kyle McCreary, but got no closer.
The Gamecocks return to non-conference play with a midweek home-and-home series against Alabama before returning to OVC play by traveling to Austin Peay.
Be the first to comment on this story