BECKLEY, W.Va. – Seven unanswered runs from University of Charleston and a strong relief performance from Austin Henrich in Saturday's MEC Semifinal matchup with Shepherd has the Golden Eagles in the MEC Championship for the second consecutive season after beating the Rams, 7-5, at Epling Stadium. 

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE        University of Charleston 7, Shepherd University 5
                                    
 
LOCATION              Beckley, W.Va. (Linda K. Epling Stadium)
RECORDS                Charleston (33-20, 22-10); Shepherd (36-14)

THE GAME
 
Shepherd, the MEC North Champion and ranked in the top-10 in the NCAA Atlantic Region, jumped on the Golden Eagles and starter Kaleb Kinder early in Saturday's MEC semifinal. The Rams' leadoff batter, Nick Atkinson, got Shepherd on the board in their first at-bat with a solo homerun to take a 1-0 lead after one complete.  The long ball struck again in the second for Shepherd, this time a two-run blast by Ram left fielder Reid Entsminger to put SU up 4-0.
 
Coach Andrew Wright pushed the right buttons and brought on sophomore long reliever Austin Henrich midway through the second inning.  His stellar seven plus innings of work where he allowed just one run on four hits allowed the Golden Eagles to stay in striking distance and build confidence throughout the nine-inning game.  
 
Charleston broke through in the fourth against Ram starter Justin Smith, first on an RBI double by UC junior third baseman Jack Brunetti to get the Golden Eagles in the score column.   Austin Hathaway stepped in the box as the next batter and smashed a two-run homerun to right that brought UC within one run, 4-3. Charleston's Hayden Cartt didn't waste any time scoring the tying run, following up Hathaway's HR with one of his own, a solo shot to left to even the score at 4-4.
 
It remained deadlocked at 4-4 until the Golden Eagles figured out Ram reliever Colin Benner in the top half of the eighth inning.  Steven Davis led off the inning with a single through the middle then was bunted into scoring position by Brunetti.  Hathaway continued to swing a hot stick, doubling to right and scoring Davis to give UC its first lead of the afternoon.  Hathaway moved to third on a single by Cartt then was brought in on a beautiful safety squeeze by Brice Arrington to put Charleston up 6-4. Ryan Hunt capped the inning with an RBI single to left to score Cartt from second, giving Charleston a 7-4 lead and only six outs left for the Rams.
 
Henrich worked a three-up, three-down eighth and entered the ninth with a comfortable three-run cushion to work with.  He got the MEC Player of the Year, Brenton Doyle, to pop out before Sheherd's Christian Hamel connected with a solo homerun to make it 7-5.  The Charleston sophomore was unphased, getting the next Ram to foul out to Steven Davis behind the plate and got Chase Hoffman to swing and miss for the final out of the game, getting Charleston back in the MEC Championship for the second consecutive season.