CHARLESTON, W. Va. – UC hosted the Mountain Cats from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown this weekend in a three-game series, a series in which the Golden Eagles rallied together to pull off the three-game sweep. 

JUST THE BASICS
LOCATION: Charleston, W. Va. – Segra Field at the Welch Athletic Complex 
RECORDS: Charleston (6-4, 0-0 MEC) University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (8-3, 0-0 conf.)
SCORES:
    Game 1: Charleston: 3 University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown: 2
    Game 2: Charleston: 17 University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown: 1
    Game 3: Charleston: 5 University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown: 3

Game 1
The first game in the series opened up with a pitching dual between UC's Austin Henrich and UPJ's Dylan Heid. 

The Mountain Cats would jump out to an early lead in the first inning of the ballgame as they were able to get their leadoff batter on base via a single to left field from Owen McKeever. Immediately, the next batter Dylan Broderick lined a double to left field to bring around McKeever giving the Mountain Cats a 1-0 lead over Charleston.  

During the next at-bat, Broderick would advance to third base coming off of a wild pitch from Henrich. Henrich would proceed to strike that batter out. The next batter up was Wil Fetrow. He would line a single into left field allowing Broderick to score from third extending the UPJ lead to two. The Mountain Cats left the opening inning of the game with three hits, two runs, no errors and one man left on base. 

Down by two runs early, the Golden Eagles were quick to answer back. Jordan Bailey was the leadoff batter for the Golden Eagles as he was able to reach base on an inning-opening walk. Andrew Berry was the next batter as he proceeded to draw a walk as well putting runners at first and second with nobody out. 

That would bring Colby Johnson to the plate, he would proceed to strikeout in his at-bat, but Bailey was able to steal third in the process putting runners at the corners for UC. 

The next batter was Drew Hefner. He attempted to pull off a safety squeeze that was executed perfectly. He dropped a bunt down the third-base line, the third baseman was crashing on the play. The third baseman proceeded to field the ball cleanly and flip it to the catcher. The tag was not in time allowing Bailey to score the first run for the Golden Eagles on a close play at the plate. During the play, Hefner was able to reach first safely and Berry advanced to second. Hefner was credited with an RBI single. 

That would bode the end for the Golden Eagles rally in the inning as they could not score the two runners at first and second. 

From then on, neither team could manage to push any runs across. Both Henrich and Heid were able to settle in on the mound causing trouble for both lineups. 

In his outing, Henrich threw seven innings allowed only three hits and two earned runs while tallying seven strikeouts in the process. A great performance from the senior that kept his team in the ballgame heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. 

Heid, who pitched six strong innings allowed only three hits and four walks on the day. He would be sent out in the seventh to try and close out the ballgame for the Mountain Cats. 

The first batter he faced in the bottom of the seventh was junior Hayden Cartt. Cartt would draw a base on balls to lead off the Golden Eagle's half of the inning. Following the walk, Heid was pulled as the Mountain Cats would turn to Ben Briggs to close out the game. The first batter he would face was sophomore Braxton Boddorf. 

Boddorf proceeded to cause a frenzy of activity in the stands as he blasted his first-career home run over the right-field wall to walk off as winners over UPJ 3-2. 

Head coach Robbie Britt had some comments on the clutch blast from sophomore Boddorf.

"It is something that we have seen him do in BP, and he really just put some competitive at-bats together," said Britt. "We talk all the time with our hitters about how homeruns are hit a lot of the time off of mistakes, and I thought that he got a ball that was up in the zone. So, I thought that he did a good job of putting a good swing on it and getting it to carry over the fence. I am very proud of him because he has come a long way in terms of what he is doing offensively."

Game 2
Charleston would carry their momentum from the first game of the series over to the second. 

Logan Campbell was the starter for the Golden Eagles in game two. Coming off of a great performance last weekend, one in which he was selected as the NCBWA Regional Pitcher of the week, Campbell did not disappoint against UPJ. He started off the first inning in electric fashion as he was able to strikeout the side, energizing his team, and allowed his team to step up to the plate.

Jordan Bailey came up to lead the first inning off as he shot a single into right field. During the play, the right fielder booted the ball allowing Bailey to advance to third base. 

The next batter would strike out bringing up senior Colby Johnson who drew a walk putting runners at the corners. Drew Hefner was the next batter to step in the box. Hefner drove in Bailey on a sacrifice fly to center field. 

The Golden Eagles would end the inning as their runner on first base was caught stealing. 

The Golden Eagles would proceed to score another run in the second inning. The inning started with a hit by pitch for Filip Smola. Nick Wilson moved him over to second on the next play via a sacrifice bunt. Smola then advanced to third on a balk during Jesse Elliott's at-bat. 

Elliot proceeded to reach first on a walk putting runners at the corners. Elliot stole second during the next at-bat putting runners at second and third. The Golden Eagles tried for another safety squeeze as Hayden Cartt dropped a beautiful bunt down the third base line. 

The third baseman crashed and flipped the ball to the catcher waiting at home. With what would have been a close play at the plate, the catcher for UPJ thought that it was a force out at home and never put the tag on the runner Smola. Smola would score. During the play, the catcher would think about trying to throw out Cartt at first base but dropped the ball in the process. On his toes, Elliott recognized the opportunity and took off for home. He would ultimately score on the error by the catcher and Cartt advanced to second base as well. This put the Golden Eagles up 3-0 over UPJ. 

UPJ would score their only run of the ballgame in the third inning. Owen McKeever reached on a walk and would score on a double coming off of the bat of Isaiah Kearns. 

Colby Johnson lead off the third inning for the Golden Eagles as he reached on a walk. He would advance to second on a failed pickoff attempt by the pitcher, the ball squirted away allowing Johnson to take second. Smola would then come to the plate and drive Johnson in as he doubled to right-center field. 

Smola would then advance to third on a wild pitch. Smola would score on a single to left field from Nick Wilson. 

Jesse Elliott was the next batter up as he singled to put runners on first and second. With the double steal on, Wilson and Elliott both advanced safely putting runners at second and third. Braxton Boddorf was able to bring them in as he smacked a double down the right-field line allowing both runners to score. His two-RBI double brought the score to a 7-1 Charleston lead. 

UC would not be done scoring runs in the inning. UPJ brought in a reliever, Matt Mosholder, to face Jordan Bailey. Bailey would reach first on a hit by pitch putting Bailey at first and allowing Boddorf to stay put at second. They would both move up a base coming from a balk by Mosholder. 

That would bring Andrew Berry to the plate who proceeded to score both Boddorf and Bailey on a two-RBI double. 

The next time the Golden Eagles would score was the fifth inning. Elliott led the inning off with a single to right field. He would immediately come around to score as Cartt drove him in on a double to left field. Bringing the game to a score of 10-1 UC. 

Boddorf would proceed to come up and try to bunt for a hit, which was successful. Cartt displayed some fantastic baserunning as he noticed that the UPJ defenders were not paying attention to him and he was able to come around third and ultimately score on the bunt single from Boddorf. 

Bailey would come up next and reach on a walk putting runners at first and second. UPJ would then bring in a new reliever, Raymond Watt. 

The first batter he faced was Berry. Berry would reach base and load the bases up coming off of a hit by pitch. A wild pitch would bring in the next run for the Golden Eagles as each runner was able to move up. This brought the score to 12-1.

Freshman James Heavilin would pinch hit for Drew Hefner. He reached on a fielder's choice allowing Bailey to score from third and advance Berry to third base while Johnson was put out at second. 

In the next at-bat, Watt would throw another wild pitch allowing Berry to score from third and Heavilin to move up to second. Justin Robles would come to the plate to pinch-hit for Filip Smola and reach on a walk. On the last pitch of Robles's walk, Watt threw yet again another wild pitch allowing Heavilin to move up to third. 

The next batter, Nick Wilson, walked to load the bases. Cart would then proceed to come up and promptly unload them as he smoked a double into the right-center gap to score three more runs pushing the Golden Eagle lead to 17-1 where it would remain for the rest of the game. 

In terms of pitching, Campbell was able to throw for five strong innings, giving up only one run on three hits. He struck out eight batters in the process and surrendered only one walk. He would get the win and move his record to 3-0 on the season. 

Coach Britt was impressed by what he saw from his team in terms of offense in game two. 

"For us, I think it was just really good plate discipline," said Britt. "I think we started making him (UPJ's starting pitcher Braxton Roxby) spin his wheels when we started running and bunting and playing the offense that we want to play. I think what you saw there in the middle part of the game was what I ideally want our offense to look like."

Game 3
With the sweep on the mind of the Golden Eagles, they were able to stay focused and get the job done coming out with a solid win in game three of the series. 

Seth Nightingale started on the mound for UC keeping the game scoreless until the third inning. 

UPJ's Dylan Broderick got on base for the Mountain Cat's to get things started with two outs in the inning. The next was batter Isaiah Kearns. He singled to left field putting runners at first and second for UPJ. Lennox Pugh would cash in the first run of the ballgame as he singled to right field allowing Broderick to score from second. UPJ's Tyler Smith grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning for the Mountain Cats. 

In the fourth inning, Nightingale walked the leadoff batter Tyler Treese but was able to get the next batter, Asher Corl, to ground out into a double play to clear the bases. The next batter Mario Disso reached base on the second walk of the inning. That would bring Jake Ansell to the plate who singled to center allowing Disso to move up to third base putting runners at the corners for UPJ. That would be the end of Nightingale's day as senior Robert Fultineer would come in in relief. 

Fultineer took over the inning with men on first and third with two outs. Owen McKeever stepped to the plate and smacked a ground-rule double to left-center to bring home Disso and advance Ansell to third. Fultineer would proceed to get out of the jam as he struck out Dylan Broderick. After the end of the fourth inning, the Mountain Cats led the Golden Eagles 2-0. 

UC was unable to score any runs until the fifth inning of play. Nick Wilson led the inning off with a single to left-center. Jesse Elliott then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Wilson to second base with one out. The next batter was Hayden Cartt who was able to reach base on a walk bringing Braxton Boddorf to the plate. He was able to reach base on a single loading the bases for Charleston. Jordan Bailey would be the next batter.  He was hit by a pitch that brought in a run and kept the bases loaded. That would be the only run the Golden Eagles would receive in the inning as a double-play ball would get UPJ out of the jam. 

Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Golden Eagles were down a run and looked to change the momentum of the game. 

Colby Johnson led the inning off with a walk. Drew Hefner would advance Johnson to second base on a sacrifice bunt. That would bring Filip Smola to the plate. He proceeded to hit a ball to short left field that landed in no man's land allowing Johnson to score from second tying the ballgame at two. Smola was credited with a double and advanced to third on a throwing error by the shortstop trying to throw Johnson out at home. That would spell the end of UPJ's starting pitcher Isaiah Kearns's day as he was replaced by Joel Colledge. 

Nick Wilson would be the next batter of the inning as he helped his team out by driving in Smola from third base on a sacrifice fly to right field. Charleston would head into the seventh inning holding onto a 3-2 lead over the Mountain Cats. 

UPJ failed to score in the top half of the seventh allowing Charleston to widen their lead. 

Hayden Cartt was able to reach first base on an error by UPJ's third baseman to kick off the inning. Boddorf would come to the plate and proceed to reach on an infield single, both Cartt and Boddorf would advance on a throwing error by UPJ's shortstop trying to throw Boddorf out at first. That put runners at second and third for the Golden Eagles. 

Jordan Bailey was the next batter to step into the box as he smoked a single into center field to bring home both Boddorf and Cartt. Charleston would leave the bottom of the seventh inning with a 5-2 lead. 

In the top of the eighth, UPJ faced Jacob Kaiser. The Mountain Cats received a leadoff baserunner by way of a walk. The next batter was hit by a pitch putting runners at first and second. An error by the first baseman would load the bases for UPJ. 

Asher Corl was able to bring in a run on a sacrifice line out to left field making it a 5-3 ballgame. With runners at second and third, UPJ was able to load the bases again due to another hit batter. Kaiser was able to get out of the jam as he forced pinch hitter Wil Fetrow to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. 

UC would leave the inning with the lead and not turn back. They were held scoreless in their half of the eighth, but Kaiser was able to close the door on the Mountain Cats in the ninth as he struck out one batter, caused another batter to pop up to second base and retired the final batter on a fielder's choice at shortstop. 

UC took game three by a final score of 5-3 and completed the sweep of the Mountain Cats.  

With the sweep on the line, coach Britt was not concerned about the result but was more concerned with how the players would compete after taking the first two wins of the series. 

"I was interested to see how we would respond today. Our thought of the day was how you respond to success is just as important as you respond to failure," said Britt. "I was not so much concerned about the result as I was about how we prepared, how we played, would we be fundamentally sound? And I thought we did a fantastic job of that. I was most impressed with our ability to respond, especially after playing a double-header yesterday and being able to respond and play so well today, I was very impressed with that." 


WEEKEND THOUGHT'S BY COACH BRITT
With the offense playing well all weekend long, coach Britt was excited to see his team be disciplined at the plate.

"We were hitting good pitches instead of swinging at pitches out of the zone," said Britt. "Our saying, and I have stolen it from other coaches, is 'it's not your swing, it is the pitches that you are swinging at'. Everybody wants to break down the mechanics but sometimes it is just your plate discipline and approach. I thought we did a very good job of that this weekend."

The offense was being run the way that Britt is hoping to keep up in the future.

"We are going to run, slash, hit-and-run, we are going to be very skill-game oriented," said Britt. "And I thought that we did a great job of that this weekend." 

Pitching has been a strong suit for the Golden Eagles so far this season, and it was no different in the series this weekend. 

"(We were) steady as always," said Britt. "The only way that we gave up runs this weekend were unforced errors. So, free passes on the bases, hit batsmen, errors defensively, whatever it might be. But I will say I was very happy that our pitching staff and defense minimized. Any time that we got into damage, we talk about a minimize mentality. And I thought that we did a wonderful job of doing that, only giving away one run instead of allowing it to become a crooked number." 

Getting the sweep today was a big accomplishment for the team as well.

"Oh, it was huge. Anytime that you can win a series, it is big, but any time that you can sweep I think that is when you start to develop a championship resume," said Britt. "When you talk about a team that was ranked seventh in the Regional standings with us being eighth, and for them to come onto our home turf, and for us to walk out with a sweep, I think we established that we are a really good baseball team, at least at this point of the season." 

Even though success has come early, coach Britt does not want his team to become complacent. 

"I told the guys, you have got to follow it up, it can't just be a 'one and done' kind of deal. You have a really good Shippensburg team coming in, and we have got to make sure that we get ready for those guys." 

UP NEXT
Charleston will be back at home next weekend as they are set to take on Shippensburg University in a four-game set starting on Friday, March 6 at 3:00 p.m. followed by a double-header on Saturday at 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. with the conclusion of the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.