After a first inning run, the fourth-straight game in which Charlotte baseball tallied a run in the opening frame, a five-spot in the second followed as the 49ers picked up a 9-5 win at FIU to complete their second-straight four-game sweep in Conference USA play. With the victory, the Niners move into sole possession of first place in the league's east division at 11-1, the best overall in C-USA.
FIRST INNING RUN IN ALL FOUR
Charlotte (22-9, 11-1) got on the board in the opening inning at FIU for the fourth-straight game as Carson Johnson got things going with a one-out single before a Gino Groover replaced him with a fielder's choice at first. Another failed pickoff attempt to first allowed Groover to scamper to third. Will Butcher came through with a RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.
Woodard on Impact Scoring First Has on Pitchers
"It gives you that sense of I don't have to be so perfect. It frees up the pitcher to attack hitters and let his defense make plays a little more freely feeling like he doesn't have to be so perfect. That's the advantage of being the visitors and hitting first. I give our hitters a ton of credit, scoring in those first innings are huge."
FIVE IN SECOND TO OPEN IT UP
Dominic Pilolli and Jack Dragum led off the second with back-to-back walks before a wild pitch and two-run double to the right-center field gap by Todd Elwood pushed the lead to three. After a Nate Furman walk, Johnson followed suit with a two-run down to left-center before Groover's double to right-center traded places with Johnson to cap off the five spot.
THREE IN SIXTH RESPONSE
FIU (12-19, 4-8) scratched across runs in the second, third and fifth to cut the lead in half before a final three-run sixth opened things back up. In the Niners sixth, a one-out walk to Elwood, double to center by Jacob Whitley and back-to-back safety squeezes by Craig Keuchel and Furman slid to lead back out to five. A Johnson sacrifice fly later completed the inning for a 9-3 advantage.
Woodard on the Safety Squeezes
"Executing those safety squeezes proved to be massive. The two that we called upon with Keuchel and Furman were executed textbook. I thought our baserunning won us the game as far as advancing to the next base, staying aggressive and never letting up."
CLOSING THE DOOR FOR #22
The Panthers tallied two in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Trae Starnes came in to strikeout Adrian Figueroa while Ryan Czanstkowski (1) struck out Luis Chavez earning the save and ending the game. Andrew Lindsey (4-1) scored the win in relief going six innings after two from Kolton Scherbenske to start, allowing four runs on five hits with five strikeouts. Scherbenske got the Niners into the third allowing just one run on one hit in his first start.
Woodard on Sunday's Pitching
"I was really proud of Kolton Scherbenske. He didn't start off how he wanted to, but gathered himself and gave us two innings. Any amount of length we could get from him and any pitcher today was going to be big. When you have a pitcher come in on one day's rest and throw like Andrew did was tremendous. He put us on his back. Starnes has done a really great job of being that matchup lefty out of the bullpen and staying ready. Czanstkowski was a warrior coming in, staying ready, attacking with his best stuff and a great pitch to end it with a strikeout. I'm really proud of our entire staff, this was the best weekend for our staff in C-USA play. You also have to acknowledge Aaron McKeithan and Jacob Whitley. When the pitchers throw well, it coincides with those two guys as well."
10+ AGAIN
The Niners cranked out 11 hits in Sunday's win marking the third time achieving at-least 10 hits at FIU. Johnson, Butcher and Elwood each collected two of those hits while Johnson drove in three. Elwood also drove in two with his second-inning double.
