Cory Lane belted Charlotte's second grand slam of the season in a 15-2 rout of Fordham. |
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Bats Still Hot as Charlotte Wins Eighth-Straight 15-2 Over Fordham in A-10 Tournament
May 25, 2007
Dayton, Ohio - Second baseman Cory Lane's grand slam in the second inning was part of a 19-hit attack and senior Spencer Steedley tossed 6.1 solid innings as top-seeded Charlotte moved to within one win of its first-ever Atlantic 10 title after downing No. 3 Fordham, 15-2, on Friday afternoon at Fifth Third Field. Charlotte has now won its last eight ballgames.
Ranked 20th in the latest NCBWA poll, the 49ers (46-10) will face Fordham, Richmond or Xavier on Saturday at 12:00pm. Fordham (34-21), which had its 11-game winning streak snapped, will square off against the winner of the Richmond-Xavier contest at 7:00pm on Friday in an elimination game for both teams. It was the first meeting between Charlotte and Fordham this season.
Charlotte scored in each of the first five innings and got things started in the top of the first against junior Tom Davis (8-3) as shortstop Shayne Moody stroked a one-out double and scored on Kris Rochelle's RBI single. Rochelle would come around to score on a fielder's choice by Cory Lane to give the 49ers a 2-0 advantage. It marked the 24th time this season Charlotte scored in the first inning and now boasts an impressive 22-2 mark in such contests.
"We were locked in from the first pitch today and we have a lot of respect for [Tom] Davis since he threw against us last year," said Charlotte head coach Loren Hibbs, the 2007 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
"We had some balls fall for us early which may have frustrated him but our guys played hard and we'll see if we can do it again tomorrow."
An RBI hit by Moody in the second and junior Brad McElroy's run-scoring double made the score 4-0. With two out and the bases loaded, Lane delivered a high drive down the rightfield line that just cleared the glove of a leaping P.J. Como to give Charlotte an 8-0 advantage.
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"I knew I hit it on a line but I thought their rightfielder may rob me of one," said Lane, who raised his season total to five homers.
"Our pitching staff has done a great job all year long of throwing strikes, getting outs as they come and letting us get back to swinging the bats and today was no different."
Meanwhile, Steedley was in command over the first six innings, allowing just four hits while fanning seven. He yielded a one-out run in the seventh before being relieved by righthander B.J. Hagen, who pitched 2.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Five different players collected at least two hits for the 49ers, with McElroy going 4-for-5 with three RBI and Moody collecting three hits and scoring three runs. After driving in five runs in Charlotte's 11-1 win over Rhode Island on Thursday, designated hitter Chris Taylor added two more RBI while Lane recorded a game-high five RBI.
Davis allowed 11 runs on 10 hits in two innings pitched with three walks and one strikeout. Second baseman Eric Reese led Fordham with two hits and a walk.
For complete coverage of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship, log on to www.atlantic10.org
