49ers Baseball before the game. Photo by Chris Crews
Charlotte (16-16) snapped their six-game losing streak tonight against Charleston Southern (11-24) with a huge walk off winning 3-2.
It was a very competitive contest between the two teams, however Charlotte had some bad moments throughout the contest committing five errors.
Charlotte started off the game with a bang with Reece Hampton hitting the only home run of the contest in the bottom of the first. Harris Yett walked his first at-bat and advanced to second due to a wild pitch. Zack Smith followed up with a single to center field bringing in Yett making it 2-0.
Charleston responded in the third when Josh Litchfield hit a single and eventually scored due to multiple errors by Charlotte’s defense.
After a three inning drought, Charleston scored another run in the top of the seventh by back-to-back singles from Josh Asbill and Jack Delongchamps. Litchfield then scored Asbill tying the game 2-2 after the frame. Charlotte failed to respond in the bottom of the seventh.
The eighth inning set the stage of the ending with both teams playing tight defense and great pitching from both sides. Neither team managed to bring in a run bringing in the ninth inning with great angst. A great defensive play by third basemen Jackson Mims along the third base line started off the top of the ninth with a spark. Charlotte again shutout the frame with better plays on defense giving them one last chance in regulation to get the win.
All season long, the 49ers high-powered offense has helped them run up the score on their opponents. Now they needed to close the deal after this closely contested game. Hampton was first up at the plate to start off the frame. Hitting a single to right field kept the 49ers alive. Mims followed with his single to center advancing Hampton to second. Yett placed the nail in Charleston’s coffin with his deep shot walk-off to right center scoring Hampton for the win ending the night with the 3-2 victory.
Yett and Hampton were the heroes for the night with both players hitting twice throughout the contest. Charlotte utilized five pitchers during the contest. Philip Perry (1-3) got his first win of the season while Carson Pinkney, Colby Bruce and Matt Horkey had multiple inning stints combining for a .176 average and allowing only one run on six hits.
“I’m proud of our guys, ” 49ers coach Loren Hibbs said. “We had some really good at-bats there in the last inning and hats off to our pitching staff. They did a really, really good job tonight. We didn’t play very good defense and weren’t very good offensively, but or pitching staff picked us up tonight.”
The 49ers head on the road this weekend in the Conference USA to face the 25th ranked Louisiana Tech. Game one starts Friday April 13th at 7 p.m.