49ers pound Saint Peter’s 10-0 in Game 1 of doubleheader
Charlotte cather Ross Steedley blasted his first homer of the season in a 10-0 victory over Saint Peter's Saturday afternoon. (Photo by Chris Crews)
Charlotte baseball continued its early season success as the 49ers downed the Saint Peter’s Peacocks in the first leg of Saturday’s doubleheader by a final of 10-0.
J.J. Elseser led off the first for the Niners with his fourth hit of the series. In traditional Charlotte “small ball” fashion, a perfectly executed hit-and-run with Shane Brown at the plate put runners at the corners for Shane Basen. Basen grounded into a double play but still managed to plate Elseser giving the Niners and early 1-0 lead.
The Peacocks had a chance to put runs on the board in the third after an errant curveball from Charlotte starter Tyler Barnette beaned Saint Peter’s Justyn Carter in the back to start the inning. Carter stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice fly. With one out and a runner on third, Barnett struck out the next batter and forced a lazy fly ball to right field to escape the inning unblemished.
Saint Peter’s starter Matthew Yuhas settled into a groove in the second and third innings but fell victim to more small ball from head coach Loren Hibbs in the fourth.
Basen singled up the middle to lead off the fourth and promptly made his way across the plate after consecutive singles from Tony Montalbano and Corey Shive. Charlotte ended the inning with a 2-0 advantage.
In the fifth Charlotte moved from small ball to long ball. Graduate student and starting catcher Ross Steedley blasted one over the left field fence for his first home run of the season extending the Charlotte lead to 3-0.
The Niners added another run on a Basen single to left that plated Justin Roland. A wild throw to the plate from the Peacock’s left fielder Nicholas Henriquez allowed Brown to advance from first to third and Basen to second.
Yuhas walked Montalbano to load the bases but escaped the bases loaded jam by striking out the designated hitter Shive.
Charlotte put together a big inning in the seventh scoring six runs on four hits to stretch the Niners lead to 10-0 . Montalbano’s RBI triple highlighted the rally.
Barnette received his first win of the year after pitching 5.1 scoreless innings and allowing only one hit. The lone hit came in the top of the first inning, which was the same case for the previous night’s winner Andrew Smith. Chad Rothlin pitched the final three innings for the save.
Charlotte’s pitching staff was nearly untouchable throughout the contest. Barnette, Jordan Hudson and Rothlin combined for no runs, one hit and six stikeouts for the game.
The 49ers offense posted 12 hits in the game led by Basen who went three-for-five with two RBI’s and two runs scored. Shive added two hits and two RBI’s of his own.
The Niners combined for four stolen bases in the game with two from Elseser and one each for Brown and Justin Roland.
