Weekly Recap – March 9 – March 15

The winter season is officially over for CSU athletics after the Big South Women’s Basketball Championships that were held this week. The Lady Bucs put up a good fight against a very tough Liberty team, but we’ll talk more about that in a little bit. Before we get to the results from this week, special attention is deserved by four women’s basketball players that earned honors from the Big South this week. Freshman Kiki Rutledge earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors, and was named to the Big South all-freshman team before the tournament. Ali Schwagmeyer, who earned Freshman of the Week honors five times, also made the all-freshman team and was runner-up in the freshman of the year voting. Pam Tolbert was named to the All-Big South second-team, her second year in a row of being named all-conference. For her work in the classroom and on the court, Tina DeCarvalho earned a spot on the all-academic team.

Now, on to the results…

Sunday March 8 – Tuesday March 10 – M Golf @ Palmetto Intercollegiate
Kelvin Day finished second overall out of 75 competitors at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate, leading CSU to an 11th-place finish as a team. Day posted the lowest round of the tournament with a 66 in round two.

Monday March 9 – Softball vs. ETSU
The Buccaneer softball team faced outstanding defensive clubs this week, struggling to find runs. It started against East Tennessee State on Monday afternoon, when CSU dropped both games of a double header, pounding out seven hits, but failed to plate a run. Jamie Wellons and Sondra Vetter each went all seven innings in their respective starts in the pitchers circle, striking out a combined 12 hitters, but it wasn’t enough to get the Bucs of CSU over the Bucs of ETSU, falling 5-0, 1-0.

Monday March 9 – Tennis vs. East Carolina
Andrea Schutte was perfect on the day, winning her singles match 6-0, 6-4, while combining with Angie Torres to win their doubles match 9-7. Olga Makhova and Brooke Pletcher would also tally singles wins, but a tiebreak loss at the number for spot pushed the Pirates of ECU past the Lady Bucs 4-3.

Monday March 9 – WBB @ Winthrop
The Lady Buccaneers spread out the scoring with seven players recording at least three points. Lechell Rush and Katie Tull led the way with nine each and despite holding Winthrop to just 36 percent shooting, CSU fell 57-46 in the season finale. Kiki Rutledge had six points, three assists and two steals, helping pave the way for her to earn Big South Freshman of the Week honors in the final week of the regular season.

Tuesday March 10 – Baseball @ Savannah State
The Bucs were kind enough to spot Savannah State a five run lead over the first six innings of play, but Corey Deighan and Brandon Roberts shut the door in the final three innings while the CSU bats came alive to beat SSU 7-5. Senior Mark Perry had three hits on the day while Kory Morian had two helping CSU take the late lead. Roberts got the win on the mound, his first of the year as he sat down six straight batters, including striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Tuesday March 10 – Tennis vs. UNC Charlotte
Andrea Schutte continued her excellent week by winning her singles match against UNC Charlotte. Unfortunately, hers was the lone victory on the day against a very solid 49er team as CSU fell 6-1. Leonie Mandelkow and Olga Makhova gave it a yeoman’s effort in their doubles match but fell 7-5 in the tie breaker. Angie Torres also lost on a tie breaker 11-9 in the third set of her singles match.

Wednesday March 11 – Softball vs. Furman (DH)
Ashley Fowler hit .500 while Jamie Wellons and Sondra Vetter each earned complete game victories as CSU downed Furman 6-1, 2-1 at Buccaneer Field. Fowler led the way with three hits in six at-bats against the Paladins, while Megan Lombard, Amy Trenkamp, Gail Matsushima and Megan Hall each had a multi-hit day. Hall scored a team-high three runs while Lisa Rice and Lombard tied for team-high honors in RBI with two each. Wellons struck out just two, but scattered six hits and gave up just one run in her victory. Vetter went the distance in game two giving up just four hits and recording seven strikeouts.

Wednesday March 11 – Baseball vs. College of Charleston
The College of Charleston brought the heavy lumber to Buccaneer Ballpark for a midweek matchup, scoring nine runs in the first two innings. The Bucs played even after that point as pitching settled down after that giving up just four runs. CSU could not get out of the hole this time, though, as they fell 13-4. Once again, Scotty Radabaugh was the start for CSU going 4-for-5 on the day with a pair of RBI, accounting for half the runs and almost half the team’s hits.

Friday March 12 – WBB vs. Liberty (Big South Tournament)
It was quite possibly the best 20 minutes of basketball that CSU has played all season, and it came when they needed it most, the second half of the Big South Conference Tournament. Unfortunately, it was against the top-seeded Liberty Flames, and it was after a tough first half in which LU gained a 20-point advantage. The Lady Buccaneers outscored Liberty by 10 in the second half, and cut the lead to eight with 5:14 to go in the game after a fast break three by Kelsey Wasmer. The regular season, and eventually tournament champion Liberty Flames proved why they were the top seed as they held off the late charge for a 74-64 victory. Senior Pam Tolbert tried to will her team to victory in her final game in a CSU uniform as she scored 19 points to lead the way. Katie Tull continued to play well down the stretch dropping in 17 points, including five three-pointers. Kelsey Wasmer added nine points as CSU shot 58 percent in the second half.

Friday March 13 – Sunday March 15 - Baseball @ Liberty
Thanks to a Tom Burkett two-run homerun in the top of the first inning, CSU took a 2-0 lead on the road, trying to win the opening game of a weekend series for the second week in a row. Up 3-1 in the seventh, things looked to be in the books as CSU was ready to close out the game with two of their better pitchers. Liberty was not going quietly and two runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings pushed Liberty in front 5-3. An error and an RBI single by Mark Perry brought CSU back to within one, but they would leave two on base in the top of the ninth as they failed to steal the victory.

With all kinds of weather delays, Saturday’s scheduled game was eventually cancelled altogether, leaving just one more game on Sunday. The game finally started about 4:15 and again CSU wasted no time. For the second game in a row, lead off man Scotty Radabaugh did his job and got on base, this time with a walk. Kory Morian moved him over to third and a ground ball out to short scored the game’s opening run. Charlie McCready gave up just one run in 4.1 innings of work, leaving with a 3-1 lead in favor of Keith Hustedt. Keith would eventually get the win but the Bucs would never trail as they added a run in each of the last three innings to win 7-4. Closer Tyler Thornburg earned his first save of the year striking out two in the ninth inning.

Saturday March 14 – Sunday March 15 – Softball vs. Kent State and North Florida
Originally scheduled to go up to Rock Hill for the Winthrop Invitational, rain changed the plans of the Buccaneer softball team. With the first two days of the tournament cancelled, Coach Shane Winkler and his team decided to return home to host Kent State and North Florida in a series of games. Saturday did not go as planned for CSU as they struggled to find hits against either team. Jamie Wellons pitched a great game for CSU against Kent State, giving up just one run one three hits in seven innings of work, but the one run was enough to give Kent State the 1-0 victory.

After a tough loss, CSU tried to rebound against a solid North Florida team, and their former assistant coach Val Silvestrini, now with the Osprey. It was not to be as they pounded out 10 runs and held CSU scoreless again in a 10-0 UNF victory.

CSU and Kent State returned to the field Sunday for a rematch, with both teams electing to go with their best pitchers, the same two that dueled it out the day before. In the bottom of the fourth, the Bucs finally broke through with a hit, and what a hit it was! Gail Matsushima, with one on, blasted a shot off the foul pole in left for a two-run homerun to give CSU the lead. It was a lead they would hold until the sixth inning and a pinch hit triple for Kent State pushed them back out in front, giving them the sweep of CSU with a 3-2 victory.

Saturday March 14 – Track and Field @ Coastal Carolina
The field and distance crews went up Hwy 17 this weekend to compete in the CCU-Asics Invitational, leaving the majority of the sprinters at home to rest up after a busy indoor season.

Patria Norman finished second in the shot put for the women while Blake Eidson finished seventh in the same event for the men. Bridgette Copeland finished sixth overall in the long jump and the triple jump events, while Christi English finished close behind in the triple jump at ninth. Brittany Owens continued to show her improvement in the 5,000m run finishing third overall, just four seconds behind the winner.

What’s coming up:

Tuesday March 17 – Wednesday March 18 – Baseball @ Auburn

Wednesday March 18 – Tennis vs. Rutgers – 2 p.m.

Wednesday March 18 – Softball @ College of Charleston (DH) – 6 p.m.

Friday, March 20 – Softball @ Coastal Carolina – 4 p.m.

Friday March 20 – Saturday March 21 – Track @ Shamrock Invitational (Conway, S.C.)

Friday March 20 – Sunday March 22 – Baseball @ Gardner-Webb

Each week, we will bring you a weekly recap of everything that is going on in CSU athletics. For up to the minute information, please check http://www.csusports.com/.