Box Score

The Spalding Golden Eagle Nine fell to Greenville 14-9 in the first game of the SLIAC Tournament.

Korie Vire led the Golden Eagles at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs. Matt

West also had a solid outing, hitting 2-for-5 with a solo home run and three RBIs.

Jon Recktenwald (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs, on three hits, while striking out one batter.  
SU jumped on the scoreboard early, scoring four runs in the first inning to take a 4-0 lead. Two-hole hitter Matt West hit a solo shot over the left field wall for the first run of the game. Derek Ferch followed West, reaching by a base on balls, and Beckman single to right field and advanced on the throw to give SU runners on first and third. Korie Vire drilled a three run bomb to left field bringing in Ferch and Beckmann.

After a scoreless second inning, Greenville scored a pair of runs to in the top of the third to cut the SU lead to two runs. Tim Osborne reached on a ground-rule double to lead off the inning. Jared Storment followed with a double to score the first run on the inning, and Shane Olmsted drove in Storment for the final Panther run.

Kore Vire answered in the bottom of the third, hitting his second home run, a solo shot to center field to push Spalding's lead back to three runs at 5-2.

Greenville cut SU's lead back to two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Jared Souhrada reached on single to right field, advanced to third on an Osborne single, and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Montgomery to make the score 5-3.

The Panthers cut the Golden Eagle led to one run in the top of the fifth inning. Leadoff batter Dalton McFarland reached on a single, and a West throwing error that ended up in the Greenville dugout advanced McFarland to third. Dathan Berning brought in McFarland with a sacrifice groundout to short to make the score 5-4.

SU gave up two runs in the top of the sixth inning, falling behind 6-5. Montgomery reached on fielder's choice and Storment got on with a single that moved Montgomery to third. Both runners scored when Nate Greenwell missed a diving attempt at an Olmsted line drive to right field to give Greenville the lead. However, the Golden Eagle Nine responded, scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning to retake an 8-6 lead. JR Belt led off the inning with a single through the left side, and advanced to second on a Greenwell sacrifice bunt. Kam Bruner followed Greenwell, reaching by a base on balls. An error at second base allowed Whitlock to reach on a fielder's choice to juice the bases. Matt West regained the lead for SU with a single down the left field line that scored Belt and Bruner, while advancing Whitlock to third. Derek Ferch pushed the lead to two runs with a single up the middle scoring Whitlock to make the score 8-6.

Greenville scored three runs to in the top of the seventh to regain a 9-8 lead, but the Golden Eagles answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to knot the score at 9-9. Korie Vire hit a single to left field to lead off the inning, and advanced to third on an errant throw out to second base. Kam Bruner brought in the tying run with a sacrifice groundout to the first baseman.

Once again, Greenville answered with two runs in the eighth inning to take an 11-9 lead, and added three runs in the top of the ninth to give Greenville the 14 -9 victory.

SU will take on take on the loser of the #1 Webster vs. #3 Fontbonne game in elimination game tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST.