UNCW pitchers combined to limit Charleston to one run on two hits and Steven Linkous collected four hits of his own as the Seahawks advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association championship game with a 6-1 win over College of Charleston on Friday.
UNCW advances to the title for the second straight season and upped its record to 39-15 with the win.
Alex Royalty (8-2) gave up the only two hits, while allowing one run on four walks over five innings before making way for the bullpen. Austin Easter followed with three innings of hitless, shutout baseball and set a season-high with five strikeouts. Jared Gesell came on in the ninth to nail down the win.
Linkous posted his second four-hit game of the season, scored twice and drove in one. Gavin Stupienski knocked in the first two runs of the game for UNCW and finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
Stupienski gave the Seahawks the lead in the third inning. With two outs, Brian Mims doubled to centerfield and Stupienski followed with a RBI single to right one batter later for a 2-1 advantage.
UNCW added four runs in their final at-bat to advance into Saturday’s tilt as Linkous and Kennard McDowell picked up RBIs in the ninth.
The Seahawks and William & Mary square off at 10 a.m. on Saturday due to the impending weather expected along the Carolina coast. The game is slated to be aired on MeTV locally in Wilmington as well as on CAA.TV. MeTV is station 1255 on Time Warner Cable and 193 on Charter Cable.
