WSSU will meet Virginia State for the CIAA Baseball Tournament Title

Ray Crawford(Dudley High School), Colby Keene(Southeast Guilford HS) and Devin McLemore(Westchester Country Day) all going for a CIAA Baseball Title for Winston-Salem State on Saturday….(WSSU now looking at and talking to Bump Martin, SS from McMichael High School, in Madison, N.C….McMichael won the recent Prospects Tournament at NewBridge Bank Park….McMichael coached by Clark Erskine, a former UNCG Spartan….

from the Rams’ athletics web site at www.wssurams.com:

Ettrick, VA – The 2014 CIAA Baseball Championship finals are set with wins by Winston-Salem State University and Virginia State University on Friday afternoon at Whaley Colbert Field on the campus of VSU.

In the first game of the day, Winston-Salem State topped Virginia State 13-3 to advance to the championship game. VSU dropped into the loser’s bracket and face Chowan University in the second contest. The Trojans dominated the Hawks en route to a 21-2 victory.

The sixth inning proved to be the deciding factor in the WSSU-VSU contest. The Rams jumped out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the first inning. Gavin Culler took base on balls to setup the first run for WSSU. CIAA Player of the Year Ray Crawford followed with a double to left field. Connor Andrus hit a sacrifice fly to right field which scored Culler from third. Rafael Gonzalez had the other RBI in the inning. He hit a single up the middle to bring home Crawford.

The score remained 2-0 until the fourth inning. Virginia State tied the game with two runs in the top of the fourth. David Markins smacked a 2-RBI single to score Zachery Jordan and Nicholas Christopher. The Trojans and Rams remained knotted up at 2-2 until the sixth.

VSU broke the tie after Joshua Markins scored an unearned run off an error at second base. The Rams only trailed (3-2) briefly. WSSU produced five hits and four runs in the bottom of the sixth for a decisive 6-3 advantage. Virginia State failed to score additional runs in the game. Meanwhile, Winston Salem State added three runs in the seventh and four runs in the eighth for a 13-3 win.

Welsey Helsabeck earned the victory on the mound. Helsabeck pitched seven innings with seven hits, three runs allowed (two earned), four walks, and seven strikeouts.