Thursday, Apr. 21, 2011
Pop song has Witten delivering at the plate
By Ryan Young - ryoung@thesunnews.com
CONWAY -- A couple of weeks into the baseball season, with his batting average all the way down to .114,
Coastal Carolina first baseman Rich Witten decided he needed to make a change.
To his walk-up music, that is.
So beginning with a 3-for-3, five-RBI game against Ball State on March 4, Witten's strolls to the plate have been accompanied by Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" during home games.
As Witten explained, "Baseball players are [as] superstitious as they get."
That is why he has stuck with the lively '80s hit as his batting average has climbed past .250. And it certainly won't be changing anytime soon after Witten broke through with his long-awaited first home run of the season Wednesday night in the Chanticleers' 7-4 win over The Citadel at Watson Stadium.
"It was a big weight off my shoulders to get that first one out of the way," he said afterward. "I came into the season with high expectations of being able to put up some home run numbers and some RBI numbers for this team, and hopefully that will get me jump-started a little bit later than I thought."
And as for the music ...
"I think it's a crowd favorite," Witten said. "I think everybody likes listening to it. You know, it's classic. It's Whitney Houston. Everybody likes it, so I think I'll stick with it."
Whatever works. CCU coach Gary Gilmore was especially pleased to see his Chants score seven runs Wednesday night without needing to rely on a big game from junior second baseman and offensive leader Tommy La Stella.
La Stella drove in the first run of the night with a first-inning groundout, and his teammates took care of the rest.
Witten and junior Tucker Frawley each had two RBIs, while seniors Scott Woodward and Hayes Orton collected two hits and an RBI each.
Frawley's two-run single spurred a four-run fourth inning for Coastal and came after Witten beat out a throw from Bulldogs' shortstop Matt Simonelli to second base on an infield grounder to load the bases. Woodward and Orton followed with RBIs later in the inning as the Chants went ahead 5-1 at the time.
Witten's two-run shot to left-center field came in the eighth.
"Like I told them, it was great to win tonight and Tommy wasn't the forefront of our offense and everything that we do," Gilmore said. "I thought that was a great confidence builder for our team [for] some other guys to step up."
The Chants (25-13) also got a key effort from junior right-hander Jordan Coons, who picked up the win in his first start of the season. Coons, who has also made 15 appearances out of the bullpen this year and now boasts a 1.65 ERA, used a sinking two-seam fastball to hold The Citadel (15-23) to six hits and two runs over six walk-free innings.
Coons, who was primarily a third baseman while throwing about 20 innings last season at Jefferson College in Missouri, got the starting nod Wednesday night with the Chants' pitching staff in the middle of a five-game week.
"I'll take anything I can get," Coons said of the opportunity. "I hope I showed them something tonight. I'd love to get another start, but it's up to [the coaches]."
The Chants have now won 10 of their past 13 games, but this was their first midweek, nonconference victory since previously defeating The Citadel on March 23.
"Tonight was just another step towards getting our momentum back," Woodward said.
NOTES: Woodward led off the bottom of the first with a double Wednesday night and came around to score, breaking the program record for career runs scored with 233 (previously held by Ryan McGraw).
"It means a lot to me," Woodward said. "I've always been a table-setter for Coastal my four years here at school. I didn't even realize I had tied the record [until] right before pre-game."
http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/04/21/2113605/chants-dance-to-win.html#ixzz1MYg9Ube7
