By MONTE DUTTON

When Presbyterian College won the Big South women’s basketball tournament, the Blue Hose were seeded fifth and pulled three upsets in a row.

When PC won the league’s baseball tournament in 2021, the circumstances were similar.

Next Thursday, when the Big South Championship baseball tournament begins in High Point, N.C., no miracle wiIl be required. After polishing off UNC Asheville twice, 6-3 and 7-2, on Friday, Presbyterian (28-25, 18-6) is going to High Point as regular-season champion, tournament top seed and team to beat.

It takes the tournament to qualify for the NCAA playoffs, but winning the regular season is harder. PC has never done it. Until now.

The Blue Hose’ conquest of the Bulldogs, who arrived in town Thursday with hopes of qualifying for the tournament, was smooth and businesslike. Maybe a tad sadistic. Presbyterian outscored Asheville, 30-5, in three games, skewed by the 17-0 skewering on Thursday.

Daniel Eagen, who pitched 8-2/3 innings before allowing a hit in that game, said: “My goal, every night when I go on the mound, is to put this team in position to win that first (series) game. That’s my job: go out there and attack.

“I’ve conditioned myself to pitch as long as it takes to win games.”

Threatening weather compacted single games on Friday and Saturday into a twinbill and businessman’s special that began Friday at 11 a.m. It was a gray day for celebrating, but it only drizzled occasionally until the late innings of game two, when the rain spat a bit, and if it had spat more, PC was safely ahead and the game lengthy enough to be declared official. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.

In game two of the series and one of the Friday doubleheader, head coach Elton Pollock followed up the heat of righthander Eagen (6-1) with the polish of Sanford, Fla., senior Charlie McDaniel, a southpaw. He turned in 7-1/3 innings, yielding four hits, three runs and a walk, fanning eight.

“Winning in baseball is very hard,” Pollock said. “Our team was built differently (this year). If you’ve got guys who can pitch it, you’ve got a real shot to win, and we’ve got some guys on the front end (Eagen and McDaniel) who have been the most consistent in the league, week in and week out.”

Presbyterian never trailed in either game, though the score was tied 2-2 for three innings in the latter. The Blue Hose didn’t commit an error in the doubleheader. They rapped 11 more hits than the Bulldogs. The most unusual aspect was that center fielder Joel Dragoo only had two hits. Naturally, one was a double. Gosh. Dragoo’s average plunged to .413.

“I just try to walk up to the plate approaching it the same way every time,” said Dragoo, a junior from Beckville, Texas (near Nacogdoches, if that rings a bell). “I try not to do too much.”

Dragoo has 17 home runs and 20 doubles. He’s doing quite enough.

“We all just banded together,” he added. ‘We don’t think this is a surprise.”

In the former game, McDaniel (7-1) was an executive presence on the mound. In the latter, Pollock turned to the joint chiefs of staff. Starter Fenix DiGiacomo had to leave early, so, in order, Tristan McGregor, Robbie Boykin (W, 2-0), Yechiel Saint and Sean Hollister kept the bagpipes playing.

Hollister also closed out the opener for McDaniel and earned his third save.

“What’s really been exciting about this team is seeing young guys who have stepped up in big ways,” McDaniel said.

Presbyterian scored six runs before UNC Asheville (22-28, 10-14) had any. Robbie Burnett lofted a two-run blast in the seventh inning and the Bulldogs added one in the eighth.

For PC, Jake Randolph, Jackson Hugus and Jack Gorman signaled a fine day for the letter J by cracking two hits apiece. Gorman’s were doubles.

Colby Guy (7-4) took the loss for the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, in Boiling Springs, N.C., on about the same timeline, Gardner-Webb was taming High Point, 8-3, meaning that a victory in Game 2 clinched the top tournament seed and outright regular-season title for Presbyterian.

The Panthers and the Bulldogs That Are Forever Running are scheduled to meet again on Saturday at 10 a.m. It doesn’t mean a thing.

Even with the merry-go-round on the mound, Presbyterian was coolly efficient in Game 2. The lead was only 3-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Blue Hose went dancing in the rain with four runs on hits by Dragoo, Randolph, Gorman and Evan Cuervo.

Designated hitter Randolph was 5/8 in the twinbill with five runs batted in.

Justin Needles (2-3), the second of four UNCA hurlers, took the loss.

Take a look at the Game 1 box here.

Take a look at the Game 2 box here.

Decision time is approaching. What’s next? Do I keep doing it the way I am now? Do I amend this site? Do I continue to concentrate on local sports coverage, or do I change my priorities?

I’m thinking. I’m thinking.

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