DANVILLE, Va. - Chad Pigg led a 17-hit attack as top-ranked LaGrange beat Rowan 12-5 in the South Regional on Friday at Legion Field.
The Panthers (40-4) added two more milestones to a record season. They reached the 40-win plateau for the first time and became the first LC team to win two games in a NCAA tournament.
LC will face Roanoke, who eliminated Emory on Friday, in a winner's bracket game at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game.
Pigg went 4-for-4 with four RBIs in the game. He became the first Panther to get four hits in an NCAA game. Blake Butcher and James Poropatic each had three hits. Both players have five hits in the regional's first two games.
Andrew Weekley went eight innings to up his record to 10-1. He allowed the five runs, only three were earned, scattered nine hits, walked one, and struck out five. Weekley became the second Panther to record 10 wins in the season and the first since Titus Martin had a school record 11 wins in 2003.
Casey Bell and Butcher had back-to-back doubles in the top of the first to give LaGrange a 1-0 lead. Rowan (29-17) came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 2-1.
The Panthers broke the game open with five runs in the third inning and three more in the fifth to build a 9-2 lead. Pigg had a two-run single in the fifth inning.
