By Michael Zonkowski
Special to howard-bison.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. - For the second consecutive day, Howard was swept in doubleheader at Buccaneer Field by Charleston Southern.  Friday’s doubleheader saw the Bison (21-20) fall in two heartbreaking one run games, 5-4 and 8-7 respectively.

While Howard had a far more success scoring runs off of a Buccaneer (29-26-1) pitching staff that allowed just two Bison runs in two games a day ago, Charleston Southern took advantage of some timely hitting and a solid bullpen.

The Buccaneers jumped out to a quick lead in game one with a Howard fielding error followed by a passed ball responsible for Charleston Southern’s first run and a Shayla Cullum RBI single accounting for the second in a two run bottom of the first.  

Howard fought back.  In the fifth inning with the score 4-1 and the bases full of Bison, Courtney Young hit a bases clearing double to center closing the gap to one run.

The rally would stop there however as Buccaneer’s starter Morgan Dowdy (3-1) got out of the inning and Charleston Southern called on Thursday’s game one star Sondra Vetter who closed out the final two innings without giving up a hit to record her first save of the season.

Game two saw another Bison comeback, with Charleston Southern leading 6-2 in the top of the fourth inning, Howard made the Buccaneers pay for an error and poured on five runs in the frame. The rally was capped by none other than Courtney Young’s RBI single to give the Bison a 7-6 lead.  Young was 4-7 with five runs batted in on the day.

The lead did not last long as Charleston Southern tallied a run in the home half of the inning setting the stage for Jana Matthews’ fifth inning game winning RBI single.

Once again, the Buccaneers relied on their bullpen to come in and shut down the Howard attack.  Kimberly Hobbs (11-7) came on in relief of Charleston Southern starter Caitlin Allen and pitched three and a third innings of shutout ball.

The Bison will  leave South Carolina as they travel to Princess Anne, Maryland to take on Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference (MEAC) North opponent Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday at 1 pm.  Howard will look to improve on its stellar 11-1 conference leading record against a Hawks (1-28, 0-12) team that has yet to win a MEAC game.