Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Full PDF)
2015 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
2015 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2015 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2015 Sun Belt Conference Statistics
Around the Sun Belt
Arkansas State’s Zach George reached base in all four games played last week, extending his nation-leading on-base streak to 66 games. George recorded a hit in each game and multiple hits in three of the four contests. He drove in the winning run against UCA in the top of the 13th inning with a single to left field and then Sunday had three hits and was hit by a pitch twice to reach base in all five of his plate appearances.
Despite stepping out of conference play to face ACC foe Clemson, the Georgia Southern Eagles moved up in the standings and sit in third place. GS is a game behind Troy and a game ahead of UL Lafayette with a three-game series with in-state rival Georgia State looming.
Georgia State freshman Justin Jones is putting together one of the top seasons ever by a Georgia State freshman, hitting .307 with 27 RBI and 35 runs scored. He is first among Sun Belt freshmen in batting average, hits and runs scored and second in RBI while playing outstanding defense, helping GSU lead the league in double plays.
South Alabama’s Kevin Hill tossed his third consecutive complete game and his fourth straight against Sun Belt opponents. Hill earned his second shutout of the season, and earned his ninth straight win while extending his consecutive scoreless streak to 15 innings. It also marked the first time a Jaguar has recorded two shutouts in an SBC season since Dustin Crenshaw in 2011.
The Troy Trojans have won 10 consecutive Sun Belt games at home and finish the 2015 regular season 13-2 in league play at Riddle-Pace Field. Troy’s last weekend loss at home came on March 21 in the front end of a doubleheader against UALR. Since that time, Troy has swept Alabama A&M, Arkansas State, Texas State and Georgia State on the weekend on its home turf. Overall, the Trojans are 22-10 at home this season as they enter the Sun Belt Championship hosted by the Trojans.
Troy’s Grant Bennett and Lucas Brown tossed back-to-back complete game wins for the Trojans over the weekend. It marked the first time since 2005 against Belmont when Landon Brazell and Brent Adcock went the distance in successive victories.
Week 13 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week
Joe Schrimpf (Arkansas State, Sophomore, 2B)
Schrimpf had a fantastic week at the plate as he hit .412, drove in seven runs, and had a team-high 13 total bases over the Red Wolves’ four games. He also had the best slugging percentage on the team at .765 and reached base at .500 clip. Schrimpf had three hits against UCA and drove in a key insurance run in the top of the 13th along with being hit by a pitch once and having two sacrifice bunts. He had a monster game on Friday night when he went 2-for-4 with five RBIs, scored three runs, and had a triple and home run. The triple scored the two runs that tied the game and then his run was the go-ahead run. The home run was in the top of the ninth and was absolutely crushed for two more runs that made the game 8-5. He added another couple of hits and an RBI in the final two games, all while playing great defense. He made no errors while having 20 assists and 10 putouts.
Week 13 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week
Kevin Hill (South Alabama, Senior, RHP)
Hill tossed his third consecutive complete game and his fourth straight against Sun Belt competition with a complete-game shutout in Friday’s series opener at Louisiana-Lafayette. The right-hander earned his ninth consecutive win, allowing just five hits with eight strikeouts against three walks, and extended his scoreless streak to 15 consecutive innings. Hill faced the minimum over the final four frames, and handed the Cajuns their first shutout loss of the season.
Player of the Week Archive
2.18 - Matt Rose, Georgia State
2.24 - Kodie Tidwell, UL Monroe
3.03 - Adam Ballew, South Alabama
3.10 - Blake Trahan, UL Lafayette
3.17 - Ryan Blanton, Georgia State
3.24 - Dillon Dobson, Appalachian State
3.31 - Stefan Trosclair, UL Lafayette
4.07 - Michael Pierson, Appalachian State
4.14 - Tanner Rockwell, UALR
4.21 - Aaron Mizell, Georgia Southern
4.28 - Kyle Clement, UL Lafayette
5.05 - Cole Billingsley, South Alabama
5.12 - Joe Schrimpf, Arkansas State
Pitcher of the Week Archive
2.18 - Nathan Bates, Georgia State
2.24 - Tyler Zuber, Arkansas State
3.03 - Alex Hermeling, UL Monroe
3.10 - Jon Glidewell, Arkansas State
3.17 - Grant Bennett, Troy
3.24 - Taylor Thurber, Appalachian State
3.31 - Nathan Bates, Georgia State
4.07 - Scott Grist, Texas State
4.14 - Grant Bennett, Troy
4.21 - Taylor Thurber, Appalachian State
4.28 - Kevin Hill, South Alabama
5.05 - Taylor Thurber, Appalachian State
5.12 - Kevin Hill, South Alabama
Recent Results
Tuesday, May 5
Arkansas State 8, Central Arkansas 6 (13)
Texas State at Texas CANCELED
UT Arlington 6, No. 17 Dallas Baptist 12
Wednesday, May 6
Georgia State 7, Kennesaw State 4
Florida A&M 6, Troy 0
Friday, May 8
Georgia Southern 5, Clemson 13
UL Monroe 10, UALR 7 *
South Alabama 5, UL Lafayette 0 *
Arkansas State 8, Texas State 5 *
Georgia State 2, Troy 4 *
Appalachian State 1, UT Arlington 2 *
Appalachian State 5, UT Arlington 2 *
Saturday, May 9
UL Monroe 1, UALR 4 *
Appalachian State 3, UT Arlington 9 *
Arkansas State 12, Texas State 10 *
Georgia Southern 4, Clemson
South Alabama 4, UL Lafayette 3 *
Georgia State 2, Troy 4 *
Sunday, May 10
Georgia Southern 7, Clemson 4
UL Monroe 6, UALR 1 *
South Alabama 2, UL Lafayette 3 *
Arkansas State 11, Texas State 10 *
Georgia State 0, Troy 2 *
Upcoming Games
Tuesday, May 12
East Tennessee State at Appalachian State 5:00 PM
Kennesaw State at Georgia Southern 5:00 PM
UL Lafayette at Nicholls State 6:00 PM
Central Arkansas at UALR 6:00 PM
Ole Miss at Arkansas State 6:30 PM
Thursday, May 14
Georgia Southern at Georgia State * 5:00 PM
UL Lafayette at UL Monroe * 6:00 PM
UT Arlington at Texas State * 6:00 PM
UALR at Arkansas State * 6:30 PM
Troy at South Alabama * 6:30 PM
Friday, May 15
UT Arlington at Texas State * 3:00 PM
Georgia Southern at Georgia State * 5:00 PM
UALR at Arkansas State * 6:00 PM
UL Lafayette at UL Monroe * 6:00 PM
Troy at South Alabama * 6:30 PM
Saturday, May 16
UALR at Arkansas State * 1:00 PM
UL Lafayette at UL Monroe * 1:00 PM
UT Arlington at Texas State * 1:00 PM
Georgia Southern at Georgia State * 1:00 PM
Troy at South Alabama * 6:30 PM
Team News and Notes
Appalachian State
Appalachian State University baseball looks to close the 2015 season on a high note when it hosts longtime local rival East Tennessee State on Tuesday night at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. While most teams across the country close their regular seasons this coming weekend, all clubs in the 11-team Sun Belt Conference have a bye scheduled in league play and the Mountaineers’ falls on the last weekend of the campaign. With 12 losses by two runs or less in its first season in the ultra-competitive Sun Belt, Appalachian has been eliminated from contention for one of the eight slots in next week’s conference tournament in Troy, Ala. Appalachian State (16-36) closes the season the same way it opened it — with a game against a former Southern Conference rival. After opening the 2015 campaign versus Davidson back on Feb. 13 in Raleigh, the Mountaineers wrap up their 53-game slate against ETSU (19-32). Appalachian State and ETSU close their annual home-and-home series on Tuesday night. The Bucanneers defeated the Mountaineers, 10-4, on April 29 in Johnson City, Tenn. to hand Appalachian its first loss in the series since 2013. One of the Mountaineers’ few bright spots in the April 29 loss at ETSU was junior second baseman Dillon Dobson, who hit two home runs in the game. With 12 homers this season, Dobson needs just one more on Tuesday night to move into the top five in Appalachian State single-season history and to become only the fifth player in school history with 30 in a career. While Dobson owns the Mountaineers’ longest current hitting streak at seven games, Brandon Burris and Michael Pierson are right on his heels at six games apiece. Additionally, Noah Holmes has reached base in five-straight contests. Appalachian State will have to fight off travel fatigue for Tuesday night’s season finale. Although their three-game Sun Belt series at UT Arlington concluded on Saturday afternoon, the Mountaineers were not expected to be able to fly out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport until Monday evening due to severe weather that wreaked havoc with air travel in north Texas on Saturday and Sunday.
UALR
Nine seniors will play their final game at Gary Hogan Field on Tuesday against UCA. UALR matched last season’s 11 conference wins on Saturday against ULM. Three Trojans are hitting above the .320 mark this season, including Ryan Scott, Tanner Rockwell and Kyle Kirk. Ryan Scott’s 19 doubles are tied for the Sun Belt lead and rank 23rd in the nation. Tanner Rockwell leads the conference with 32 RBIs in Sun Belt games this season. After finishing its final home game of the season on Tuesday night, UALR will play its final Sun Belt series of the season at Arkansas State beginning on Thursday. Major post-season implications will play a factor this weekend as the Trojans try to make it into the eight-team Sun Belt Conference Tournament field. UALR is currently in ninth-place and a half-game behind ULM. The Trojans can automatically make the tournament with a sweep of Arkansas State. With two wins, UALR would also need ULM to lose two games to Louisiana or need Texas State lose two games to UT Arlington or a Texas State sweep of the Mavericks. With one win, the Trojans would need sweeps of ULM and Texas State.
Arkansas State
The Arkansas State baseball squad registered a perfect 4-0 record over the last week including an 8-6 victory in 13 innings over Central Arkansas Tuesday night. That win put the Red Wolves at 2-0 in games that have lasted 13 innings this season along with a 3-1 win at Georgia Southern on March 20. A-State then proceeded to sweep Texas State for its second sweep of the season and first SBC sweep of the year. The Red Wolves won Friday night 8-5, Saturday 12-10, and Sunday 11-10 to clinch its first SBC road sweep since sweeping UALR in Little Rock during the 2013 season. A-State had several notable performances with Zach George reaching base in all four games to extend his nation-leading on-base streak to 66 games. George recorded a hit in each game and multiple hits in three of the four contests. He drove in the winning run against UCA in the top of the 13th inning with a single to left field and then Sunday had three hits and was hit by a pitch twice to reach base in all five of his plate appearances. Junior outfielder Ty White had hits in all four contests, including nine in the series sweep over Texas State. He went 5-for-5 in Saturday’s game for the team’s first five-hit effort of the season. Joe Schrimpf and Austin Baker each had seven RBIs over the four games, while Schrimpf hit the team’s only home run Friday night against Texas State. Tyler Zuber earned two of the team’s victories after pitching five scoreless innings in relief Friday night and bouncing back Sunday to throw 1.2 scoreless frames to earn his second win of the weekend. He only gave up three hits, walked one batter, and struck out eight in 6.2 innings. Bo Ritter earned his first victory of his college career with three shutout innings against UCA Tuesday night. He pitched to the minimum nine hitters after getting a double play after the only hit he allowed. Cody Jackson improved to 4-0 on the season when he earned the win in Saturday’s game that featured a six-run comeback for the Red Wolves. Jackson threw four innings and only allowed two runs on five hits as he was able to keep Arkansas State in the game.
Georgia Southern
The Georgia Southern Eagles ended a five game losing streak and salvaged a game in the series with a 7-4 win over the Clemson Tigers on Sunday. The Eagles did not play a mid-week contest and lost the first two games to the Tigers 13-5, 5-4. Ryan Cleveland tallied four hits and drove in five two-out runs to help Georgia Southern rally for a 7-4 win on Sunday. Cleveland recorded four-straight hits after flying out in his first at-bat. The sophomore drove in runs with back-to-back RBI singles and hit a three-run home run in the 9th inning. Cleveland raised his batting average to .243 and now has 9 home runs on the season after hitting homers in back-to-back games. Despite stepping out of conference play to face ACC foe Clemson, the Eagles moved up in the standings and sit in third place. GS is a game behind Troy and a game ahead of Louisiana. The Eagles are hitting .262 as a team. Kody Adams leads the squad with .326 batting average and 13 doubles. Aaron Mizell is hitting .296 with 12 doubles and 12 home runs. The pitching staff holds a 4.29 ERA. Jason Richman is a team-best 7-1 with a 3.23 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. GS hosts its final home game of the season Tuesday against Kennesaw State on ESPN3. The Eagles will travel to Georgia State on Thursday to begin the final conference series of the year.
Georgia State
Georgia State hosts Georgia Southern in the final regular-season series, Thursday (6 p.m.), Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (2 p.m.) at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Panthers are currently fifth in the Sun Belt at 14-8 but can finish anywhere from second to sixth, depending on this weekend’s results. Matt Rose is tied for sixth in the nation with 15 home runs. The junior infielder has 30 career homers, more than any junior in the nation. Only four seniors have more career homers than Rose. Shortstop Justin Jones is putting together one of the top seasons ever by a Georgia State freshman, hitting .307 with 27 RBI and 35 runs scored. He is first among Sun Belt freshmen in batting average, hits and runs scored and second in RBI while playing outstanding defense, helping GSU lead the league in double plays. The Panthers have struggled offensively since the loss of leadoff man and leading hitter Ryan Blanton, but the pitching and defense have been strong. GSU is on pace to set a school record for ERA, and the Panthers lead the league in double plays. Catcher Joey Roach was named last week to the Capital One Academic All-District team. The junior from Holly Springs, N.C., maintains a 3.92 GPA in actuarial science. He ranks among the top 10 in the league in RBI (37) while hitting .316 with seven homers. He has thrown out 21 runners attempting to steal (35 percent) and picked off three others. Senior reliever Kevin Burgee became Georgia State’s all-time saves leader with 15 after saving both ends of the DH sweep vs. ULM (April 11). Senior right-handed pitcher Jerry Stuckey is Georgia State’s career leader in appearances with 90. He broke the previous GSU record (81 by Bobby Bennett) April 1 vs. Georgia Tech.ut 21 runners attempting to steal (35 percent) and picked off three others. Senior infielder Caden Bailey is tied for fourth in GSU history with 243 career hits, which leads all active Sun Belt players. He is one of 10 players in Panther annals with 200+ hits, 100+ RBI and 100+ runs scored. Seven Georgia State seniors will be honored before Saturday’s final home game: infielders Caden Bailey and David Levy and pitchers Kenny Anderson, Kevin Burgee, Alex Prescott, Connor Stanley and Jerry Stuckey.
UL Lafayette
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team went 1-2 over the weekend against South Alabama dropping the first two games 5-0 and 4-3 before closing out the series with a 3-2 victory. The 5-0 loss marked the first time the Cajuns had been shutout on the year. Junior Brenn Conrad provided the clutch two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning of the series finale. On the weekend, the Cajuns pitching staff allowed just one walk to the top ranked offense in the Sun Belt. The Ragin’ Cajuns return to action this week with four road contests. Louisiana opens the week with a 6 p.m. contest Tuesday at Nicholls State. Following the game with the Colonels, the Cajuns head to Monroe, La. to face ULM in a three-game series to close out the regular season.
UL Monroe
ULM enters the final weekend of the regular season in a tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with Texas State... ULM looks to hold on to its Sun Belt Tournament spot as it welcomes in-state rival UL-Lafayette for a three-game series beginning Thursday night at 6 p.m... Game two of the series is slated for 6 p.m. Friday, followed by the regular season finale and senior day on Saturday at 1 p.m… ULM is coming off of a 2-1 series win over UALR... ULM rallied with five runs in the seventh inning to post a 10-7 come-from-behind win over the Trojans... After dropping game two of the series, 4-1, the Warhawks bounced back with a 6-1 win in Sunday’s finale… In the finale, Keelin Rasch, Nathan Pugh and Justin Stawychny all came through for the Warhawks in the five run win... Rasch was a blistering 5-for-5 at the plate with one RBI and one run scored... Pugh, meanwhile, tied a career-high in runs scored (three) while registering two hits and two RBI... Stawychny added two hits and two RBI in the win over the Trojans… Brandon Bell (4-5) earned the win on the mound as he logged six shutout frames, surrendering just three hits and two walks while fanning six during his 91-pitch performance... Payton Coddou pitched the seventh and eighth innings and Anthony Herrera closed out the game with a perfect ninth… Nathan Pugh drove in the lone run of the game in Saturday’s loss to the Trojans… Trey Setzer, despite logging a quality start, earned a no-decision in Saturday’s loss to UALR… In game one of the series, all nine Warhawk batters tallied a hit as the squad was led by Nathan Pugh and Danny Springer... Pugh tied career-highs in both hits (three) and RBI (four), while Springer had a pair of hits and scored twice in the come from behind win… Warhawk reliever Weston Mason earned his first win as a Warhawk as he recorded the final out of the sixth inning, followed by a five-run top of the seventh by the ULM offense... Mason logged 2/3 of an inning of work as he recorded the win... Anthony Herrera, the fifth Warhawk pitcher used, earned his sixth save of the season… In ULM’s last home series, it picked up a 2-1 series win over Troy as the Warhawks notched wins in game one (W, 4-2) and two (W, 6-2), before a late rally came up short in the finale (L, 5-8)… In the finale, ULM closed to within one run (6-5) after seven innings, but Troy added two runs in the eighth to pick up the 8-5 win... Keelin Rasch tallied two hits, three RBI and one run, while Anthony Herrera added two hits, one RBI and one run... In the sixth inning, the Warhawks hit back-to-back homers Rasch (two-run) and Justin Stawychny (solo)... It was the second time during the week that ULM had back-to-back home runs (Danny Springer and Spencer Hemphill at Nicholls)… In game two of the series, Trey Setzer pitched into the ninth inning and Josh Leone closed out the game as the Warhawks recorded the 6-2 win... Setzer notched win number six of the season after allowing two runs on six hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in eight-plus innings of work... Leone, meanwhile, picked up his third save of the season as he forced a foul out and a game-ending double play.
South Alabama
No. 29 South Alabama went 2-1 last week after taking two of three games at Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend. The Jaguars shut out the Ragin’ Cajuns 5-0 behind right-hander Kevin Hill, who tossed his third consecutive complete game and his fourth straight against Sun Belt opponents. Hill earned his second shutout of the season, and earned his ninth straight win while extending his consecutive scoreless streak to 15 innings. It also marked the first time a Jaguar has recorded two shutouts in an SBC season since Dustin Crenshaw in 2011. USA clinched the series with a 4-3 win in Saturday’s contest in which it pushed across runs in three of the final four innings of the game. ULL avoided a series sweep Sunday with a 3-2 win in the finale. USA recorded 10 or more hits in all three games of the series, and has posted 10-plus hits in its last seven contests. The Jags hit .311 over the three-game set, while the pitching staff recorded a 2.08 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched. USA will close the regular season with a three-game conference series with Troy at Stanky Field, with game one set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch Thursday.
UT Arlington
UT Arlington came up with a crucial series victory this weekend against Appalachian State, picking up a pair of games in the three-game series. The Mavericks relied on Chad Nack in a 2-1 pitcher’s duel at Clay Gould Ballpark on Friday afternoon. Nack brought his a-game in the series opener, allowing five hits and no earned runs in his 7.2 innings on the mound. The Sanger native kept the Mountaineer offense on edge as he held them to .179 in the box, while striking out a trio of App State batters. After dropping the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, the Mavericks bounced back with a 9-3 series-clinching win over App State on Saturday that included sixteen hits and seven extra-base hits. The Mavericks will now look to cement their spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championship as they take on Texas State in the final series of the regular season. UTA enters the series in sixth place, one game ahead of the eight-ranked Bobcats.
Texas State
Texas State struggled through a tough weekend at home against Arkansas State, dropping all three games. The Bobcats did, however, show quite a bit of offense in the series. Eight Bobcats hit .357 or better in the series with six players hitting .400 or better led by Tanner Hill at .462. He finished the weekend with a team-high six hits, a double and a home run, knocking five RBI. Cory Geisler and Cedric Vallieres each had five RBI as well while Geisler scored a team-high eight runs in the three games. As a team, the Bobcats hit .348 with a .545 slugging percentage and a .436 on-base percentage. They averaged more than eight runs per game, twice scoring 10 runs. In the three games, Texas State hit five home runs with two in the same game from Geisler. Hill, Vallieres and Granger Studdard, the top three home run hitters on the squad, each finished with one in the series. The Bobcats will have to bounce back against UT Arlington in this weekend’s final regular season series. Texas State will be fighting for a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Troy
Troy finished the week 3-1 with a sweep of Georgia State over the weekend. The Trojans have won 10 consecutive Sun Belt games at home and finish the 2015 regular season 13-2 in league play at Riddle-Pace Field. Troy’s last weekend loss at home came on March 21 in the front end of a doubleheader against UALR. Since that time, Troy has swept Alabama A&M, Arkansas State, Texas State and Georgia State on the weekend on its home turf. Overall the Trojans are 22-10 at home this season. Grant Bennett tossed his fifth complete game of the season in Friday’s 4-2 win over Georgia State. The junior struck out seven and allowed two unearned runs. Lucas Brown followed Bennett with a complete game of his own on Saturday. It is the first time Troy pitchers have tossed back-to-back complete games since Tanner Hicks and Shane McCain did it in 2014 against Florida Atlantic; Troy lost the second game however. The last time it happened in consecutive victories was 2005 against Belmont when Landon Brazell and Brent Adcock went the distance in successive games. David Hall finished the weekend 3-for-7 with five RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 18 games.