Tuesday, March 3
Mountaineers Blank High Point, 4-0
High Point — Taylor Thurber pitched six innings as Appalachian State University baseball defeated High Point University 4-0 on a cold Tuesday in the Piedmont Triad.
The Mountaineers (5-5) were fueled by excellent pitching and great defense to shut out the Panther offense. Thurber struck out two, gave up four hits and improved to 2-0 on the season. The start was the second of Thurber’s career.
Brandon Burris’s bat stayed hot. After belting two home runs over the weekend against No. 16 Maryland, Burris went 4-for-5 and scored one of the Mountaineers’ four runs.
Appalachian broke the deadlock in the third inning when Dillon Dobson hit a sacrifice fly that brought Burris across home plate. Grayson Atwood then drove a ball into right field that was misplayed by the outfielder, allowing Atwood to reach first and Michael Pierson to score from third. Pierson has now reached base in 40 consecutive games.
The Mountaineers added another run in the fourth when Jaylin Davis drew a walk with the bases loaded, bringing Zach Hummel across the plate. Hummel added a sacrifice fly that brought Atwood home three innings later to seal the Mountaineer victory.
Billy Jones used Sean Mason, Dallas DeVrieze, and Caleb McCann in relief. Each pitched a full inning and allowed no hits.
High Point (2-7) struggled mightily in the batter’s box recording only four hits at 29 at bats.
The Mountaineers will be back in action this weekend in Statesboro, Ga. for a three game Sun Belt series versus Georgia Southern.
UALR Falls to Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. – The UALR baseball team lost its fifth game of the year after taking a 22-0 loss to Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon
Senior Cameron Allen struggled to begin the game, giving up a leadoff single to center, a walk and then a three-run shot to left. After giving up his seventh hit and fourth run of the game, Allen’s day came to an early end in the second inning with no outs.
Sophomore Reed Willenborg fared a little better as he struck out four and gave up four hits, two runs and two walks in three innings on the mound.
Senior Tanner Rockwell earned the Trojans’ first hit of the game in the second inning with a single to right. Rockwell then stole second to earn his first stolen base of the season and fifth of his career.
Hayden Martin got the Trojans’ first extra-base hit of the afternoon with a double that landed directly on the left field line. After advancing to third on a groundout to short, Martin was stranded after the Sooners recorded another strikeout to end the top of the third.
Senior Drew Merten earned his second double of the season after a hit to the right-center gap, but was left on base after the Sooners struck out Martin to end the fifth.
Senior Petr Sila extended his hitting streak to five games and reached base streak to eight games for the season after a lining a single up the middle to begin the sixth inning. Sila has reached base in nine consecutive games dating back to last season.
Junior Ryan Scott also extended his hitting streak to five games after a single to left center in the sixth inning.
Senior Chad Bradford came on to relieve Willenborg to begin the fifth. Bradford had a rough outing as the Sooners hit their third homer of the day in the sixth. He was relieved by senior Stephen Chandler in the bottom of the sixth after giving up six runs, four hits and two walks in 1.1 innings.
Chandler gave up five hits, three runs and struck out two in 1.2 innings.
Freshman Preston Oberling pitched just 0.1 innings after giving up five runs, two hits and three walks. Rockwell moved from third to pitch, striking out one and giving up one hit and a walk.
The last time UALR was held scoreless in a game was at Western Kentucky last season on Apr. 20.
UALR will now travel to Mobile, Ala., to open up conference play in a three-game set against South Alabama starting on Friday.
Southern Miss Ends Jaguar Streak
MOBILE, Ala. – Four Southern Mississippi pitchers combined to shut out University of South Alabama baseball 3-0 Tuesday evening at Stanky Field.
USM left-hander Luke Lowery (2-1) tossed two scoreless relief innings without allowing a hit, and issued one walk while striking out one to earn the win. Right-hander Ryan Milton tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and struck out three with one walk to earn his third save of the season.
Jaguar right-hander Austin Bembnowski (1-1) took the loss in four innings pitched, allowing three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk.
USA (9-4) looked to take the game's first lead in the bottom of the third on an RBI single to center field by Bud Collura in which Garrett DeGallier attempted to score from second base, but USM center fielder Connor Barron threw home in time to cut DeGallier down at the plate and preserve a scoreless tie.
Bembnowski fanned five Golden Eagles through his first three innings of work, and allowed just one hit – a two-out single in the top of the first – before Dylan Burdeaux led off the Golden Eagle top of the fourth with a double to left-center field. Matt Durst followed with a two-run home run to left field to give Southern Miss a 2-0 lead.
USM extended its lead with the third and final run of the game in the top of the fifth when Barron reached on a leadoff single, and scored one batter later on an RBI double down the right-field line by Ryan Ellis.
USA threatened when it loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth on a one-out single by DeGallier, hit by pitch to Collura and two-out walk by Matt Bolger. But Lowery escaped the jam with a fielder's choice off the bat of Billingsley with the final putout of the inning coming on a force at second.
The Jags put the tying run on base in the bottom of the eighth after loading them up on a walk by Billingsley, hit by pitch to Collura and walk by Danny Martinez. But Milton came on to record the final two outs of the inning and preserve a three-run Golden Eagle advantage.
USA put the tying run on base again in the bottom of the ninth after a leadoff walk by LaBounty and consecutive two-out singles from Billingsley and Barnes. But Milton came through a final time with a game-ending flyout to center field off the bat of Ballew.
Collura and DeGallier each went 2-for-3 to lead USA at the plate, while Durst finished 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and a run scored to lead Southern Miss offensively.
South Alabama will return to action this weekend when it hosts Arkansas-Little Rock in a three-game series at Stanky Field to open Sun Belt Conference play. The series will kick off with game one Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Eagles Fall to Mercer in Midweek Play
STATESBORO, Ga. – Eric Nyquist tossed five scoreless innings as the Mercer Bears defeated the Georgia Southern Eagles 4-1 at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Mercer (8-5) scored three runs over the first three innings to take an early lead and held on after Georgia Southern (8-5) sent six batters to the plate in the ninth inning.
Nyquist (1-0) picked up his first win of the season and held the Eagles to two hits. The senior righthander walked two batters and struck out five in his first start of 2015.
The Bears scored twice in the second inning to take an early 2-0 lead off of starter Matt Geiger. Matt Meeder tallied the third-straight hit to plate the first run of the game, and a wild pitch two batters later scored Danny Edgeworth.
Geiger (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs – two earned – on six hits. The freshman righthander tossed 2.2 innings and struck out three batters.
The Eagles recorded three-straight hits in the ninth inning and scored a run on a single by pinch-hitter C.J. Brazil.
Ben Lumsden recorded the final two outs of the ninth inning to strand two runners on base and record his first save of the season. Lumsden (1) struck out Spencer Duffie and recorded a ground out to end the game.
Anthony Paesano tossed 2.1 scoreless innings to close out the ball game for GS. Paesano did not allow a hit and struck out two batters in relief.
The Georgia Southern baseball team hosts Appalachian State in a three-game series to open Sun Belt Conference play this weekend. Game times for the series are 6 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m.
Warhawks Fall in Midweek Tilt to Northwestern State
NATCHITOCHES, La. – ULM fell in its first midweek game of the season as Northwestern State claimed a 7-0 win Tuesday night at Brown-Stroud Field.
Northwestern State plated the first run of the game in the home half of the first. David Fry reached on an error and later scored (unearned) on a RBI single by Caleb Dugas. In the fifth, the Demons extended the lead to 2-0 as CJ Webster drove in a run with a RBI groundout.
Two innings later, Northwestern State pushed the lead to 4-0 as Matthew Alford delivered a two-RBI single to left. The Demons added three runs in the eighth on a bases clearing double by Fry.
Brayden Bouchey was tagged with the loss and falls to 0-1 on the season after allowing one earned run (two total) on five hits in five innings on the hill.
Tidwell (1-2) faced the minimum as he logged his first win of the season.
Troy Falls to Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Troy and Alabama State combined to score 18 runs in the first three innings, but ASU eventually pulled away to down the Trojans 12-8 at Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex on Tuesday.
Troy (7-5) took the lead in the second and again in the third but failed to secure it both times as Alabama State scored five runs in both innings to quickly reclaim the momentum.
Trailing 1-0, Matt Sanders doubled home Reid Long with two outs in the second to tie the game. Bert Givens followed with a single to hand the Trojans the lead. After the Hornets plated five runs of just two hits, Troy again rallied to pull ahead.
Clay Holcomb singled to start the third before Nick Masonia hit his first home run of the season. With two runners on and one out, Long laced a single into center but the Hornet defender misplayed the ball allowing it to roll all the way to the center field wall and all three runners to score handing Troy a 7-6 lead.
Alabama State again responded in the third with five runs off five hits. The Hornets were able to add a run in the sixth before Trevin Hall drove in a run on an infield single in the eighth.
Austin Crook got the start on the mound but failed to make it out of the second inning. Robert Harris (0-1) took the loss while Jeremy McGowan made his 59th career appearance and tossed two scoreless innings.
Holcomb finished the game 2-for-5 and has now reached base in 26 of his last 28 games. Hall has recorded multiple hits in five of the last seven games. Masonia has a hit in all but two games this season.
Troy and Alabama State used six pitchers each in the three-hour affair and tallied 13 hits a piece.
The Trojans will open Sun Belt Conference play on the road against UL Lafayette. The teams open a three-game series on Friday at 6 p.m.