Sunday, March 8
Eagles Complete Sweep of Appalachian State
STATESBORO, Ga. – Hunter Thomas recorded his second walk-off hit in three games as the Georgia Southern Eagles swept the series from the Appalachian State Mountaineers with a 6-5 win in 10 innings on Sunday. The Eagles improved to 11-1 in weekend series play.
Georgia Southern (11-5, 3-0) led 5-0 after seven innings, but Appalachian State (5-9, 0-3) scored five combined runs over the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game at 5-5.
Carson Jones plated the tying run in the ninth inning with a two RBI single into center field.
Jordan Howard led off the 10th inning with a bunt single, and Logan Baldwin moved him into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Thomas, who had a walk-off single on Friday night, hit the first pitch he saw over the head of the centerfielder Bradley Morton to drive in the game-winning run.
"All three games were very competitive. It wasn't easy, and we are very fortunate to find a way to win today," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said. "I am proud of our guys for hanging in there. We didn't take advantage of opportunities earlier in the game."
Ryan Frederick faced five batters in the top of the 10th inning but kept the Mountaineers off the scoreboard with a ground out to second base. Frederick (2-0) picked up his second win of the season and struck out a batter.
Taylor Thurber (2-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing two hits and one run.
Eagle starter Connor Simmons held App State scoreless over 6.1 innings and allowed seven hits and no walks in his fourth start of the year. Simmons struck out a career-best eight batters including two in each of the first, fourth and sixth innings.
"I thought Connor gave us a great effort today. He pitched well and was very efficient on the mound," Hennon said. "He made some big pitches with men on base."
The Eagles return to action Tuesday and will travel to Georgia Tech. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN3. GS will be back home on Wednesday to host North Florida at 6 p.m.
South Alabama Claims Rubber Match with UALR
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team pushed a run across in the bottom of the 11th inning for a 3-2 series-clinching win over Arkansas-Little Rock Sunday at Stanky Field.
Danny Martinez led off the bottom of the 11th with a single to right field, and Garrett DeGallier followed with a walk. Pinch-hitter Cameron Cummings then grounded to Trojan shortstop James Gillean who threw wide of third base and allowed Martinez to score with the game-winning run.
Prior to the 11th, the Jaguars had not scored since pushing across a pair of runs in the third inning. Matt Bolger reached on a leadoff walk, and moved to second when Davis Knapp was hit by a pitch. Bud Collura reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners with one out. Collura then stole second before Adam Ballew delivered a two-run double down the right-field line to score Bolger and Collura and give the Jags a 2-0 lead.
UALR (4-7, 1-2 SBC) did not respond until the seventh inning. Ryan Scott led off the UALR seventh with a single to left field, advanced to second on a wild pitch from Jaguar left-hander Jared Gates and moved to third on a flyout to left-center field by Tanner Rockwell. Kyle Kirk followed with an RBI double off the right-center wall to score Scott and cut the USA lead to 2-1. Sam Vogel followed with an RBI infield single to first base to plate Kirk and tie the game 2-2.
USA (11-5, 2-1 SBC) threatened in the bottom of the eighth. Collura led off the inning with a single to center field, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ballew. Following an intentional walk to Cole Billingsley, Martinez sent a line drive back up the box that ricocheted off of UALR right-hander Sam Thoele and into second baseman Hayden Martin's glove who then threw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
Collura went 2-for-5 with one run scored, Billingsley had two hits and Ballew doubled and drove in two runs to lead the Jags offensively. Vogel finished 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead UALR at the plate.
USA right-hander Ben Taylor (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings in relief, and struck out four while allowing two hits to earn the win. Dyllon Brownmiller (0-2) suffered the loss for UALR, allowing one unearned run on one hit with one walk. Gates struck out a career-high eight batters without issuing a walk, and allowed two runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings without factoring in the decision.
South Alabama will return to action Tue., March 10, when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. at Stanky Field.
Cajuns Sweep Troy
LAFAYETTE, La. – Senior Greg Davis drove in five runs and scored once as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team won their sixth straight game, 10-5, sweeping Troy to open Sun Belt Conference play on Sunday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
"What I like about this team is that you have to learn to win in all kinds of ways, and they have had great sharpness and have stayed hooked into the game," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "From Alabama to here they have been winning, and winning in all kinds of ways. Today we started a little lethargic, but we hung with it and stayed in it until Greg got the big lick and broke the game open for us."
With the win, the Ragin' Cajuns (10-5, 3-0 Sun Belt) have won six straight in the all-time series with Troy (7-8, 0-3 Sun Belt) and nine straight in Sun Belt play. The sweep also marks the third straight season that Louisiana has opened league play with a series sweep. The Cajuns have swept the opening series in conference play five times since joining the Sun Belt in 1994.
Davis was 3-for-5 with a triple as seven of the nine Cajuns starters posted multi-hit performances. Brenn Conrad also had three hits in the game driving in one with a double and scored three times.
Junior shortstop Blake Trahan added to his hot weekend at the plate going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and scored three runs. Trahan went 6-for-10 on the series with four walks (including three intentional walks), five doubles, a home run, drove in two and scored six times.
A trio of freshmen pitchers took the mound for the Cajuns in the contest. Wyatt Marks notched his first career win throwing 2.1 innings in relief. Marks allowed one run on two hits and struck out three.
Dylan Moore registered his first career save throwing 2.2 scoreless innings to close out the game. Moore struck out two in the outing while allowing one walk and one hit. Gunner Leger had a season-best eight strikeouts in a no decision after allowing four runs on four hits in 4.2 innings.
Troy reliever Jeremy McGowan was tabbed with his second loss of the series as he gave up four runs on three hits with two walks in 0.2 innings.
Troy jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the top of the first on an RBI bloop single to right by Trevin Hall and a sac fly to deep right by David Hall.
Joe Robbins cut the Trojans lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second scoring Tyler Girouard from third on a ground ball hit to short. Girouard walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on a double by Nick Thurman.
In the bottom of the third, Trahan and Conrad hit back-to-back doubles to even the game at 2-all. Later in the inning, Thurman drove a single through the right side of the infield to score Conrad to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 3-2 edge.
Troy regained the lead in the top of the fifth on back-to-back RBI groundouts by Nick Masonia and Logan Hill to make the score 4-3.
Louisiana went back in front 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-clearing triple to left center by Davis. After the Cajuns loaded the bases again, Davis scored on a balk to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 3-run lead.
The Ragin' Cajuns plated their final three runs of the game in the bottom of the seventh. A two-run double by Davis highlighted the scoring.
The Cajuns close out their five-game home stand on Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they face in-state opponent New Orleans. Louisiana will continue its five-game week with a mid-week road game at Southern on Wednesday at 6 p.m. before heading to UALR for a three-game conference series.
Arkansas State Splits Doubleheader with UTA Sunday
JACKSON, Miss. (3/8/15) – The Arkansas State baseball team split a doubleheader with UT Arlington Sunday afternoon at Smith-Wills Field in Jackson, Miss., after the Red Wolves took game one 8-0 behind eight scoreless innings from Jon Glidewell, but fell short in game two by a score of 4-3.
Glidewell was the story of game one as the redshirt-senior tossed eight innings of shutout ball and allowed only three singles with no walks and a career-high eight strikeouts. Glidewell improved to 2-0 on the season and was making only his third appearance of the season after missing all of 2013 and 2014 due to injuries. Cody Jackson pitched a perfect ninth inning to give A-State (8-5, 1-2 SBC) its first shutout of the season in the 8-0 win over the Mavericks (5-6, 2-1 SBC).
The Red Wolves began the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when Austin Baker drove UT Arlington’s center fielder RJ Williams to the wall for a sacrifice fly that played Ty White. Arkansas State added two more runs for a 3-0 edge in the bottom of the fourth on a Jeremy Brown RBI fielder’s choice and another sacrifice fly, this one by White that drove UTA’s right fielder Cody Farrell to the fence.
A-State tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning for a 5-0 advantage after a Lucas Feddersen single plated Tanner Ring and a Matt Burgess single scored Stuart Levy. The Red Wolves added two more runs on a Feddersen double in the bottom of the seventh inning and Feddersen came around to score on a Brown double to round out the scoring at 8-0.
UT Arlington got a runner to third base once in the contest, helped by an A-State error, for its only real scoring threat of the game in the top of the fourth inning. However, a fly out to right field ended the threat.
Offensively, Feddersen and Zach George had three hits apiece to pace the Red Wolves offense, while Feddersen’s three RBIs led the team. White, Joe Schrimpf, and Levy had two hits each.
Game two didn’t start out so great for Arkansas State as the third hitter of the game, Levi Scott, hit a home run to left field with a runner on in the top of the first to give UTA a quick 2-0 lead. A-State struck back with one run at 2-1 when Burgess doubled home Schrimpf in the bottom of the second, but UTA pushed across two more runs in the seventh inning to set the score at 4-1.
However, A-State made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when UTA reliever Jacob Moreland began the inning by hitting Feddersen. He was pulled after that in favor of Colin Tornberg, who was greeted with a bunt single by Brown to give A-State two runners on with just one out in the inning. White smoked a single into right field to plate one run to make it 4-2, but was thrown out trying to take second base to give A-State a runner on third with two outs.
George singled through the right side to plate Brown and all of a sudden it was a one-run ballgame with the tying-run on first base. Baker singled through the right side his next time up to give A-State runners on first and second with two outs. Ring stepped up to the plate with a chance to give the Red Wolves the tie or the lead, but after fouling a couple of pitches off he swung through the third strike as UTA earned a 4-3 win in game two and took 2-out-3 from Arkansas State in the season’s first conference series.
Tyler Zuber saw his scoreless streak end at 14 in the first inning, but settled down as he only allowed those two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings. Coulton Lee gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning, while Colton Kibler and Chandler Hawkins combined to keep UTA scoreless over the last 2.1 innings.
Offensively, Baker led A-State with three hits, while White and George each had two and both knocked in one run. Burgess drove in A-State’s other run on his lone hit of the game.
Arkansas State is scheduled to face Missouri State in a two-game midweek series in Jonesboro with game one set for Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. The final game is set for Wednesday, March 11 with first pitch from Tomlinson Stadium scheduled for 3 p.m.
Eastern Michigan Tops Georgia State
ATLANTA, Ga. (EMUEagles.com) – Eastern Michigan University used another strong pitching performance from Jake Andrews (Chandler, Ariz.-Hamilton (Mesa C.C.)) and Mitchell McGeein's (Calgary, Alberta-Vauxhall) nation leading sixth home run of the season to claim a 3-1 victory over Georgia State in the series finale Sunday, March 8, at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Eagles improve to 6-10 with the win, while the Panthers fall to 9-6 on the season.
The Eagles scored three runs on nine hits, led by McGeein's three-hit performance. The third baseman continued his solid performance at the dish this season for the Green and White, bumping his average up to a team-best .328 while also leading the team in home runs (6), RBI (12), runs scored (12), and slugging percentage (.689). Junior Austin Wilson (Valrico, Fla.-Bloomingdale Sr.) notched his fifth hit of the series going 1-for-3 and also scored a run for the third straight contest. Michael Mioduszewski (Dexter, Mich.-Dexter) and Brennan Williams (Commerce Township, Mich.-Walled Lake Northern) each recorded an RBI in the series finale. Ryan Blanton paced the GSU offense, going 2-for-4 and scoring the lone Panther run.
Andrews (2-1) went 8.1 strong innings, surrendering just one run on five hits, while striking out three. The senior has tossed a team-high 29 innings this season, while compiling an ERA of 1.24. Sophomore Sam Delaplane (San Jose, Calif.-Leigh) posted his second save of the season, recording the final out of the contest after relieving Michael Marsinek (Streetboro, Ohio-Walsh Jesuit) in the ninth inning. Cole Uvila was saddled with the loss for the Panthers. Uvila (0-2) went 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits in the defeat.
The Panthers struck first in the bottom of the first. Blanton led off the frame with a single to right field and then advanced to second on a groundout. GSU took a 1-0 lead on the next at-bat when Caden Bailey doubled to left field, scoring Blanton.
Eastern responded in the top of the second inning to knot the score, 1-1. McGeein roped a single through the box to get the inning started. After a Mioduszewski pop up, John Montgomery (Anaheim Hills, Calif.-JSerra) doubled to right field to put runners on second and third with one out. On the ensuing at-bat, McGeein scored on an RBI ground out to the GSU shortstop off the bat of Williams.
The Green and White extended its lead out to 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Uvila served one up to McGeein, who blasted the first pitch he saw over the left field wall.
EMU tacked on another run in the sixth inning to grab a 3-1 advantage. Wilson walked to lead off the inning and moved up to second base on a ground out from Jordan Peterson (Gilbert, Ariz.-Highland (Chandler-Gilbert C.C.)). McGeein then hit a long fly ball down the right field line in foul territory, which Wilson was able to tag up from second base on and advance to third. Mioduszewski then delivered with an RBI single to left field to score Wilson to give the Eagles a two-run lead.
Andrews was dealing for the Green and White after the Eagles grabbed the lead in the fourth inning. The 6-4 righty did not allow a hit from the bottom of the fourth until a lead-off single from Joey Roach got things going for the Panthers in the bottom of the ninth. Andrews buckled down after the single as the senior struck out Will Johnson swinging on his 110th pitch of the game. After the strike out, Head Coach Mark Van Ameyde went to go to the bullpen and brought in Marsinek. Marsinek got pinch hitter, Sam Few to pop out to second base but Trae Sweeting singled during the next at-bat to put runners on first and second with two outs. Van Ameyde went to the pen once again, this time bringing in Delaplane. Delaplane got Jack Thompson to fly out to center field to preserve the two-run victory for EMU.
Eastern Michigan returns to the diamond this week when the Eagles travel to Bloomington, Ind. for a pair of mid-week contests against Indiana University, March 10-11. First pitch is scheduled at 4 p.m. for both games at Bart Kaufman Field.