Saturday, May 10
UTA Shakes off Rust, Puts Away Mountaineers
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington shook off the offensive rust from Friday's doubleheader, recording 16 hits on its way to a 9-3 series-clinching win over Appalachian State on Saturday afternoon.
"That's a good way to finish the home season and win another series," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "That gives us five out of six in conference play going into our series with Texas State next weekend and gives us a little bit of momentum."
The Mavericks honored eight seniors prior to the game and received key contributions from the three seniors in the starting lineup. Levi Scott was impressive with his 3-for-5 effort that included two runs and a RBI. Eric Tate came away going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Travis Sibley went 2-for-5 on the day with a run.
Matt McLean played a key role from the lead-off position for UT Arlington in the three-game series, going 7-for-11 with a RBI and a double. The Plano native also registered a .727 slugging percentage, while reaching base at a clip of .643. McLean was once again impressive in Saturday's matchup as he went 3-for-4 with a RBI.
"He did a really good job," Thomas said of the junior outfielder. "I'm always on him because I think there's more in there. That guy is a good athlete, an intelligent player, he doesn't strike out and I'm always pushing him to do more. He's probably a little tired of me doing that, but I love Matt McLean and I'm going to squeeze out every ounce of ability. He's one of the best lead-off hitters we've had here in a long time and he's what you want in a player, a guy who gets better throughout the year."
UT Arlington also relied on a pair of underclassmen to help facilitate the offensive output in Brady Cox and RJ Williams, who both went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Joel Kuhnel (4-2) recorded another solid outing as the sophomore allowed six hits and an earned run in his eight innings on the mound. Kuhnel also struck out five, while walking just two in his 108-pitch effort.
The Mavericks struck first with a pair of one-run innings the the second and third. Cody Farrell came up with a triple to right field in the second that set the stage for Cox to bring the junior outfielder home on a sacrifice bunt. Scott delivered for UTA in the third with his RBI single to center field that pushed across the second run of the day.
Adding to their lead in the fourth, the Mavericks relied on a single and a throwing error to put two runners on with an out. Williams stepped into the box and hit a first-pitch double to right field that brought in a pair of runs and put UT Arlington on top 4-0.
App State scored its first run of the day in the fifth with an RBI single to center field, cutting the UTA lead to three runs.
The Mavs cushioned their lead in the fifth as a Cox single to left field pushed across Scott who reached on a double earlier in the inning. Darien McLemore came up with a double of his own later in the inning and brought in Cox to give UTA a 6-1 lead.
The Moutaineers slimmed the Mavericks lead to four runs in the eighth with an RBI double to centerfield.
UTA responded with a three-run eighth inning that was spurred by four hits. With Williams recording a one-out triple, McLean brought home the freshman outfielder with a sacrifice fly to center field. Tate was able to bring in two more runs with his double down the left-field line that allowed Sibley and Scott to score, giving the Mavericks a 9-2 lead heading into the final inning.
Appalachian State looked to rally in the ninth after a wild pitch brought a run across, but it was too little too late as a ground out ended the game with UT Arlington on top 9-3.
"We've just got to keep winning," Thomas added. "You don't ever want it to go down to the last weekend before you know if you're in the tournament, but that's the way it went. We still have a chance to have a non-losing record in conference play and with the way we started out I'm happy with the last two weekends we've had going into Texas State."
The Mavericks will return to action next weekend in a three-game series against Texas State set to begin on Thursday in San Marcos.
Sixth-run Seventh Carries Red Wolves Past Bobcats
SAN MARCOS, Texas (5/9/15) – The Arkansas State baseball team overcame a 10-4 deficit and scored six runs in the seventh inning as the Red Wolves registered a season-high 19 hits in a 12-10 victory over Texas State Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, Texas.
The Red Wolves (22-26, 9-16 SBC) entered the seventh inning trailing 10-6, but Ty White got things started with a bunt single before Stuart Levy doubled down the left-field line off Texas State (20-28-1, 12-14 SBC) reliever Blake Whitter to put runners at second and third with no outs. Jeremy Brown smashed a double down the left-field line as well to score White and Levy to make the score 10-8 and Brown was bunted over to third by Lucas Feddersen. Zach George stepped up to the plate and grounded out to shortstop to bring A-State within one run at 10-9.
Joe Schrimpf drew a walk and scored the tying run on a triple to left-center field by Austin Baker. Matt Burgess brought Baker home with a double over the right fielder’s head to give the Red Wolves an 11-10 lead and chase Whitter from the game. Cory Geisler came to the mound after playing center field up to that point and walked pinch-hitter Daltan Lovell before White singled home Burgess for a 12-10 lead. Levy popped up to end the frame, which saw A-State send 11 batters to the dish.
Coulton Lee entered the game after the inning for Cody Jackson and went the next two innings before leaving the game after giving up a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth. Colton Kibler entered the contest with the tying run at the plate and got pinch-hitter Teddy Hoffman to pop up to second base before Geisler grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game. The scoreless ninth for Kibler gave the senior right-hander his team-leading fifth save of the season.
Jackson earned the win for the Red Wolves as he improved to 4-0 on the year after tossing four strong innings out of the bullpen. He gave up two runs (both earned) on five hits on a season-high 81 pitches. Starter Adam Grantham struggled as he gave up seven earned runs on six hits, while Chandler Hawkins came in to get the final two outs of the second inning. The Bobcats scored all 10 of their runs in the first three innings with the bullpen holding them scoreless for the final six.
Offensively, White led the offense with a 5-for-5 effort, the team’s first five-hit game all season, and drove in two runs. Feddersen had three hits and extended his team-best hit streak to 13 games, tying the squad’s best this year. George had a hit and walked twice to extend his nation-leading on-base streak to 65 games. Brown had a couple of double and drove in a team-high three runs, while A-State’s 1-4 hitters all had at least one hit and one RBI.
The Bobcats got three-hit performance by Zach Sullivan and Granger Studdard, while Cedric Vallieres hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs altogether. Starter Scott Grist went five innings and gave up six runs (all earned) on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Whitter allowed A-State’s other six runs (all earned) on five hits in one inning of work.
Texas State started the scoring early with the second batter of the game, Vallieres, doubling down the left-field line to plate Geisler for a 1-0 lead. Vallieres scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly that allowed the Bobcats to take a 2-0 edge to the second inning. A-State responded quickly with two singles to lead off the frame and Burgess scored on a Levy ground out to put the score at 2-1. The Red Wolves tied the game at 2-2 on a Brown double to right-center and loaded the bases with two outs, but couldn’t plate any more runs.
However, the tie wouldn’t last long as Texas State’s Geisler singled home a run for a 3-2 advantage and then Vallieres hit a three-run homer to left-center field to give the home team a 6-2 lead. A double by the next hitter would end Grantham’s day and the Bobcats added two more runs later in the inning on bases-loaded singles off Hawkins. Hawkins was able to limit the damage with a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning with A-State down 8-2.
A-State struck back with a pair of runs in the third inning with the first coming on a wild pitch to plate Baker. White singled to left field to score Tanner Ring to make the score 8-4, but White slid past second base trying to advance and was tagged out. The four-run deficit turned into six runs quickly the next inning when Studdard homered off Jackson to score two runs and put Texas State back on top by a count of 10-4.
Feddersen singled with one out in the top of the fourth and stole second with two outs. He scored to bring A-State within 10-5 on a Schrimpf single to left field that took a bad hop over the third baseman’s glove. The Red Wolves added another run in the top of the fifth on Levy’s second RBI ground out to shortstop that plated Burgess to put the deficit at 10-6.
The Red Wolves and Bobcats play the series finale at Bobcat Ballpark Sunday at 11 a.m. as A-State goes for its first conference series sweep of the season. For the latest on A-State baseball follow the team by logging onto the team’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/astatebaseball and following them on Twitter (@ASTATEBaseball).
Brown Tosses Complete Game; Trojans Jump to Second in Team Standings
TROY, Alabama – Troy honored head coach Bobby Pierce before Saturday's game against Georgia State and followed with an inspired performance on the field, knocking off the Panthers 3-2 at Riddle-Pace Field.
The Trojans (28-23, 16-10) jump Georgia State to take over second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings. Troy has now won nine straight Sun Belt Conference games at Riddle-Pace Field and is 12-2 at home in league play this season.
Lucas Brown (6-2) tossed a compete game, his second of the season. It was also the second consecutive complete game by the Trojan pitching staff. Grant Bennett went the distance on Friday in Troy's 4-2 win. It is the first time Troy pitchers have tossed back-to-back compete games since Tanner Hicks and Shane McCain did it in 2013 against Florida Atlantic; Troy lost the second game however. The last time it happened consecutive victories was 2005 against Belmont when Landon Brazell and Brent Adcock went the distance in successive games.
Brown allowed a pair of first inning runs but cruised the rest of the way, striking out five and allowing just six hits. After striking out the first two batters of the game, Brown walked the next two before surrendering an RBI single to Jack Thompson. Georgia State scored its second run on a Troy fielding error.
From there, the Panthers would not have a runner advance past first base for the rest of the contest. Brown and Troy's Friday night starter, Grant Bennett finish the 2015 regular season 12-0 with a 1.31 ERA combined at home.
Troy scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning. Tripp Calhoun led off the frame with a single to right and Matt Sanders followed with a bunt single. Logan Hill roped a base hit to load the bases and set the stage for David Hall's two-RBI single to left. On the very next pitch, Trevin Hall laced a single to center to score Hill and hand the Trojans the lead. Sanders finished the game 3-for-4 for his second three-hit game of the season. Sanders is 5-for-9 in the series.
Troy had a chance to add to its lead in the sixth with runners on second and third and just one out, but a strikeout and ground out ended the threat. The Trojans have stranded nine runners in each of the first two games of the series.
Troy will look to complete its third consecutive Sun Belt Conference series sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. The program will honor its seniors in a pregame ceremony.
UALR Evens Series With Warhawks
LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (15-29, 11-14) snapped a 10-game skid with a 4-1 win over ULM (24-26, 11-15) on Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.
Saturday’s win puts the Trojans a half-game ahead of ULM for the eighth-place spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with four conference games remaining.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of this team,” head coach Chris Curry said. “This could be the win that gets the Trojans out of a real bad slump.”
ULM put up the game’s first run in the top of the fourth inning. Kodie Tidwell singled up the middle to lead off the inning and advanced to third after a single by Danny Springer with one out. Nathan Pugh singled through the right side to score Tidwell and give ULM a 1-0 lead.
UALR jumped to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning with two runs on four hits. The Warhawks went to the bullpen to begin the bottom frame as Keegan Curtis took over for starter Trey Setzer. Petr Sila welcomed Curtis to the game with a one out single through the right side. Ryan Scott then singled to first while Sila moved to second. Tanner Rockwell tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single to center field as Sila crossed the plate. Kyle Kirk punched the Trojans’ fourth straight single to left as Scott came home to give UALR a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Trojans tacked on some insurance runs. Jason Prevatt singled to right before moving over to second on a bunt single by Hayden Martin. The Trojans attempted the sacrifice bunt with Mitchell Scheuler at the plate, but the Warhawks beat Prevatt to third for the force out. After the fielder’s choice, ULM went to the bullpen for the third time. The Trojans once again went for the sacrifice bunt, but instead got a single as Sila beat the throw to first with a head-first slide. With bases loaded, Scott drew a seven-pitch walk to bring in Martin for the Trojans’ third run of the game. After walking home the run, ULM went to the bullpen for the final time. Rockwell greeted the new pitcher with a deep sacrifice fly to center field as Scheuler trotted home to give UALR a 4-1 lead.
With a three-run lead to begin the ninth inning, Rockwell came on for starter Cory Malcom, who pitched eight innings, struck out six and only gave up a run on six hits with 118 pitches. Rockwell got the first Warhawk to fly out before registering a strikeout for the second out. With a 2-2 count, Rockwell made Springer ground out to third to give UALR the three-run win.
“You have to tip your hat to Cory Malcom, who did well against a very good hitting team,” Curry said. “That’s why we throw him on Saturdays.”
Rockwell ended the game 1 for 3 with two RBIs and earned his ninth-career save. Rockwell continues to lead the Trojans with multiple RBI games as Saturday’s game was his 10th of the year.
Sila, Scott and Kirk each finished the game with two hits. For Scott and Kirk, Saturday’s game was their 17th of the season with multiple hits. All but one of UALR’s starters finished the game with a hit.
“I’m excited for these guys right now,” Curry said. “You don’t understand how bad they’ve been hurting to win. It’s just a fun, fun day.”
The Trojans will try for the series win over ULM at Gary Hogan Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. UALR will begin its Senior Day presentation at 12:30 p.m. as it honors nine Trojan seniors.
Jags Hold Off Cajuns; Win Series
LAFAYETTE, La. – The 29th-ranked University of South Alabama baseball team clinched its seventh consecutive Sun Belt Conference series with a 4-3 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
Jaguar right-hander Ben Taylor (6-1) earned his sixth win of the year with 2 2/3 relief innings, allowing one run on one hit with three strikeouts and one walk. ULL right-hander Will Bacon (3-2) allowed two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk in the loss.
USA right-hander Austin Bembnowski tossed six innings and allowed just one run on six hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks without factoring in the decision.
"I thought Austin Bembnowski was great coming off a rough outing last week," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "He showed a lot of toughness. I give a lot of credit to him and his teammates behind him. Louisiana-Lafayette dinked and dunked some base hits in there, and Austin just worked right through it. We scored him some runs late, and turned the ball over to Ben Taylor. I'm proud of these guys."
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning when ULL (30-19, 14-11 SBC) pushed across the first run of the contest. Joe Robbins led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to left field, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Blake Trahan. Kyle Clement followed with a one-out RBI single back up the middle to score Robbins for a one-run lead. The Cajuns loaded the bases later in the inning with two outs, but Bembnowski worked out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout of Nick Thurman to keep the USA deficit at one run.
USA answered with its first run of the contest a half-inning later to tie the game. Ben Gann doubled to the right-center gap with one out, and moved to third on a one-out single to left field by Bud Collura. Adam Ballew followed with an RBI single to right field to score Gann and knot the score 1-1.
"I thought their pitcher (Evan Guillory) did a good job, but I credit our hitters. Our guys did a good job and didn't give in. It's easy when things aren't going your way to give up and give some at-bats away, which I thought we did in the middle innings. We pulled off some balls and I thought we let him get off the hook, but our guys hung in there and put some good at-bats together. We were opportunistic on the bases, and we got some hits when we needed to. I credit our guys for doing a good job with their pitchers, and credit Bembnowski handling Louisiana-Lafayette's offense."
South Alabama (34-17, 19-7 SBC) took its first lead of the game in the top of the seventh inning. Jared Barnes reached on a one-out single to center field, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a pinch-hit single to right field by Danny Martinez. Ryan Raspino followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center field to score Barnes and give the Jags a 2-1 lead.
ULL answered with a run to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Clement reached on a one-out ground-rule double to right field, and advanced to third on a single to center field by Stefan Trosclair. Tyler Girouard drew a walk from Jaguar left-hander Shane McKinley to load the bases with one out. The Cajuns tied the game one batter later on a suicide squeeze bunt from Greg Davis to score Clement and tie the game 2-2, but USA escaped the inning on the play when Gann fired to Barnes at home to cut down Trosclair for the final out of the frame.
USA responded with two runs in the top of the eighth for a two-run advantage. Collura reached on a one-out single to right field, and moved to second when Ballew reached on catcher's interference. Bolger followed with a single to center field to load the bases with one out. Barnes delivered an RBI infield single down the third-base line to score Collura for a 3-2 advantage. Martinez followed with a bases-loaded walk with two outs from ULL right-hander Will Bacon to plate Ballew and double the USA lead to 4-2.
ULL put the tying run on base with one out in the bottom of the ninth after a single from Trahan and hit by pitch from Ben Taylor to Clement. Trosclair followed with a walk to load the bases and move the tying run into scoring position and allowing the winning run to reach base. Girouard then lifted a sacrifice fly to right-center field to score Trahan and cut the Jaguar lead to one run. But Taylor induced a flyout to right field off the bat of Davis to end the game.
Barnes went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to lead USA at the plate. Collura added two hits and a run, and Ballew, Martinez and Gann had one hit and one RBI apiece.
The Jaguars extended their SBC winning streak to nine games, and will be in search of their third straight conference sweep in Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m.
"These kids believe in each other and themselves," Calvi said. "It's a lot of fun; you can see it when it happens. As coaches, when kids believe in themselves, you try not to screw it up. You get out of their way and do what you have to do as far as coaching goes, and let them go out and play. Our guys have done a fantastic job. We have some great senior leadership on this team. These kids are selfless, and they have been a great example for the younger players to watch and see how older guys take ownership of a team.
"I give our entire team and coaching staff so much credit for believing in each other, and I think that is what we're seeing. It didn't just start three weeks ago. This has been one of the toughest, hardest-working and most competitive groups that I have ever been around. They pull for each other and when they're not playing, they just want to win. I'm proud of them this weekend, but we have a tough game tomorrow. We have to go out there on a quick turnaround and do everything we have to do to win the game."
Clemson Edges Georgia Southern on Late Home Run
CLEMSON, S.C. – Chris Okey hit a solo home run to break a tie game in the eighth inning and lift the Clemson Tigers to a 5-4 win over the Georgia Southern Eagles in game two of the series.
The Eagles (27-23) rallied from an early 2-0 hole and led 4-3 after scoring two runs in the top of the sixth inning on a solo home run from Ryan Cleveland and a two-out error by the third baseman Weston Wilson.
The Tigers (27-24) tied the game in the bottom half of the frame on an error by Georgia Southern third baseman Cody Lanford before Okey hit his 10th home run of the year to snap the 4-4 tie.
Zack Erwin gave up four runs – one earned – over eight innings but picked up the victory. Erwin (5-4) struck out a season-high 11 batters and walked just one while allowing five hits.
Ryan Frederick was tagged with the loss after allowing the home run in the eighth inning. Frederick (2-1) allowed one hit and struck out a batter over an inning.
Jason Richman entered in the fifth inning and stranded a pair of base runners with a ground out to keep Clemson from extending a 3-2 lead. Richman allowed an unearned run over 2.1 innings and struck out Reed Rohlman to end the seventh inning.
The Tigers led 2-0 after the first inning, scoring a pair of unearned runs off of Eagle starter Tripp Sheppard. Rohlman singled through the left side to plate the first run of the game before Okey flew out to right field to drive in Tyler Krieger.
GS tied the game in the second inning on a Logan Baldwin two-RBI single to center field.
The three-game series concludes tomorrow with a 1 p.m. first pitch. Freshman lefthander Connor Simmons will get the call. The Tigers will counter with righthander Jake Long.