Tuesday, May 12
Three-Run Ninth Lifts Mountaineers Past East Tennessee State
BOONE, N.C. — Bradley Morton’s game-tying two-run homer and Zach Hummel’s walkoff RBI triple in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a wild late-inning rally and lifted Appalachian State University baseball to a 5-4 win over East Tennessee State in the Mountaineers’ season finale on Tuesday night at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
Appalachian State trailed 4-0 after six innings but rallied for single runs in the seventh and eighth before battering ETSU closer Dillon Cate (3-3) for two triples and a home run in the three-run ninth.
Trailing 4-2, senior Noah Holmes started the Mountaineers’ ninth-inning rally with a leadoff triple over the head of ETSU right fielder Zach Thompson.
That brought Appalachian State’s hottest hitter to the plate in Morton, who was already 2-for-3 with two doubles. After falling behind 1-2, the senior crushed a full-count delivery from Cate for a no-doubt game-tying homer to left-center field.
Two batters later, true freshman Dylan Hamel drew a five-pitch walk and Hummel, a sophomore making his first at-bat of the night after entering the game at catcher in the top of the ninth, followed with the winning run on first base.
Like Morton, Hummel fell behind 1-2 in the count but he ripped the fourth pitch from Cate into the left-center-field gap. As the ball rattled around at the wall, Hamel came all the way around from first to easily score the winning run while the Mountaineers poured out of the dugout to celebrate their only walkoff win of the 2015 campaign.
All playing in their final collegiate game, Morton, departing fourth-year junior Brandon Burris and senior Michael Pierson combined for eight of Appalachian State’s 11 hits.
Morton led the way by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a homer and three RBI. Burris also went 3-for-4 while Pierson went 2-for-4 with a pivotal two-out RBI double in the eighth.
Travis Holden, the last of Appalachian’s eight pitchers on the evening, pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his second win in five days and close his freshman campaign at 2-4.
Thompson paced ETSU’s 10-hit attack by going 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
The walkoff win was Appalachian State’s third-straight in season finales. The Mountaineers previously rallied for walkoff triumphs over Western Carolina (9-8) in 2013 and Furman (6-5) last season.
Appalachian State closes the 2015 campaign with a 17-36 overall record and 8-21 mark in its first season in the Sun Belt Conference. ETSU enters its final weekend of the regular season at 19-33 overall (6-15 Southern Conference).
UALR Takes Narrow Loss to UCA
LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (15-31) took a narrow 2-1 loss to in-state rival Central Arkansas (25-21) in the final home game of the season at Gary Hogan Field on Tuesday night.
UALR got out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Justin Steelmon singled through the left side before advancing to second on a single by Hayden Martin. With two outs, Petr Sila came through with an RBI single to right field that scored Steelmon from second.
Central Arkansas tied the game in the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run to left field by Logan Preston. The Bears would get a single before a force out at second ended the inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, Wesley Hoover got on with a leadoff walk before being forced out at second on a fielder’s choice with Chris Townsend at the plate. With two outs and a runner on first, Brad Dillenberger singled through the right side as Townsend advanced to second. Ty Tice was hit by a pitch to load the bases with Bears. With Preston up to bat, a wild pitch scored Townsend for the eventual game-winning run.
Martin was UALR’s only batter with multiple hits as he picked up two. Ryan Scott tied a career-high with three walks as he only recorded one official at-bat.
The Trojans’ pitching staff was effective for the vast majority of the game as UALR struck out eight UCA batters. Senior Stephen Chandler delivered a great start for the Trojans with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work and only giving up a run on seven hits. Reliever Brent Mason set career-highs of three strikeouts and 2.2 innings on the mound in his sixth appearance of the year. Tanner Rockwell was asked to take the ball in the top of the ninth inning after starting at third. Rockwell struck out one and gave up no hits or walks.
“I thought Chandler and Mason threw very well, and they gave us an opportunity to win,” head coach Chris Curry said. “I was very encouraged.”
UALR will now look to its final Sun Belt Conference series of the season at rival Arkansas State beginning on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Jonesboro.
“I’m excited for the weekend," Curry said. "It’s fun to go to your rivals’ yard with everything on the line. We’ll tee it up and see what happens.
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 to 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.
Kennesaw Holds on to Defeat Georgia Southern
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the second inning and held on to defeat the Georgia Southern Eagles 8-5 in the final home game of the season at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Pitcher Chris Erwin plated two runs in the second inning and scored the third run of a three-run first inning after he was hit by a pitch. Erwin and finished with two hits and picked up the win on the mound.
Erwin (5-4) tied a school record with 15 strikeouts and allowed five runs over 7.1 innings. The sophomore lefthander allowed three runs over the fourth and fifth innings but finished strong, retiring eight of the last 9 batters he faced.
The Eagles (28-24) scored two runs in the bottom of the second on a Cody Lanford double and a C.J. Brazil single before cutting the Owls' (27-24) lead to two runs on Ryan Cleveland's 10th home run of the season in the fourth inning.
Kennesaw State got a run back in the top half of the fifth inning on an Alex Liquori solo shot.
Georgia Southern pulled within a run in the bottom half of the fifth inning after Cleveland delivered a two-RBI single back up the middle and over the glove of an extended Kal Simmons.
The Owls tacked on two more runs to their lead in the eighth inning on Corey Greeson double and a bases loaded hit by pitch.
Will Lowman walked two batters but struck out a pair including Chase Griffin to end the game. Lowman (7) picked up the save in an inning of work.
Matt Geiger (1-5) worked two thirds of an inning and allowed three runs – two earned – on a hit and a walk. He was tagged with the loss after the Owls scored three runs in the first inning on a steal of home, a single and an error.
Baseball wraps up the regular with a three-game series at Georgia State. The final conference series of the year gets underway Thursday and runs through Saturday.
A-State Falls to Ole Miss
JONESBORO, Ark. (5/12/15) – The Arkansas State baseball team concluded its nonconference schedule Tuesday night with a 17-3 loss to Ole Miss at Tomlinson Stadium.
Ole Miss scored eight runs in the first two innings but, A-State (23-27) responded in the bottom half of the second inning, when Matt Burgess led off with a single and Lucas Feddersen with a single up the middle. Ty White walked to load the bases and Jeremy Brown drew a bases loaded to get the Red Wolves on the scoreboard.
Zach George followed with another bases loaded walk to extend his on-base streak to 67 games and get within 8-2.
The Red Wolves scored their final run of the night on an RBI single by Ty Michelotti in the seventh inning.
Burgess went 3-for-4 and scored a run to lead A-State at the plate. George had two walks and an RBI, while Jeremy Brown had a hit, two walks and scored a run.
Sikes Orvis gave Ole Miss (29-24) the early advantage with a grand slam in the first inning after Nord gave up back-to-back singles and walked a batter to start the game. He hit his second home run in as many innings in the second when he sent a 3-run blast over the wall in right field for cap the second four run inning for the Rebels.
Ole Miss added a run in the third and another in the fifth to push the advantage to 10-2. The Rebels added seven runs in the seventh inning, which included a 3-run home run by Errol Robinson. A pair of RBI singles off the bats of Orvis and Henri Latigue pushed the lead to 16-2 and J.B. Woodman drove in the final run of the inning with a single to give Ole Miss a 17-2 lead.
Orvis finished the game 3-for-3 with eight RBIs on the night, while Robinson added three hits and three RBIs.
The Red Wolves host UALR in their final conference series of the season starting Thursday night at Tomlinson Stadium. First pitch against the Rebels is set for 6:30 p.m. 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).
Cajuns Fall to Nicholls State on Walk-Off
THIBODAUX, La. – Despite leading 4-1 after five innings, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team gave up four unanswered runs as the Cajuns fell 5-4 to Nicholls State on a walk-off home run by designated hitter Seth Stevens on Tuesday night at Didier Field.
The Colonels (33-16-1) outhit the Ragin' Cajuns (31-20) 10-6 in the contest led by first baseman David Zorn who was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and scored a run.
Robbie Petty picked up the win for Nicholls tossing two perfect innings in relief with three strikeouts to improve to 4-1 on the year. NSU starter Marc Frazier gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits in five innings of work.
Freshman right-hander Dylan Moore suffered his second loss of the season after giving up the game-winning hit in the ninth.
The Cajuns took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as second baseman Stefan Trosclair scored on a Frazier wild pitch. Trosclair reached on a two-out double to left center and then moved to third on a Colonels error.
First baseman Greg Davis extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the second sending a 2-1 pitch from Frazier over the fence in right for an opposite field home run to lead off the inning. The homer was the sixth of the season for Davis.
The Colonels cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the third on an RBI single to left center by third baseman Kyle Reese.
Nicholls threatened in the bottom of the fourth putting runners on the second and third with one out, but reliever Chris Charpentier got a line out to third and a strikeout to end the inning and preserve the lead.
Louisiana tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to get out to a 4-1 advantage. Right fielder Dylan Butler launched a leadoff solo homer to left for the first run of the inning. With two outs, centerfielder Kyle Clement drove his eighth home run of the season over the right field fence to give the Cajuns a three-run lead.
The lead wouldn't last long though as the Colonels scored three runs on two hits and a pair of walks to tie the game at 4-all in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on second and third and no outs, shortstop Joey Morales lifted a two-run single into right center off of reliever Colton Lee to cut the Ragin' Cajuns edge to one run. Two batters later, Darius Knight brought Morales home on an RBI groundout to first base to even the contest.
The Colonels put a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but shortstop Blake Trahan cut down Zorn at the plate on a ball hit to him by centerfielder Justin Holt. After Nicholls moved another runner to third in the inning, Moore would come on in relief and get a big strikeout to keep the game tied at 4.
In the bottom of the ninth, Stevens drove the first pitch he saw from Moore over the fence in right for the game-winner. The homer was just the second of the season for Stevens.
Louisiana returns to action this weekend as the Cajuns close out the regular season with a three-game series at ULM starting Thursday at 6 p.m. Game two of the series is Friday at 6 p.m., while the two teams close out the series on Saturday at 1 p.m.