Saturday, May 16
Texas State Defeats UT Arlington to Clinch Sun Belt Tourny Seed
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State honored the team's seniors in impressive fashion with a 22-8 victory over UT Arlington on Senior Day Saturday to clinch the series, and, more importantly, secure the sixth seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament in Troy, Ala. As the sixth seed, Texas State will face third seeded UL Lafayette in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday, likely to be at 9 a.m.
Baseball vs. UT Arlington (May 16)Baseball vs. UT Arlington (May 16)
The Bobcats belted four home runs, two of which were grand slams, and scored the most runs by a Texas State baseball team since scoring 33 against Prairie View A&M on March 24, 2009. It was the most runs in a conference game since Texas State scored 26 at McNeese State on May 10, 2008.
Junior Tanner Hill hit the team's first grand slam of the season along with three singles that led to five more RBI to tie a 16-year-old Texas State school record for most RBI by an individual in a game with nine. It is the most RBI hit by a Bobcat since John Tompkins knocked in nine on March 28, 1999.
Hill wasn't the only Bobcat to stand out though. Seniors Cedric Vallieres, Ben McElroy, David Paiz and Colby Targun all knocked a hit in the game. Vallieres and McElroy both homered with Vallieres sending out Texas State's second grand slam of the game and the season in the third inning. It was his 10th homer of the year. McElroy homered in the fourth to make it a home run in back-to-back games for the senior. He now has a career-high five on the season. Paiz went 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and a walk while Targun knocked a single in Texas State's biggest inning that led to a run.
In addition, Zach Sullivan put together his best game of the season, going 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and four runs scored. Cory Geisler and Hill led the team in hits with four apiece while Paiz and Sullivan weren't far behind with three each. Only one Bobcat did not strike for a hit in the game, but Luke Sherley balanced that out with three walks and two runs scored.
Texas State knocked in 22 RBI on 20 hits and added seven walks on Saturday to simply overwhelm the Mavericks of UT Arlington.
The Mavericks struck first in the game with two runs in the top of the first, but the Bobcats brought in freshman righty Tyler Giovanoni to slow UTA down. He went 2.1 innings with four strikeouts to get the win. Braden Pearson, Pasquale Mazzoccoli, Quinn Atwood and Justin Dellinger all pitched in the game, combining for two strikeouts and just one walk.
Once out of the top of the first, Texas State snagged a lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Geisler and Vallieres hit back-to-back singles and Granger Studdard followed with a walk. With three on, Hill knocked in his first two RBI with a rocket shot to the left field fence. Studdard would score two batters later when Paiz brought him in with a single to centerfield.
In the second inning, Sullivan led off with a double. After Geisler reached on a fielder's choice, Vallieres took his 20th hit by pitch of the season to load the bases. After going 73 games without a grand slam, Hill decided it was enough. He knocked the first Texas State grand slam since Austin O'Neal's in a 4-2 win over Georgia State on April 19, 2014.
Not to be outdone, Vallieres followed with a grand slam of his own in the third. Paiz and Sullivan both singled and Sherley got on base with his second walk of the day to load them up. Geisler brought in Paiz with a single through the left side, and Vallieres brought everyone in with his homer in the next at bat.
After scoring three runs in the first, four in the second and five in the third, the Bobcats kept the pattern going with six in the fourth. McElroy started it with his solo home run that may have gone even farther than Friday's homer. After a Paiz walk and a Targun single, Sullivan sent a single up the middle to plate Paiz. The top of the lineup kept it going with a single from Geisler and the second hit by pitch of the day for Vallieres to plate a run. Singles from Studdard and Hill after that scored three more runs for Texas State to put the Bobcats up 18-6.
In the fifth, Texas State benefitted from three walks while Geisler struck a three-run homer, his fifth of the season. The Mavericks were finally able to hold the Bobcats without a run in the sixth, but it wouldn't matter as Texas State clinched the game with three outs in the top of the seventh to finish it with a run rule.
Texas State will now set its sights on the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament, a tournament the Bobcats earned two wins at last season. Continue to check www.txstatebobcats.com throughout the week for updates as the tournament field pans out.
UALR Concludes Season with Win over Arkansas State
JONESBORO, Ark. – UALR baseball ended the 2015 season with a 4-3 win over rival Arkansas State on Saturday.
Head coach Chris Curry ended the 2015 season with a conference record of 12-17, the best mark for a first-year UALR baseball coach in program history. UALR’s 12 Sun Belt wins also top last year’s total of 11.
“It’s hard every year on the last out to look the seniors in the eye and thank them for all that they’ve done, especially this group with as much as they’ve been through,” Curry said. “They’ve been resilient and persevered, and I couldn’t be more proud to be their coach. They have set the foundation not only with this win, but for years to come as far as where we’re headed as a program.”
UALR started the game with leadoff single up the middle by Petr Sila and advanced to second on a walk to Ryan Scott. With one out, Kyle Kirk walked to load the bases for the Trojans. The Red Wolves’ Derek Birginske walked his third batter of the inning as Justin Steelmon took first while Sila crossed the plate for the Trojans’ first run. Birginske’s day then came to an early end after only pitching a third of an inning.
With bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, the Red Wolves got an RBI ground out to second to tie the game at 1-1. After a walk, ASU flew out to center to end the inning with bases loaded.
As the rain began to fall, A-State took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Austin Baker began the inning with a leadoff single to center field. With two outs, Collin Massanelli singled to left and advanced to second on an error while Baker scored the go-ahead run.
UALR took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning. With one out, Steelmon got on base with an infield single to second base. Drew Merten hit a shallow single into right as Steelmon advanced to second. Merten and Steelmon advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch before Steelmon scored on an RBI ground out by Hayden Martin to tie the game. After Brandon Gil walked on four pitches, Sam Vogel singled to right center as Merten scored the Trojans’ third run of the game.
Scott led off the fifth inning with a single through the left side. Tanner Rockwell then singled to center as Scott made his way over to third with no outs. Scott gave UALR a 4-2 lead as he scored on an RBI ground out to second.
A-State’s Tanner Ring doubled down the right field line with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Zach George walked on four pitches, Joe Schrimpf singled through the left side as Ring scored to cut UALR’s lead to 4-3.
The Red Wolves came close to tying the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a runner on third, but a strikeout ended Arkansas State’s threat. ASU finally surrendered to UALR in the bottom of the ninth inning with a fly out, ground out and a strike out.
The Trojan pitching staff of Cory Malcom, Stephen Chandler, Dyllon Brownmiller and Cameron Allen held the Red Wolves to just seven hits.
“Trojan fans should be so proud of how hard they played down to the last out and never gave up,” Curry said. “That’s who we are. To be one-game short of our goal is bitter, but in the end it’s all about the journey, the fight and how you play the game the right way every day. I’m honored to have coached this team, and I cannot wait until next February.”
Georgia Southern Takes Series from Georgia State in Extra Innings
ATLANTA – Ryan Cleveland drove in the go ahead run in the 11th inning to lift the Georgia Southern Eagles to a series victory over the Georgia State Panthers with a 3-2 win on Saturday.
The Eagles (30-25, 18-12) led 2-0 before the Panthers (29-25, 15-13) rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning on Matt Rose's two-RBI single.
After Georgia State left four base runners over the 9th and 10th innings, Ryan Cleveland capitalized on a lead off two-base error and plated Dalton Busby with a single to right field in the top of the 11th inning.
"It was a real battle up here in all three games," Head Coach Rodney Hennon said. "Georgia State battled back and tied it up but our guys hung in there and we were able to get a big hit from Ryan Cleveland."
Adam Kelly stranded a lead off walk at second base to secure the win and pick up the save. Kelly (1) allowed a sac bunt to Will Johnson and struck out Cam Sperry. Kent Rollins jumped to knock down a liner off the bat of David Levy and threw on to first base for the final out of the game.
Chris Brown earned the win in relief of Connor Simmons, who tossed a gem of a no decision. Brown (4-3) walked two batters and allowed a hit over an inning plus of work.
Simmons tied a career high with 6.1 scoreless innings and struck out six batters while walking one. He struck out two batters in the bottom of the first to strand a pair of baserunners.
The freshman lefthander settled in from there to retire 10-straight batters before Jack Thompson singled off his leg to start the fifth inning. Simmons retired the final five batters he faced before exiting in the seventh inning.
"We got a great effort from Connor Simmons. It was as sharp as he has been all year. He got us off to a great start," Hennon said.
The Eagles took an early 1-0 lead after Chase Griffin hit a two-out double to right center and plated Dalton Busby in the first inning.
Busby drove in a run with a double to right center in the eighth inning to drive in Kody Adams and give Georgia Southern a 2-0 lead.
Kevin Burgee was tagged with the loss after giving up the run in the 11th inning. Burgee (3-3) gave up a hit and an unearned run over two innings of work.
The Eagles will open the 2015 Sun Belt Baseball Tournament Wednesday. Georgia Southern will find out their seed and opponent later today when the bracket is officially released.
Cajuns Claim Both Games of Doubleheader to Sweep Warhawks
MONROE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team claimed both games of a doubleheader on a wet Saturday to complete the sweep of ULM at Warhawk Field. The Cajuns won the first game 5-4 before rallying to defeat the Warhawks 6-4 in the final game of the series.
The victories clinch the third seed in the 2015 Sun Belt Tournament for the Ragin' Cajuns (34-20, 18-11 Sun Belt) as they will face sixth seeded Texas State Bobcats at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Louisiana also increased its win streak against ULM (25-29, 12-18 Sun Belt) to 16 straight games and became the only team to sweep the Warhawks this season.
"We are trying to get our guys going, and it was good to see our bullpen come through for us," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "I'm proud of our guys to come back from what we lost after last season to do what we've been able to do. We needed to come down here and get guys going, and that's what we did. We also got some mental toughness training with the rain delays. We could have packed it in or lost focus, but we came out and fought back to get the sweep."
Reliever Will Bacon earned the victory in game one to improve to 4-2 on the year after holding ULM to one run on three hits in 3.1 innings with a strikeout.
Colton Lee (2-3) claimed the win in the nightcap tossing 2.2 scoreless innings in relief with a walk and a strikeout. Starter Wyatt Marks was outstanding taking a no-hitter through four innings in game two before leaving the game after the second rain delay of the contest.
ULM starter Trey Setzer (6-3) took the loss in game one as he allowed five runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings, while Josh Leone was saddled with the loss in the series finale after giving up three runs on three hits in 2.0 innings.
Offensively, second baseman Stefan Trosclair went 5-for-9 on the day with five RBI and was a double short of hitting for the cycle in game two. Evan Powell, Kyle Clement and Greg Davis each had three hits in the doubleheader for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Powell gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as he lifted a two-out solo homer off of the scoreboard in left center off of Setzer.
ULM got on the board in the bottom of the third plating two runs on an RBI double by Daton Todd and an RBI single by Kodie Tidwell to take a 2-1 edge.
The Ragin' Cajuns pulled even in the top of the fifth when Powell scored on a Setzer wild pitch with two outs. Powell reached on a one-out single. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch before stealing third.
The Warhawks answered in the bottom half of the fifth as Tidwell singled home his second run of the game to put ULM back in front 3-2.
Louisiana evened the contest for the second time at 3-all in the top of the sixth on a two-out RBI single by catcher Nick Thurman up the middle.
In the top of the seventh, the Cajuns regained the lead 4-3 on an RBI double to center by Clement. Trosclair added to the lead in the next as bat driving in Clement on a single to right field.
Danny Springer pulled ULM within a run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single to right, but that's as close as the Warhawks would get as reliever Dylan Moore came on in the eighth and posted a four-out save for his ninth of the year.
In the second game, Trosclair gave the Ragin' Cajuns an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a two-run homer over the fence in left. The home run was the 13th of the season for Trosclair.
The game would come to a halt in the top of the third due to weather. After waiting an hour and 16 minutes, the two teams would get into the fifth before a second weather delay stopped the game in the top of the fifth.
The Warhawks pulled even in the bottom half of the fifth scoring two runs on two hits and a balk.
Nathan Pugh put ULM ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run single to left.
Louisiana would answer in the top of the seventh scoring four runs on three hits and an error to take a 6-4 edge. After the Cajuns loaded the bases with no outs to start the inning, Clement cut the Warhawks lead to 4-3 on a sac fly to deep right. In the next at bat, Trosclair tripled to center to drive in two runs and scored the fourth run of the inning on a throwing error by Tidwell.
Sophomore reliever Reagan Bazar posted a perfect ninth for the Cajuns to close out the game and earn his first save of the season.
For updates and info on Ragin' Cajuns baseball, follow the team on twitter @CajunsBaseball or check RaginCajuns.com.