Friday, March 18
Troy Baseball Defeats Georgia Southern, 2-1, on Friday Night
STATESBORO, Georgia – Shaw Pinnell delivered a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning that lifted Troy past Georgia Southern, 2-1, on Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
With two outs in the sixth inning and the game tied at one, Joey Denison put himself in scoring position with a double down the left field line. Pinnell came up next and delivered a single to center field that scored Denison from second and gave Troy (11-8, 2-2 Sun Belt) a 2-1 lead.
Grant Bennett (3-0) was stellar in an eight inning winning effort. He gave up one run in the first inning, but settled down and didn't allow a run in his final seven innings of work. His longest outing of the season resulted in one run on five hits and six strikeouts. Corey Childress came in and earned his fourth save of the season getting the final two outs of the game.
Georgia Southern (12-6, 3-1 Sun Belt) scored its lone run of the game on a solo home run from Hunter Thomas. The Eagles threatened in the seventh inning as the tying run was thrown out at home trying to score from second on a high chopper that resulted in an infield single at second.
The Trojans tied the game in the third inning as Trevor Davis drove in Brandon Lockridge with a sacrifice fly to right field. Lockridge extended his hitting streak to nine games as he reached with a leadoff single up the middle.
Denison led the way with a career-high three-hit night in a 3-for-4 performance with a double. Four other Trojans had hits on the night, but Peyton Fuller had the other extra base hit with a double in the second inning.
The two teams will play again on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. Troy will send Lucas Brown to the mound, while Georgia Southern will send Chase Cohen to face off against him.
Bobcats Win First of Three vs. Appalachian State
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State scored four runs in the sixth inning, and that proved to be all the Bobcats needed to take the first victory in the three-game series against Appalachian State on Friday. The Bobcats used big hits from Granger Studdard and Theodore Hoffman to win, 4-2, and improve to 13-5 overall and 4-0 in Sun Belt Conference action.
Trailing, 2-0, Texas State came alive with four sixth-inning hits after only striking one hit to that point in the game. Jonathan Ortega drew a walk to put the first man on base, and Cory Geisler followed with an infield single. With two men on, Studdard drilled a base hit through the left side that got past Appalachian State left fielder Tyler Stroup on an error. Both base runners came in on the play to tie the game while Studdard held up at third base.
Two batters later, Hoffman kept it going with a doubles to left field to plate Studdard, the go-ahead run. With Hoffman at second, Luke Sherley got in on the action with a single up the middle to bring in Hoffman and give the Bobcats some breathing room.
In the seventh inning, Lucas Humpal forced a groundout and a fly out while also tallying his fourth strikeout of the day, leaving the game with the win intact. It was the 234th strikeout of his career to pull him into second place all-time in strikeouts in the Bobcat record books. He is just eight more strikeouts away from breaking the Bobcat record.
After Humpal, Chase Hodson took over for the eighth and ninth innings. He was untouchable. He tallied three strikeouts while forcing a fly out, a groundout and a lineout for the other three outs he needed to pick up his first save of the season.
Outside of the fourth inning, Jared Huber and Nick Perez also struck hits for the Bobcats while Ortega, Studdard, Sherley and Cody Lovejoy all drew walks in the game.
Appalachian State was able to score two runs in the second inning, taking advantage of a walk, a double and a wild pitch. But it would not be enough after the Bobcats took over in the sixth.
The Bobcats will continue the series against Appalachian State with Jeremy Hallonquist on the mound for a 3 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and finish up with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday.
Red Wolves Cruise to 11-1 Win over Panthers
DECATUR, Ga. (3/18/16) – The Arkansas State baseball team scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back in an 11-1 win over Georgia State that featured a season-high 19 hits, including five from Tanner Ring, and six strong innings from Tyler Zuber Friday night at the GSU Baseball Complex in Decatur, Ga.
Ring’s five hits were one shy of the school record six set by Shane Eaker in 1992 against UALR, while the 19 hits were the most by Arkansas State since May 9, 2015 against Texas State in a 12-10 A-State win. Ring also scored a team-high four runs, drove in two runs, and had a stolen base.
Joe Schrimpf went 4-for-6 at the plate with two double, a RBI, and a run scored. Austin Baker had three hits and three RBIs, while Garrett Rucker had two hits, both doubles. Tim Seldomridge, Matt Burgess, Jeremy Brown and Frankie Alvarez all had one RBI apiece. Zuber picked up the win after allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Cody Jackson and Bo Ritter combined to throw three hitless innings to close the game.
The Red Wolves (10-7, 2-2 SBC) plated two runs on a Ring single up-the-middle with one out in the top of the first before the team added single runs on a Baker single and Brown sacrifice fly for an early 4-0 advantage over the Panthers (9-9, 0-1 SBC).
A-State added one run on another Baker single in the top of the third for a 5-0 edge, but Georgia State scored to make the score 5-1 on a James Clements sacrifice fly. Baker singled home his third runner of the game in the top of the fifth for a 6-1 A-State lead. The Red Wolves tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning on an infield single by Alvarez and error on Georgia State when pitcher Clayton Payne threw wildly to the plate on Alvarez’s hit that allowed J.D. Rainwater to score.
Burgess singled home Ring for a 9-1 advantage in the sixth inning before A-State plated two more runs in the top of the ninth on a triple by Seldomridge and Schrimpf double to set the final at 11-1.
GSU’s Wayne Wages gave up six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in 4.1 innings, while Clayton Payne allowed three runs (two earned) in 1.1 innings on the mound. Chris Mejias shut out the Red Wolves over two innings before Rhett Harper allowed the final two runs in the ninth. Justin Jones led the Panthers with two hits, while four other Georgia State players had one hit each.
The Red Wolves and Panthers resume the series at 1 p.m. (CT) tomorrow afternoon at the GSU Baseball Complex. The game can be heard on 95.3 FM The Ticket/970 AM KNEA.