Saturday, March 19
Eagle Baseball Throttles Troy, 7-0
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern blanked the Troy, 7-0, in the middle game of a three-game set against on Saturday night in J.I. Clements Stadium. Chase Cohen earned the win, pitching six shutout innings to improve to 2-1 on the year. The Eagles go for the series win Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Special Education Weekend tickets are available to Georgia Southern Faculty & Staff as well as Bulloch County Education students and staff.
QUOTABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"I'm proud of the way the team bounced back today. I thought we played a much cleaner game tonight and made some big defensive plays. The outfield play was much better tonight. Some of those plays that were made behind Cohen and Humphries didn't allow Troy to get back in the game when they had opportunities with men on base. It's important that we build off this and come out and play good baseball tomorrow."
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Logan Baldwin // So. // OF // Ringgold, GA
Logan Baldwin went 3-4 tonight with four RBIs and one run to help the Eagles secure the victory over Troy. He drove in runs in the first, third and seventh innings and scored himself on Hudgins' three-run home run. He made an outstanding #WebGemNominee play in centerfield to rob an extra base hit from Troy.
CRUCIAL MOMENTS
BOTTOM 1ST – C.J. Brazil crossed on Logan Baldwin's RBI single to score the first run of game for the Eagles.
BOTTOM 3RD – The Eagles plated four runs in the bottom of the inning to put the Eagles up, 5-0. Evan McDonald scored on a RBI single by Baldwin and Will Hudgins followed suit by hitting his first career home run, a three-run job to left center.
BOTTOM 7TH – Baldwin added two more RBIs, plating both Ryan Cleveland and Hunter Thomas to put the Eagles up 7-0 through seven frames.
NOTES
- Will Hudgins clobbered his first collegiate home run in the third with a towering blast into the pines in left center. As a team, Georgia Southern now has seven home runs including four hit this week.
- Chase Cohen picked up his second win of the season by working seven strong innings and scattering four hits. He fanned two and walked two and left not allowing a run for the third time in five starts this season.
- Evan McDonald got a single in his second trip to the plate to extend his team-best hit streak to 10 games. He was 1-for-5 on the day and is hitting .400 over the last 10 games, going 14-for-35.
NEXT GAME
The Eagles will face Troy in the rubber match on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Fans can listen live on Georgia Southern Sports Network and watch the contest on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com.
Texas State Dominates Mountaineers, 16-0
SAN MARCOS, Texas – It did not take long to realize it would be a great day to be a Bobcat at Bobcat Ballpark on Saturday. Texas State showed no mercy with an impressive 16-0 victory over Appalachian State to improve to 14-5 overall and 5-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. Jeremy Hallonquist put together a strong day on the mound while the Bobcat bats just kept racking up hits en route to the victory.
Hallonquist went eight innings, tallying four strikeouts and giving up only four hits to Appalachian State. He did not walk a single batter or give up any runs with 91 pitches on the day. The senior improved his ERA to a mere 0.47 for the season.
His offensive support surely gave him confidence throughout the game. In the third inning, the Bobcats scored six runs and added three more in the fourth for a quick 9-0 lead. The Bobcat bats added seven more runs combined in the sixth and eighth innings.
Theodore Hoffman continues his outstanding week. After belting two home runs in the midweek game at UTSA he knocked out his third home run in as many games, a three-RBI roundtripper, and finished the day 3-for-5 with five RBIs, three runs scored and a walk, boosting his batting average up to .364.
Hoffman wasn't the only Bobcat to send one yard Saturday as Dylan Paul knocked his first career home run. Both home runs were impressive as winds gusted up to 28 miles per hour at Bobcat Ballpark on Saturday. Paul went on to finish 3-for-4 with four RBIs, two runs and a walk.
In addition to that duo, Granger Studdard went 3-for-4 with three runs while both Luke Sherley and Ryan Newman added two hits apiece. Jared Huber racked up three RBIs on three walks and a hit in a game in which he wasn't retired.
As a team, the Bobcats drew nine walks and hit 17 hits with 15 RBIs to score their 16 runs. Every spot in the lineup tallied a hit in the game.
The Bobcats struck first in the third inning. Sherley started off with a single to left field, and Studdard pushed him all the way to third base on a single through the right side. With two men on base, Hoffman knocked his home run to put the Bobcats up, 3-0.
After a hit for Newman and a walk for Paul, Cody Lovejoy loaded the bases with his second walk of the day. With the bases juiced, Huber hit a high bouncer to right field to plate two more runs and push the Texas State lead to 5-0. The Bobcats added one more when Lovejoy scored on a Jonathan Ortega base hit for a 6-0 Bobcat lead.
The Bobcats kept it rolling in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sherley started the inning by reaching base on an error, and Studdard followed with his second hit of the day through the right side. After that, Hoffman worked the count for a walk to load the bases. Paul brought in two runners with a high bouncer to left field. Lovejoy plated another run in the next at-bat with a sacrifice bunt to bring in Hoffman and put the Bobcats up 9-0.
Texas State continued to apply pressure into the sixth inning. A hit by pitch and back-to-back singles for Hoffman and Newman loaded the bases for Paul. He sent a single through the right side to plate Studdard, and, two batters later, Huber drew his third walk of the day, this one with bases loaded for another run and an 11-0 Texas State lead. The Bobcats pushed the lead up one more run when Ortega also drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Bobcats continued to pile on in the eighth inning. Paul knocked his first career home run while Sherley tallied his 24th hit of the season to match his 2015 total already. Hoffman pushed his RBI count up to five with a two-RBI double to left centerfield. In all, the Bobcats scored four runs on six hits in the eighth to push the lead to 16-0, the final score.
Texas State and the Mountaineers will complete the weekend series with an 11 a.m. matchup on Sunday. Senior lefty Cory Geisler will be on the mound for the Bobcats.
Cajuns Split Doubleheader With Little Rock To Open Series
LAFAYETTE, La. – The 16th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team split a pair of games in a doubleheader with Little Rock on Saturday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field. The Cajuns opened the day with a 15-4 victory before falling 10-5 in the nightcap.
The Cajuns (12-7, 3-2 Sun Belt) pounded out 24 hits on the day and have posted double-digit hits in the last four contests.
Junior Joe Robbins had a career day driving in seven runs on a pair of home runs, and had a career-high five RBI in the win. Both Ishmael Edwards and Brenn Conrad led the Ragin' Cajuns with four hits in the doubleheader.
Dalton Thomas and Ryan Scott led the way for Little Rock (7-11, 1-4) as the pair combined for 10 hits, three doubles, two home runs and nine RBI. Scott really stepped up in the second game going 4-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBI.
On the mound, sophomore Gunner Leger earned his second victory of the season in the opening game limiting the Trojans to one run on three hits in six innings. Leger struck out seven and walked one in his fourth quality start of the year.
Sophomore Wyatt Marks was saddled with his second loss in as many starts after being chased in the second inning of the nightcap. Marks gave up five runs on four hits with two walks in 1.1 innings of work.
Dylan Slayton took the loss for Little Rock in game one after allowing 10 runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. Cory Malcom was the winner in the evening game tossing five innings while limiting Louisiana to two runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
After surrendering an early lead to the Trojans in the opening game, the Cajuns responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer to right by Conrad to take a 2-1 lead they would never relinquish.
Mills extended the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third with his first home run of the season sending a 2-run blast over the fence in left center.
The Ragin' Cajuns blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fourth scoring six runs on five hits to take a 10-1 advantage. Catcher Nick Thurman opened the scoring with a two run single to left. Robbins put an exclamation point on the inning launching a grand slam off of the scoreboard in right center to give Louisiana a nine-run edge.
Following a two-run double to right-center by Steven Sensley in the sixth, the two teams traded three runs over the final three frames to make the final 15-4.
In the nightcap, the Trojans rebounded scoring three runs in the top of the first on a Scott two-run homer to right and a sacrifice fly to center by Cameron Knight.
The Cajuns responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run bomb to right by Robbins to cut the Little Rock lead to one run at 3-2.
That would be the closest the Ragin' Cajuns would get in the contest though as the Trojans regained a three-run edge in the second inning on a two-run double by Scott.
In the fourth, Little Rock added two more runs on a Louisiana error and a Thomas double to make the score 7-2.
Scott put the game out of reach in the fifth with his second home run of the night as he sent a towering three-run homer into the trees in right to give the Trojans a 10-2 lead.
The Cajuns plated three runs in the ninth with Thurman scoring on a wild pitch and Kennon Fontenot notching his first career homer with a 2-run blast to make the final 10-5.
The two squads close out the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. at The Tigue in the rubber match of the series. Freshman right-hander Nick Lee will look to improve upon his 3-0 record. Lee will face off against freshman right-hander Joe Corbett who is 2-0 with a 5.00 ERA.
The game can be heard live on News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM with Jay Walker making the call. Live stats and video are available on RaginCajuns.com.
ULM Falls in Doubleheader to No. 26 Patriots
DALLAS -- The ULM baseball team was unable to get ahold of No. 26 Dallas Baptist on Saturday, falling 6-1 and 7-3 in a series-opening doubleheader.
It marked back-to-back weekends that the squad had to move a home series to the Lone Star State due to weather conditions in Monroe. The Warhawks faced off with Texas State from March 12-13.
No. 26 Dallas Baptist 6, ULM 1
ULM threatened in the top half of the first inning as Anthony Herrera singled and later moved to third when Jacob Stockton reached on an error. The Warhawks were unable to push any runs across as a strikeout ended the frame.
The two clubs traded zeros until the bottom of the third when Dallas Baptist broke through with a single run. With two outs, the Patriots got a single from Justin Wall and then after back-to-back errors, Austin Listi drove in the game’s first run.
Two innings later, Dallas Baptist extended its lead to 3-0. The Patriots scored one on a sacrifice fly with the other coming on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch. Between the sixth and seventh innings Dallas Baptist scored three runs to increase its lead to 6-0.
The Warhawks scored their lone run of the contest in the top of the ninth inning. Herrera drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a single through the right side by Spencer Hemphill. With two outs, Herrera was able to race home when Nathan Pugh reached on an error by first baseman Tim Millard.
ULM starter Chris Hunt (1-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks with three punchouts in 4.2 innings of work.
Patriot starter Darick Hall (3-1) earned the win after allowing zero runs on three hits and one walk in eight innings of work.
No. 26 Dallas Baptist 7, ULM 3
The Warhawks drew first blood in the top of the second. Jacob Stockton doubled to the left center gap and went to third on Danny Springer's single. Nathan Pugh took a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Two batters later, Brian Barefoot grounded out to the mound and drove in Stockton as well.
The Patriots came back with a run in the bottom half of the frame and then had a leadoff double and single in the third. A squeeze bunt by Connor Hall and sacrifice fly by Justin Wall upped their advantage to 4-1.
Jameson Hannah's two-run double began the Patriots' three-run seventh inning that ultimately gave them a 7-1 lead.
Colin Poche pitched seven innings for DBU and gave up three hits. Brayden Bouchey took the loss for the Warhawks after giving up three earned runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings.
ULM plated two runs in the top of the eighth to get within 7-3. Brian Barefoot singled on the first pitch of the stanza and Josh Faciane produced a full-count walk. Anthony Herrera then singled to shortstop before an error on the play put two Warhawks in scoring position for Spencer Hemphill, whose groundout scored the second run of the inning.
Jags Remain Undefeated in SBC Play with Double-header Sweep of UTA
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team swept a doubleheader to clinch its three-game series with Texas-Arlington Saturday at Stanky Field.
USA (14-5, 5-0 SBC) used a complete game from right-hander Kevin Hill in game one, and a walk-off double by Travis Swaggerty in the bottom of the ninth in game two to clinch the series. The Jaguars will go for their second straight Sun Belt Conference series sweep in game three, which is scheduled for a noon first pitch Sunday at Stanky Field.
"When you have two solid teams playing, the game comes down to a pitch or play here or there and today was no different," head coach Mark Calvi said. "That was the case. A pitch here or there in the first game, or a play here or there in the second game and we could be on the other end of this. But we feel fortunate to be where we're at after a long day at the park.
"I thought Kevin was really good. He put us on his back, and (Hunter) Soleymani was just as good. He battled his tail off and competed like crazy. That's what a senior does for you. I am super proud of both of those kids today."
Game 1 – South Alabama 4, UT-Arlington 3
Right-hander Kevin Hill tossed a complete game to lead the Jaguars to a 4-3 series-opening win over UT-Arlington in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Hill (4-1) allowed three runs and scattered nine hits in nine innings, and struck out nine while issuing two walks to earn his fourth win of the season. UTA left-hander Joel Kuhnel (3-2) allowed four runs on six hits with a career-high nine strikeouts against three walks in 7 2/3 innings in the loss.
USA scored the game's first runs in the bottom of the third. Jared Barnes led off the inning with a single to left field, and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Brendan Donovan before scoring the game's first run on a one-out RBI double down the left field line by Travis Swaggerty. Cole Billingsley followed with an RBI single to center field to plate Swaggerty and double the Jaguar lead. An infield single to second by Drew LaBounty put runners at the corners before Danny Martinez single through the right side of the infield to score Billingsley and push the USA lead to 3-0. LaBounty scored later in the inning on a throwing error by UTA right-hander Joel Kuhnel on a failed pickoff attempt at first base to extend the Jaguar advantage to four runs.
UTA responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. The Mavericks loaded the bases with one out in the inning on a walk by Jackson Morris, and consecutive singles from Darien McLemore and Noah Vaughan. Morris scored the Mavericks' first run on a wild pitch from Hill to cut the UTA deficit to 4-1. Jerame Littell followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center field to plate McLemore and cut the Jaguar lead in half.
The Mavericks cut their deficit to one run in the top of the eighth. Consecutive singles to start the top of the eighth by Morris and McLemore put UTA runners at the corners with no outs. Hill recorded the first out of the inning via strikeout before Littell reached on a fielder's choice that scored Morris with the game's final run.
Billingsley went 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Swaggerty added a double, one RBI and one run scored, and Martinez finished with one hit and one RBI.
Game 2 – South Alabama 4, UT-Arlington 3
Travis Swaggerty delivered a two-run walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead the Jaguars to a 4-3 series-clinching win over UTA in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
Carter Perkins singled to lead off the ninth, and was lifted for pinch-runner Adam Wolfe who advanced to second on a wild pitch from UTA right-hander Daniel James. Jared Barnes reached on a hit by pitch with one out before Swaggerty lifted a 2-1 pitch into the left-center gap to score Wolfe and Barnes.
UTA (10-10, 2-3 SBC) jumped out to a one-run lead in the top of the first inning in game two. Consecutive singles by McLean and Williams to start the inning put UTA runners at the corners with no outs. Brady Cox followed with an RBI single to left field to score McLean with the game's first run.
But USA answered with a pair of runs in the bottom-half of the first to take a one-run lead. Swaggerty drew a leadoff walk, and moved to third on a double to left-center field by Billingsley. LaBounty followed with an RBI groundout to second to score Swaggerty and tie the game 1-1. A groundout to second off the bat of Martinez one batter later allowed Billingsley to score from third for a 2-1 Jaguar lead.
UTA responded with a run to tie the game in the top of the second on a fielder's choice RBI off the bat of Christian Hollie that scored Vaughan, who reached on a single earlier in the inning. The Mavericks then took a one-run lead in the top of the ninth on a two-out RBI single by Josh Minjarez before the Jags added the final runs of the game in the bottom-half of the ninth.
USA left-hander James Traylor (3-0) struck out the only batter he faced to earn the win in one-third of an inning. James (0-2) allowed two runs on two hits with one strikeout in two-thirds of an inning in the loss for the Mavericks. Jaguar starter Hunter Soleymani (1-2) tossed a career-high 8 1/3 innings, and allowed two runs on eight hits with a strikeout and three walks without factoring in the decision.
Clements' Walk-Off in 10th Delivers 5-4 Panthers Win over Arkansas State
ATLANTA -- James Clements delivered a pinch-hit, bases-loaded infield single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Georgia State a 5-4 victory over Arkansas State, evening the Sun Belt series at 1-1.
The win is No. 293 at Georgia State for head coach Greg Frady, tying him with Mike Hurst (1993-2006) for the GSU career record.
Georgia State (10-9, 1-1 Sun Belt) trailed 4-3 when Ryan Blanton blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game. The homer is Blanton's third of the season, and he also had a double in the game that was the 100th hit of his career.
In the bottom of the 10th, Joey Roach drew a leadoff walk off reliever Coulton Lee (2-1). After Tanner Ring came on in relief, Jarrett Hood executed a hit-and-run with a single through the right side, sending Roach to third. Arkansas State (10-8, 2-3) intentionally walked Blanton to load the bases. With one out, the bases still loaded and a drawn-in infield, Clements hit a slow roller to the first baseman, who had no play, allowing Roach to score the winning run.
GSU right-hander Bryce Conley (4-1) earned the win with 3.1 innings in relief of starter Marc-Andre Habeck, who allowed three runs on six hits in 6.2 innings. Habeck struck out and walked none, while Conley added five strikeouts, including four of the final six batters.
Habeck settled down after a shaky start as he allowed Garrett Rucker's two-run homer in the first inning.
GSU fought back with a run in the second on Will Kilgore's run-scoring single. The Panthers took their first lead in the series in the third inning as Hood scored on a wild pitch and then Blanton came home on Jack Thompson's RBI-grounder.
Arkansas State tied the game in the seventh and then took a 4-3 lead on Rucker's RBI-single in the eighth. The Red Wolves were looking for more after loading the bases with one out, but Conley got a strike out and a pop up to end the threat.
Hood, the junior third baseman, extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
The series concludes with a 1 p.m. game Sunday.