Friday, March 4
Humpal Baffles UIW with Complete-Game Shutout
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Bobcats knew they might have something special when Lucas Humpal returned for his senior season after being drafted in 2015. Friday night, he showed Texas State fans they certainly do. Humpal struck out 11 batters in a three-hit complete-game shutout for a virtuoso performance to lead the Bobcats past Incarnate Word, 4-0.
With his 11 strikeouts Friday night, Humpal has 22 on the season with just two walks. He did not walk or hit one batter Friday, giving up no free bases. To shut the door on the Cardinals, Humpal and the Bobcat defense retired 13 consecutive batters to end the game. He tallied three strikeouts in that stretch. To start the night, Humpal tallied five strikeouts in the first three innings alone.
For his career, Humpal now has 225 strikeouts, just two behind Mike Hart, third in the Texas State record books. He is just 16 strikeouts away from the top number of 241 held by Bobby Sawicki from 2001-05. At this rate, he can lay claim to being Texas State's strikeout king sooner rather than later.
As Humpal continued his assault on the record books, his Bobcat offense provided plenty of support to get the victory. Jonathan Ortega went 2-for-4 with his second career home run, a three-run blast to bust the game open in the eighth inning. In addition to him, Ryan Newman, Nick Perez, Jared Huber and Derek Scheible each tallied hits in the game with Perez knocking in the other RBI.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bobcats struck in the bottom of the second. Newman led off with a nice double to right center and Perez followed with a single up the middle to plate Newman for an early 1-0 lead. That lead would be all the scoring in the game until the eighth inning.
The pitchers continued their duel until Huber led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to right center. After that, Scheible followed with a beautiful bunt single that died down the third-base line to move Huber to third. With runners at the corners, Ortega sent a no-doubter to left field to give the Bobcats a commanding 4-0 lead with his three-run homer.
Incarnate Word tried to answer in the top of the ninth, but found itself in a two-out hole rather quickly with consecutive fly outs to centerfield. For the final out of the game, Humpal snagged a liner straight at him to clinch the sixth win of the season for the Bobcats.
Texas State, now 6-4, continues the series against Incarnate Word with games at 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Saturday, the Bobcat leader in ERA, Jeremy Hallonquist will take the mound for the Bobcats against the Cardinals.
Eagles Open Weekend Series Against Memphis with a 3-2 Victory
STATESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Southern opened a three-game series against Memphis with a 3-2 win on Friday night in J.I. Clements Stadium. Evan Challenger picked up his second win of the season with a brilliant outing. Chris Brown came on late and nailed down his first save of the year. The Eagles play Memphis in the second game of the series tomorrow evening, with first pitch set for 7 p.m.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Evan Challenger // LHP // Jr. // Mount Dora, Fla.
Evan Challenger held the Tigers scoreless in the first five innings. He finished the game giving up two runs, one earned, off a pair of hits and two defensive errors. The junior went seven and a third innings to improve to 2-1 on the year.
QUOTABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"Evan was terrific tonight. Right out the gate, he was getting ahead in the count, working both sides of the plate and changing speeds. He stayed in a nice rhythm and it worked really well for us tonight. The guys are doing a good job of executing right now, especially in tight games like tonight where you have good pitching on both sides."
STARTING PITCHER EVAN CHALLENGER
"I felt really good coming into the game. I had my change-up back; that's been my pitch since I've been here and I haven't been able to throw it in the past two games, but I had a feel for it today. Each outing I'm really trying to focus on getting better at each phase of the game and today that started with getting ahead early and being able to put guys away."
CRUCIAL MOMENTS
BOT 2ND – An RBI single by Matt Anderson plated Will Hudgins from second to get the game started for the Eagles.
BOT 4TH – Cal Baker grounded out to advance Logan Baldwin to third and score Hudgins. A sacrifice bunt later in the inning plated Baldwin, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
TOP 6TH – A fielding error and a passed ball put Tigers' lead-off batter Jason Santana on second to start the inning. A single to left plated Santana to put Memphis on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.
TOP 8TH – Trent Turner hit a leadoff solo home run to cut the Eagles lead to 3-2 in the eighth.
NOTES
-Challenger carried a no-hitter through the first five innings. It was the longest an Eagle pitcher has carried a no-no this season, surpassing Chase Cohen's four innings against Georgia on February 20. His eight strike-outs was one off his career high set at UL Lafayette (4/3/15) and Radford (2/26/15).
- Logan Baldwin had three hits. It was his second highest hit total of his career, behind a four-hit game against Georgia Tech a week and a half ago.
- Chris Brown picked up his first save this season, the 12th of his career, to end the game. He is 1-for-2 in converting save opportunities this year.
- The Eagle pitching staff held Memphis to just two hits on the night. It was the fewest allowed this year by the Eagles who entered the game with a .173 opponent batting average. That number fell to .165 after Friday's contest.
NEXT GAME
The Eagles face Memphis once again in a 7 p.m. contest Saturday evening. Fans can watch the game on GS All-Access at GSEagles.com. Due to a scheduling conflict with Eagle Basketball, there will be no live radio call of the game.
Hampton Pitches Mountaineers to 4-0 Win
ELON, N.C. — True freshman Bobby Hampton allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings to lead Appalachian State University baseball to a 4-0 win over Stony Brook on Friday afternoon in the first game of the Elon Tournament at Latham Park.
Making the third start of his career, Hampton (1-1) surrendered only a bloop double in the first inning and an infield single in the third. The southpaw struck out four, walked two and needed only 93 pitches to cruise through seven innings. The southpaw retired 15 of the last 17 hitters that he faced, only allowing a pair of walks over his final four innings of work.
Tyler Stroup provided all the scoring Appalachian State (2-8) would need when he hit an opposite-field solo home run over the left-field wall in the second inning. The Mountaineers tacked on three more runs on an RBI single by Brian Bauk and a two-out, two-run single by Colin Schmid in the fifth.
When Hampton left the game after seven sterling innings, freshman Stephen Schoch and Bauk each worked a scoreless frame to seal the Mountaineers’ first shutout victory since they blanked UL Monroe, 7-0, on March 20 of last season.
Schmid went 2-for-4 to pace Appalachian’s seven-hit attack.
Stony Brook (2-6) was shut out for the first time this season and its three hits were a season low.
Appalachian State returns to action on Saturday when it faces Bowling Green in Day 2 of the Elon Tournament. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. at Latham Park.
Warhawks Take Down Bulldogs in Series Opener
MONROE, La. – ULM limited Samford to just a single run in the third inning and sixth inning and the Warhawks claimed the series opener at Warhawk Field, 5-2.
Samford broke the scoreless draw with a single run in the top of the third inning. With one out and two in scoring position, Hunter Swilling delivered a sacrifice fly that allowed Frankie Navarette to cross home plate and put the Bulldogs ahead, 1-0.
After Brayden Bouchey recorded the rare four strikeout inning in the top of the fourth, the Warhawks plated a quartet of unearned runs to take their first lead of the game. With the bases loaded and one out, Nathan Reynolds raced home on a wild pitch to even the game at 1-1. Josh Faciane followed with a two-RBI single to right center that allowed Spencer Hemphill and Jacob Stockton to score. Cody Stone brought in the final run of the frame as his single to center plated Faciane and ULM pushed the lead to 4-1.
Samford trimmed the deficit to two runs as Alex Lee led off the sixth with a single up the middle and later came in to score on Richard Greene’s RBI double down the left field line.
Spencer Hemphill drove in the game’s final run as his RBI single plated Nathan Pugh, who tripled with one out in the home half of the eighth.
Bouchey (2-0) earned the win after surrendering two runs on six hits and two walks while fanning nine. Anthony Herrera closed out the game by recording the final two outs and earning his first save of the season.
The loss was charged to Jared Brasher (1-2). He allowed four runs (all unearned) on three hits and three walks.
Minnesota Opens Series with 3-0 Win over Panthers
ATLANTA -- Minnesota pitcher Matt Fielder outdueled Georgia State's Cole Uvila as the Panthers (5-4) fell 3-0 to the Golden Gophers (6-2) Friday in the first game of a three-game series at the GSU Baseball Complex.
Uvila (0-1), the Panthers' senior right-hander, allowed his first runs this season with an unearned run in the first inning and then a pair of solo home runs. He pitched seven innings with five hits allowed, six strikeouts and two walks.
Fielder (2-1) was even better for Minnesota, tossing a two-hit, complete-game shutout. He also struck out six and walked two. The right-hander held GSU hitless for four innings before Jarrett Hood led off the fifth with a single to left. Rhett Harper had the Panthers' other hit with a single in the seventh.
Minnesota jumped in front with an unearned run in the first, and then the Gophers extended their lead on solo homers by Dan Motl in the third and Austin Athmann in the sixth.
"It was a high-level game in which both teams pitched really well and scoring opportunities were very limited," head coach Greg Frady said. "But give Minnesota credit; they outplayed us. Our guy, Cole Uvila, pitched great, but their guy pitched better. We played some pretty good defense, but they played better. We were kind of quiet in terms of scoring opportunities, and so were they, but they got the best of it.
"Cole did a really good job today," Frady continued. "If you pitch seven innings and give up two earned runs, you put your team in position to win, but just couldn't support him offensively. Garrett Ford did a great job in his outing, and Wayne Wages did a tremendous job, so we put ourselves in position but we just couldn't ever get the offensive inning strung together.
"You have to tip a hat to their pitcher. So the Golden Gophers win Game 1, but we'll come out ready to play tomorrow."
The series continues with a 2 p.m. game Saturday. Listen live on GeorgiaStateSports.com and GSU mobile apps.
Trojans Stumble in Series Opener at Oral Roberts
TULSA, Okla. – Little Rock baseball's (4-5) first road game of 2016 got off to a rocky start as it took a 14-5 loss to Oral Roberts (4-4) in the four-game series opener at J.L. Johnson Stadium on Friday.
Nik Gifford had a great day at the plate as he went 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Ryan Scott continued his hot streak as he went 3 for 4 with two runs and a walk.
"What's going with this club right now has nothing to do with the physical and has everything to do with the mental," head coach Chris Curry said. "We don't know how to bring an edge every day, and we don't know how to attack the game. We'll learn because we teach it that way, but sometimes it takes some guys getting the game handed to them a little bit before you bring out an edge. I'm very much looking forward to the response we bring tomorrow."
The scoring began in the bottom of the first inning as Trojan starter Cory Malcom gave up a leadoff walk to Oral Roberts' Nick Rotola. The Golden Eagles' Nick Roark then walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. A single up the middle by Matt Whatley scored the first run of the day. With bases loaded and one out, Malcom recorded his 100th-career strikeout to get the second out. Another single up the middle by Mason Mantle scored two more as Oral Roberts took a 3-0 lead. The hits kept coming as Trevor Sonnier came up with an RBI single up the middle to put the Golden Eagles up 4-0 to end the inning.
The Golden Eagles put another run on the board in the bottom of the second. Whatley doubled down the left field line before a single through the right side by Brent Williams put the Oral Roberts up 5-0.
Oral Roberts kept the runs coming in the bottom of the third. Michael Hungate singled to right center to lead off the frame. Hungate stole second before Sonnier walked. A single to right by Trevor McCutchin loaded the bases with one out. Rotola singled up the middle as Sonnier and Hungate scored to make it 7-0. After hitting a batter and walking a batter with bases load, Malcom's day came to an end as Reed Willenborg came on in relief to make his first appearance of the season. An infield fielding error allowed two more to score before a 6-3 double play ended the inning with Oral Roberts up 10-0.
With a fresh inning to work with, Willenborg struck out the side to give Oral Roberts its first scoreless inning of the game in the fourth.
After striking out his fourth straight batter, Willenborg gave up a double to Rotola. After fly out to center, Whatley singled to right as Rotola came around to make it 11-0.
Little Rock finally got on the board in the top of the sixth inning. Hunter Owens walked to begin the inning before Ryan Scott earned his second hit of the day with a single through the right side. Dalton Thomas singled to right to load the bases for Little Rock. Nik Gifford earned an RBI on a ground out to first as Owens came across for the Trojans' first run. Little Rock wasn't done yet as Cameron Knight earned an RBI on a groundout as Scott scored. Ty Gunter came up with a big single to center as Thomas came across to cut Oral Roberts' lead to 11-3.
Oral Roberts struck again in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Hungate doubled down the left field line. With two outs and a runner on second, Sonnier singled to right as Hungate scored to make it 12-3.
Hayden Weaver came on for Willenborg to begin the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Roark singled to center and then scored as Whatley doubled down the left field line to give ORU a 13-3 lead.
Zach Ours came on for the Trojans in the eighth inning. Trent Shelton got the inning started with a single up the middle. After an Ours strikeout, Sonnier singled through the left side to put runners on first and second. After a fly out, Rotola hit an RBI single to right center, scoring Shelton to make it 14-3.
With two outs in the ninth, Hunter Owens walked before Scott earned his third hit with a single to right. Thomas then walked to load the bases for the Trojans. Nik Gifford hit a single up the middle and earned two RBIs as Owens and Scott scored to cut the deficit to 14-5. That would be all for the Trojans as a fly out to center ended it.
Little Rock and Oral Roberts will go back it tomorrow in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
Cajuns Blank Sacred Heart, 8-0
LAFAYETTE, La. – The 16th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team bounced back Friday night with a shutout of Sacred Heart as the Cajuns won 8-0 in front of a crowd of 4,369 in the series opener at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
"We were able to pitch, play defense and hit tonight," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "Tonight we hit better through the lineup and spread the stress of not having (Kyle) Clement through out the lineup. We need to come out and be the same team tomorrow and carry over this momentum."
The victory improves the Ragin' Cajuns to 6-4 on the year, while the Pioneers (0-4) are left still looking for their first win of 2016.
Sophomore Gunner Leger picked up his first win of the season going six scoreless innings in his third start of the year. Leger scattered five hits while striking out six with one walk.
Jevin Huval, Chris Charpentier and Reagan Bazar combined to toss three perfect innings to close out the ballgame.
Sacred Heart starter James Cooksey was tagged with his second loss of the year after giving up six runs on eight hits in four innings of work.
Offensively, the Cajuns outhit SHU 12-5 on the night with Joe Robbins, Nick Thurman, Dylon Poncho and Hunter Kasuls each tallying a pair of hits. Junior Alex Pinero had a game-high three RBI and Kasuls scored three times.
Robbins increased his hitting streak to nine-games with his single in the third inning, while Thurman has now reached safely in all 10 games this season posting two doubles in the contest.
Louisiana grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the third when Conrad brought home Kasuls on a sac fly to left. Kasuls led off the inning with a single up the middle and then moved to third following a Pinero sac bunt and a Robbins single to right.
The Cajuns exploded for five runs on four hits and three free passes in the fourth to extend the lead to 6-0. Poncho got the scoring started in the inning singling up the middle to bring home Thurman.
Later in the inning, Pinero delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single through the left side of the infield to stretch the Ragin' Cajuns edge to four runs. Senior Stefan Trosclair added the final two runs in the inning on a double down the right field line. With the double, Trosclair now has at least one hit in his last six games.
Pinero drove in his third run of the game in the bottom of the seventh scoring Kasuls on a sacrifice fly to deep center to increase the advantage to 7-0.
Senior Brian Mills brought home the final run of the game in the eighth on a RBI groundout down the first base line that plated Derek Herrington from third.
The Cajuns and Pioneers return to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. at The Tigue as sophomore right-hander Wyatt Marks takes the mound. Marks is 1-0 on the year with a 2.25 ERA and has a team-best 13 strikeouts. Sacred Heart will counter with right-hander Jason Foley (0-0).
The game can be seen live on myAcadiana-TV and ESPN3.com with Dan McDonald and Dave Schultz making the call. Fans can also catch the game live on New Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM.
Jaguars Suffer Misstep in Opener to Middle Tennessee
MOBILE, Ala. – Middle Tennessee scored four unanswered runs over the final three frames to defeat the University of South Alabama baseball team 7-4 in Friday's series opener at Stanky Field.
The Blue Raiders dealt Jaguar starter Kevin Hill (2-1) his first loss since April 19, 2014, which came at Western Kentucky, scoring six runs on eight hits off of the right-hander. Hill finished with nine strikeouts and one walk in 6 1/3 innings.
"I thought Kevin was pretty good tonight," head coach Mark Calvi said. "I have seen him better, and I've seen him where he wasn't quite as sharp. I have seen that same effort beat 85 percent of the teams he would have faced. Middle Tennessee is a very good ball club. They did a really nice job the first-third of the game with Kevin. His pitches got up, and they weren't giving up easy at-bats. They worked really hard through their at-bats, and that was the difference tonight. They did a better job in the first-third and last-third of the game than we did."
Trailing by a run after six innings, Middle Tennessee (5-4) pushed three runs across in the top of the seventh inning to take a lead it never relinquished. Kaleb King reached on a leadoff single to right field, and Kevin Sullivan followed with a bunt single to second. Riley Delgado knotted the score at 4-4 with a one-out RBI single back up the middle that scored King. Brad Jarreau followed with an RBI single back up the middle to plate Sullivan and give the Blue Raiders a one-run advantage. A walk by Austin Sistrunk loaded the bases for Dupree, who reached on a hit by pitch from Jaguar left-hander James Traylor to force home Delgado and extend the MT lead to 6-4.
The Blue Raiders pushed across the final run of the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Sistrunk.
South Alabama (8-2) fell behind by two runs in the top of the first inning. Delgado singled up the middle to lead off the game, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jarreau. Sistrunk reached on a single to third before Dupree delivered a two-run double to the left-center gap for a 2-0 Blue Raider lead.
USA answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning to cut its deficit in half. Drew LaBounty singled to right field with one out then stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch by MT right-hander Nate Hoffmann, which put Gann on via a base on balls to set up runners at the corners with two outs. Danny Martinez followed with an RBI single to left field to score LaBounty and cut the Middle Tennessee lead to one run.
But Middle Tennessee responded with a run in the top of the third to push its lead back to two. Sistrunk drew a one-out walk from Hill, and later scored on a two-out double down the left field line by Austin Norrell for a 3-1 MT lead.
The Jags answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game. Adam Wolfe singled up the middle and stole second before Travis Swaggerty lifted a 3-1 pitch from Hoffmann over the right field wall for a two-run home run – the first of his Jaguar career – to tie the game 3-3.
South Alabama took its lone lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Tanner Halstead drew a one-out walk and was lifted for pinch-runner Dylan Hardy, who stole second and advanced to third with one out on a wild pitch before scoring on a one-out double to right field by Brendan Donovan for a 4-3 Jaguar lead.
Donovan went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI, and Swaggerty finished 1-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and a run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Delgado went 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored to lead the Blue Raiders offensively.
Middle Tennessee right-hander Sam Alton (1-0) allowed one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts in one relief inning to earn the win. Left-hander Cody Puckett tossed three scoreless innings and allowed one hit with four strikeouts and two walks in three innings to earn his first save of the season.
The series will continue with game two Saturday at 2 p.m. at Stanky Field.
Troy Upends Auburn in 11 Innings
Pensacola, FLORIDA – Matt Sanders came up clutch in the bottom of the 11th inning with a two-out walk-off single to lift Troy past Auburn, 4-3, on Friday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Sanders recorded his second career walk-off hit on Friday. He had his first walk-off hit against Northwestern State last season on February 14 in the ninth inning, which was the last time Troy won a game in walk-off fashion.
Troy (8-3) began the top of the 11th with a Bert Givens single to left field, who was sacrifice bunted to second by Steven Whitaker. After a pitching change, a pinch runner and a groundout that moved the runner to third, Sanders hit a 1-1 pitch back up the middle that scored Cameron Sanders, the pinch runner, for the game-winning run.
"Our team showed some toughness throughout tonight's game to earn this win," Mark Smartt said. "Bennett battled to get seven innings and both Harris and Childress were terrific. We swung the bats much better as a whole and had two clutch two out hits from Reid Long and Matt Sanders to drive in runs, which were great to see. I'm real proud of our overall effort tonight."
Auburn (6-4) took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, with a bases loaded single by Jordan Ebert that scored Blake Logan for the first run of the game. The following batter, Niko Buentello, singled to center field and scored two Tigers to give them a 3-0 lead.
Trevor Davis cut the Tiger lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning with a leadoff home run to left field, which was also his first homer as a Trojan. In the following inning, Reid Long tied the game at three with a single to center field that scored Whitaker, who was on third and Lockridge, who was on second.
Corey Childress (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, coming out of the bullpen. He pitched 2.2 innings, didn't allow a hit, only surrendered one walk and struck out four. Robert Harris made an appearance on the mound pitching 1.1 innings, allowed one hit, one walk and struck out one.
Grant Bennett pitched seven innings, allowed two earned runs, only walked one and struck out five. Before his night was finished, Bennett got out of a no-out bases loaded jam in the seventh with a strike out swinging, a line out to center and a fly out to left field.
Three Trojans had multi-hit games in Sanders, Davis and Joey Denison. Sanders and Davis had one RBI each, while Long who went 1-for-5 had two clutch RBIs. Brandon Lockridge, Givens and Whitaker along with long all had hits each.
Ben Braymer (1-1) suffered the loss for Auburn, he pitched four innings allowed two hits, walked three and struck out four.
The win over Auburn was the first since March 26, 2013. The Trojans won that game at Riddle-Pace Field, 11-2.
Troy will return to Blue Wahoos Stadium on Saturday to take on Southern Miss, who defeated Michigan State in the first game of the Cox Diamond Invitational. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
A-State Knocks Off Milwaukee in Series Opener, 13-3
JONESBORO, Ark. (3/4/16) – The Arkansas State baseball team recorded a season-high 16 hits behind a quality start from Tyler Zuber and rolled to a 13-3 victory against the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in its 2016 home opener at Tomlinson Stadium/Kell Field Friday night.
Zuber picked up his first win of the season for the Red Wolves (5-4) as he tossed 6.1 innings and allowed three runs (all earned) on four hits with eight strikeouts against two walks. Jay Peters took the loss for Milwaukee (2-7) after allowing five runs (all earned) on nine hits. The victory improves A-State to 25-1 in its last 26 home openers.
The contest was close early with the Panthers taking a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning before Jake Bakamus led off the frame with a double to right-center field and was moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Frankie Alvarez. Jeremy Brown singled up the middle to score Bakamus to tie the game 3-3. The Red Wolves took the edge 4-3 on a sacrifice fly by Austin Baker later in the inning.
Alvarez singled a run home in the fifth before a Joe Schrimpf single and Matt Burgess sacrifice fly in the sixth inning set the score at 7-3. A-State erupted for six runs in the seventh inning, the first two coming on RBI singles by Brown and Schrimpf. Baker ripped a line drive just fair down the right-field line for a two-run triple and Tanner Ring capped the scoring with a two-run home run over the left-field fence to set the score at 13-3.
Ty White, Schrimpf, Baker, Alvarez, and Brown each had multiple hits with Schrimpf and Brown both registering three apiece. Baker drove in four runs to lead the team with Brown, Burgess, Ring, and Schrimpf plating two each. White and Schrimpf both scored three runs apiece. Coulton Lee, Zach Haake, and Bo Ritter combined for 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in relief of Zuber.
Milwaukee’s Luke Meeteer led the visitors with three hits. The Panthers’ bullpen gave up eight runs (all earned) in three innings of relief.
A-State began the scoring in the matchup on run-scoring singles by Baker and Burgess in the bottom of the first inning. John Boidanis got the Panthers on the board in the top of the second inning with a sacrifice fly to right field that plated Ian Ross. Meeteer tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third with a run-scoring single before Ross brought home another run on an infield single to shortstop that put the Panthers in front 3-2.
The 2016 home-opening series against Milwaukee at Tomlinson Stadium/Kell Field in Jonesboro continues Saturday with a doubleheader against the Panthers at 2 p.m. Game two will take place approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
UTA Picks Up win over Texas A&M-CC, 6-2
ARLINGTON, Texas - Noah Vaughan hit his first career home run and Joel Kuhnel allowed just two runs in 6.2 innings as the UT Arlington Mavericks took the opener of a four-game weekend series, 6-2, from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavs (6-4) picked up 10 hits on the night, reaching double figures for the fifth time in their last six games, and never trailed behind Kuhnel's strong outing. The senior allowed six hits in moving to 2-1 on the year with the win, punching out five Islanders (4-5) on the night.
"I had a really strong defense behind me," Kuhnel said. "They came out hitting the ball and we came out with a lot of energy. My biggest thing with runners on base is that I know my defense is playing strong behind me. I can throw the ball and let them hit it and know that my defense is working."
UTA pushed across a pair of runs in the opening inning, but gave itself some real breathing room when Vaughan connected on a two-run homer inside the right-field foul pole with two outs in the bottom of the third off of Islander starter Devin Skapura. That upped the lead to 4-0, which was plenty for Kuhnel.
"It was a changeup that he kept throwing me," Vaughan said. "I kept missing and then I made a slight adjustment and got lucky and hit it out. If it stayed fair, I knew it was gone."
The middle of the UTA order did the majority of the damage as the 3-through-6 hitters in the lineup combined for seven hits and four RBI on the night. Christian Hollie, Colton Turner and Quintin Rohrbaugh all had two hits apiece on the evening. Rohrbaugh, Hollie and Brady Cox each picked up an RBI as well.
"When Joel pitches, we have to do everything we can to win," coach Darin Thomas said. "He didn't have his best stuff tonight, but he really battled. I know that's a used phrased, but I really thought he competed. He had one walk and we played well behind him. We scored just enough, so it was a good win and gave us a little momentum going into tomorrow."
Skapura took the loss for the Islanders, allowing five runs - three earned - in 4.1 innings.
Meanwhile, the UTA bullpen duo of Jacob Moreland and Daniel James was lights out in allowing just one hit in the final 2.1 frames.
RJ Williams, who scored a pair of runs on the night, opened the scoring in the first inning the first of two Islander errors on the evening after a one-out walk and a swipe of second. Turner then placed a double just inside the right-field line and Rohrbaugh made it a 2-0 Maverick advantage with a sac fly to right field.
UTA left a pair of runners on base in the second, and looked as though they would do the same after Rohrbaugh lined into a double play following consecutive singles by Hollie and Turner to start the inning. But Vaughan took care of that worry when he connected on a 3-2 pitch from Skapura and kept it just fair for his first career homer to make it 4-0.
Kuhnel kept the Islanders off the board in each of the first four innings before A&M-Corpus Christi broke through with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. A one-out single from Brett Burner started the rally and he scored one batter later on a double by Cullen Jozwiak. Lukas Hermanson followed with an RBI grounder to cut the UTA lead in half at 4-2.
UTA got a run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Hollie, but a two-out triple from Hermanson in the seventh was enough for the Mavs to go to the pen. The Mavs went to Moreland with the runner on third and the senior right-hander needed just one pitch to get Nick Anderson to line out to third base to end the final scoring threat of the night.
Moreland then tossed a perfect eighth, and after a sacrifice fly from Cox pushed the lead to 6-2, James picked up the final three outs to finish things off.
UTA will have a quick turnaround on Saturday with a pair of games slated for Clay Gould Ballpark. Adam Meyer is set to get his first start of the year in the opener, with Kadon Simmons to get the ball in the second game of the day.
First pitch of Game 1 is set for noon, while Game 2 is tentatively set for 3:00 p.m.