Saturday, April 23
Little Rock Evens Series With Strong Pitching
STATESBORO, Ga. – Strong pitching by Little Rock baseball (19-18, 12-8 Sun Belt) staved off Georgia Southern (24-16, 10-10 Sun Belt) as the Trojans picked up a 3-2 win and evened the series at 1-1 on Saturday night at J.I. Clements Stadium in Statesboro.
Little Rock starter Cory Malcom (4-3) had the best outing of his three-year career as threw a career-high nine strikeouts in 8.0 innings while allowing just two runs on five hits and two walks on 120 pitches. In the process, Malcom picked up his third straight win.
For the second straight game, Little Rock was held to just four hits. Dalton Thomas, Nik Gifford and Hayden Martin each picked up hits while also earning an RBI each. Thomas also hit his seventh home run of the season.
After Little Rock left the bases loaded in the top of the first, Georgia Southern put the first run of the game across in the bottom of the inning. With two outs and a runner on third, Ryan Cleveland hit an RBI single into center to give the Eagles an early 1-0 lead.
Scoreless in the second, Little Rock changed it up in the third to tie the game at 1-1. Ryan Scott earned his 11th double and 65th hit of the season to lead off the inning. With one out, Nik Gifford hit an RBI single to right to plate Scott from second and knot the game. That would be all for Georgia Southern starter Chase Cohen as Ryan Fredrick (0-1) came on to get the final two outs.
After Zach Baker walked and advance to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kyle Kirk, Adam Kelly came on to relieve Fredrick. Fredrick record the strikeout against the first Trojan he faced, but Hayden Martin came through with an RBI single up the middle to score Baker and give the Trojans a 2-1 lead.
Little Rock starter Cory Malcom was lights out in the bottom of the fourth. Malcom made quick work of the Eagles as he struck out the side to give himself five for the game. Malcom kept up Georgia Southern at bay and soon found himself with eight strikeouts, setting a new career-high.
Hitless through three at-bats, Dalton Thomas changed it up in the top of the eighth with a leadoff homer to right center. His seventh home run of the year put Little Rock up 3-1.
Malcom stayed on the mound to begin the bottom of the eighth and struck out his ninth batter to begin the frame. After giving up a hit and a fielder's choice, a ground out ended the inning as Malcom matched a career-high 8.0 innings on the mound.
Malcom stayed on the mound to try for the complete game in the bottom of the ninth, but after giving up a solo shot to Cleveland and walking a batter on four straight pitches, his night came to an end. Cody Daylor came on to close for Little Rock with a 3-2 lead and a runner on first. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner over to second for the first out of the inning before Daylor came through with a strikeout for the second out. With a 1-0 count, the Eagles' Kent Rollins almost got away with a foul ball, but Kyle Kirk reached over the railing to record the final out and give Daylor his third save of the season.
"It was a team win, and I say that because we've been an offensive club all year long," head coach Chris Curry said. "Cory Malcom and Cody Daylor pitched a gem of a ballgame. That was the Cory we remember from last year, and I have to think that he's settling in. He wasn't overpowering with velocity, but his command was outstanding. Daylor got walked-off last night, but all he did tonight was shove it in the zone. It was an awesome win against a very tough club on the road."
With 10 Sun Belt games remaining, Little Rock has matched last year's conference win total of 12.
Little Rock will go for its sixth Sun Belt series win of the season in tomorrow's noon (CT) rubber game in Statesboro.
NO. 23 JAGS EVEN SERIES WITH SOUTHERN BEHIND SOLEYMANI
MOBILE, Ala. – The 23rd-ranked University of South Alabama baseball team used a seven-run eighth inning and a quality start from right-hander Hunter Soleymani to defeat Southern 12-2 Saturday at Stanky Field.
Soleymani (4-1) allowed two runs on three hits with five walks and five strikeouts in seven innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Right-hander Mike Dolloff tossed two scoreless relief innings, and struck out one and issued one walk while allowing one hit to earn his second save of the season. SU left-hander J'Markus George (4-4) allowed five runs on eight hits with two strikeouts and five walks in seven innings in the loss.
"Hunter Soleymani was outstanding again tonight," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "The kid had a fever over 100 degrees and felt like garbage going out there, but you would never know it. He just gutted his way through it. That's why he is who he is, and why he pitches on the weekend. He was phenomenal again tonight for us."
USA (29-11) loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first, but did not score a run. Travis Swaggerty led off the inning with a single to right field – extending his hitting streak to 12 games and his on-base streak to 24 contests – then stole second before advancing to third on a single up the middle by Cole Billingsley to put runners at the corners with no outs. Billingsley stole second to put two runners into scoring position before Drew LaBounty drew a walk to load the bases for Matt Bolger, who reached on a fielder's choice to third that also saw Swaggerty put out at the plate for the first out of the inning. But SU left-hander J'Markus George escaped the inning with a double play when Jared Barnes flew out to left-center field, and Southern center fielder Ashanti Wheatley fired home to cut down Billingsley attempting to score the game's first run.
"I have to give their (Southern) left-hander (George) credit," Calvi said. "We had a chance to blow it open in the first inning, but he made some pitches and we made some mistakes and we didn't score any runs. And then we were down going into the sixth (inning). You could cut the tension in the dugout with a knife, for whatever reason; I don't know why but it happens. It's a long season and you go through ups and downs, both physically and mentally, and you just have to fight through it and our guys fought today."
Southern (12-23) took a one-run lead in the top of the fifth. Phillip Williams led off the inning with a single to center field, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Franky Montesino. Robinson Mateo delivered a two-out RBI single back up the middle later in the inning to plate Williams with the game's first run.
South Alabama answered with five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a four-run lead. Swaggerty drew a leadoff walk, and moved to third when Billingsley singled on a bunt back to the pitcher and George's throw to first sailed wide of the bag to allow both runners to advance into scoring position. LaBounty followed with a two-run bunt single down the third base line to score Swaggerty and Billingsley for a 2-1 Jaguar lead. A sacrifice bunt by Matt Bolger moved LaBounty to second with one out before Barnes delivered an RBI double to the right-center gap to plate LaBounty for a 3-1 USA advantage. Adam Wolfe followed with a walk, and Brendan Donovan followed with a two-run double to left field to score Barnes and Wolfe for a 5-1 Jaguar lead.
Southern responded with a run in the top of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Javeayan Williams to cut the USA lead to 5-2.
USA then scored the game's final runs as part of a seven-run eighth inning. Adam Wolfe pushed the Jaguar lead back to four runs with a solo home run to left field – his fifth of the season – to lead off the bottom of the inning. Donovan and Gann followed with consecutive walks before Danny Martinez delivered a two-run pinch-hit triple off the right field wall to score Donovan and Gann for an 8-2 USA advantage. Billingsley then singled to right field to score Martinez and extend the Jag lead to 9-2. Jason Cryar delivered a pinch-hit RBI double down the left field line to score Billingsley for a 10-2 lead, and LaBounty scored on a wild pitch one batter later to push the Jaguar lead to 11-2. Dylan Hardy then delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to left-center field to plate Cryar with the game's final run.
Billingsley tied a career high in hits, going 4-for-5 with a double, one RBI, one run scored and one stolen base to lead USA at the plate. Donovan finished 1-for-3 with a double, two RBI and one run, and LaBounty added a hit, two RBI and two runs scored. Williams went 2-for-3 to lead Southern offensively.
The series will conclude with the rubber match Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stanky Field.
UTA Defeats Troy to Even Series
TROY, Ala. – UT Arlington exploded for seven runs with two outs in the top of the fourth and evened up the series with an 18-5 win over Troy on Saturday at Riddle-Pace Field.
The Mavs (21-19, 7-10 SBC) put together their biggest offensive output of the season, with every hitter in the starting lineup recording at least one hit and eight finishing with multi-hit efforts. In fact, six hitters hit safely three times and UTA finished the day with a season-high 24 hits.
That mark is the most hits by a UTA team in a single game since the Mavs had 25 hits vs McNeese State on March 7, 2008.
"We needed that one today," coach Darin Thomas said. "We had been playing really tight lately and it was good to see us finally break out. This is a series we need, and to take it we will need the same effort tomorrow."
Two Mavs - Cody Farrell and Darien McLemore - finished a triple shy of the cycle, with Farrell finishing with a team-best 3 RBI. McLemore and Caleb Koedyker each hit solo home runs, giving the Mavs their first three-homer game of the season. Nine of the 24 UTA hits on the day went for extra bases.
Joel Kuhnel was the beneficiary of the run support, moving to 4-2 on the season with 6.0 strong innings. The big righty struck out four and looked in command for the majority of the afternoon in making his second straight start after a three-week layoff.
He handed the ball off to Austin Gardner who allowed two runs with a strikeout in tossing the final three innings to be credited with his first save of the year.
Meanwhile, the Trojans (23-17, 9-8 SBC) used six arms on the day with starter Houston Mabray taking his first loss of the season. He lasted just 2.1 innings before being lifted in favor of Cory Gill, who looked solid before the UTA offense got to him for five of its seven runs in the game-changing fourth frame.
UTA plated runs in four of the game's first five innings, including spotting itself a three-run lead in the opening frame. Each of the first three Mavs of the game hit safely as part of a 24-hit outburst from the UTA offense. Colton Turner, McLemore and Quintin Rohrbaugh all delivered RBI in the first inning, and Kuhnel allowed retired the first five hitters he faced before consecutive doubles in the second scored the first Trojan run.
The Mavs upped their lead to 5-1 in the third on RBI singles from Cox and Noah Vaughan, and had two outs in the fourth before the seven-run explosion. A single from Williams and a walk to Cox started the rally, one which was aided by three Troy errors. Turner and McLemore then delivered run-scoring hits, followed by an infield RBI single from Rohrbaugh.
Farrell and Josh Minjarez also added run scoring singles to close the scoring in an inning that saw 13 Mavericks come to the plate and give Kuhnel a 12-1 lead to work with.
Troy got an unearned run back in the bottom of the fourth, but McLemore got it right back in the top of the fifth when he launched his third homer of the season over the extra-large wall in right-center field fence to push the lead back to 13-2. The Mavs kept hitting in the sixth with consecutive doubles to start the inning from Minjarez and Matt McLean scoring a run before Cox's second RBI of the day increased the UTA advantage to 15-2.
After Troy got a run in the sixth, Farrell added two more for the Mavs in the seventh with a homer to left field. Koedyker added one more in the ninth, leading off the inning with a majestic blast to left-center field on the first pitch he saw from Robert Harris.
The Trojans would plate two in the bottom of the ninth before Gardner got ground outs from Tripp Calhoun and Brandon Lockridge to finish it off.
The Mavs will try to take the series on Sunday when sophomore Jake Wilcox gets the start. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
Mountaineers Pick Up Crucial 6-5 Win over Georgia State
DECATUR, Ga. — Grayson Atwood hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning and Matt Vernon drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the ninth to lift Appalachian State University baseball to a 6-5 victory over Georgia State on Saturday afternoon at the GSU Baseball Complex.
With the win, Appalachian State (11-28, 6-14 Sun Belt) rebounded from a 10-0 loss on Friday night and evened the three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Georgia State (17-21, 6-11 Sun Belt) at a game apiece. The rubber match is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Mountaineers trailed, 4-2, going into the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and freshman Tanner Mann-Fix on first base, Atwood blasted a 2-1 pitch from GSU reliever Clayton Payne (1-1) over the wall in left-center field to pull App State even at 4-4.
With the score still knotted at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Chandler Seagle drew a four-pitch leadoff walk and Jason Curtis was hit by an 0-2 pitch to bring Vernon to the plate with runners on first and second. As he has been apt to do in recent weeks, Vernon delivered a clutch hit with a hot-shot down the left field line. Seagle came home with the go-ahead run and moved Curtis all the way to third on Vernon’s RBI double.
Two pitches later, Curtis scored what proved to be a critical run when he came home on a wild pitch to extend the Mountaineers’ lead to 6-4.
Curtis’ run loomed large in the bottom of the ninth when Georgia State cut App State’s advantage to 6-5 on a one-out RBI single by Jaylen Woullard.
However, Woullard got greedy a couple of pitches later and tried to move into scoring position on a pitch that skipped just a few feet away from Seagle behind the plate. The Mountaineers’ strong-armed sophomore catcher quickly pounced on the loose ball and easily gunned down Woullard for the second out.
After an error brought the winning run to the plate once again, Appalachian State first baseman Conner Leonard knocked down a vicious line drive by GSU’s Joey Roach and calmly tossed the ball to pitcher Brian Bauk, who beat Roach to the bag for the final out.
Appalachian State managed only four hits in Saturday’s ballgame but three of them went for extra bases, including Atwood’s home run in the eighth and Vernon’s double in the ninth. The homer was Atwood’s second of the season.
Reed Howell was the Mountaineers’ hero on the mound, as he earned his team-leading fourth win of the season with 2.2 innings of hitless relief. Bauk battled through the shaky ninth to record his fourth save.
Texas State's Geisler Foils Cajuns Offense
LAFAYETTE, La. – Texas State's Cory Geisler struck out eight and only gave up four hits in the first complete game of his career to propel the Bobcats past No. 20 UL Lafayette, 2-1. With the win, the team's first over a ranked opponent this season, Texas State ends a six-game skid and improves to 22-18 and 10-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Geisler did not give up an earned run in the game and kept UL Lafayette off balance the entire game, at one point retiring 10 consecutive batters, using four strikeouts in the stretch. In the third inning he struck out the side to sit the Ragin' Cajuns down in order as he improved to 4-1.
Tanner Hill sparked the Bobcats with a leadoff double in the fifth inning. Luke Sherley brought him in with a base knock to strike first for the second game in a row. The Cajuns answered in the bottom of the inning, but Texas State scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.
Dylan Paul was pressed into duty in the right field due to an injury and knocked a single in his first at bat of the night. Staying aggressive, he took second base on a wild pitch. After a walk and Sherley's second hit of the night, Jacob Almendarez stayed patient at the plate to draw a bases-loaded walk to score Paul and put the Bobcats up, 2-1.
Geisler and the defense kept UL Lafayette in check the rest of the game to clinch the victory.
Eight Run Seventh Inning Powers @AStateBaseball
JONESBORO, Ark. (4/23/16) – Arkansas State scored 11 unanswered, including an eight-run seventh inning in a 12-4 victory over Louisiana-Monroe Saturday night at Tomlinson Stadium.
Joe Schrimpf hit a 2-run home run, while Austin Baker added a solo home run and Garret Rucker drove in three runs as A-State captured its first Sun Belt Conference series win of the year.
Schrimpf’s blast came in the fifth inning and closed the deficit to 4-3. Baker tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo shot to right-centerfield and A-State exploded for eight runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
Tanner Ring started the rally with a double down the left field line to give Arkansas State its first lead of the night. Baker followed a sacrifice fly and Matt Burgess singled to center field to push the advantage to three runs.
Following a ULM pitching change, Frankie Alvarez doubled drove in a run with an RBI double and the inning continued when Tony Ortiz, Ty White and Schrimpf each drew walks to drive in two more runs. White and Schrimpf’s walks came with the bases loaded and Rucker followed with a 2-run single before the inning came to a close with a pop up by Ring.
The bottom half of the inning took 32 minutes to play and the Red Wolves sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs on six hits.
ULM scored a pair of runs in the second and fourth innings, but Coulton Lee shut the door on the Warhawks when he entered in the fifth inning. Lee worked five innings in relief and struck out four to earn his team-high fifth victory of the year. Lee faced the minimum and did allow a hit and walked just one hitter.
Nine of the 10 hitters A-State used on the night collected a hit and all 10 reached base. Schrimpf finished the night 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Rucker added two hits and three RBIs. Baker added two hits and two RBIs, while White, Ring, Burgess, Jake Bakamus and Alavarez each collected RBIs.
Arkansas State will host Louisiana-Monroe in the final game of the series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium.