Saturday, April 30
Brown and Lockridge Lead Troy Baseball to Series Win Over Texas State
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Lucas Brown's seven innings of shutout baseball combined with Brandon Lockridge's three run blast gave Troy a 5-3 series clinching victory over Texas State on Saturday at Bobcat Ballpark.
"It feels great to get a road series win on Saturday," Mark Smartt said. "I'm really proud of our team. Lucas Brown was the story today; he was terrific. He gave us seven great innings of shutout baseball. Hopefully we'll get a chance to come back out tomorrow and get a series sweep."
Brown (6-3) pitched seven innings and didn't allow a run. He only gave up three hits, walked three and struck out three. The senior faced 29 batters and picked up 10 groundouts and eight fly outs to go along with three perfect innings.
Troy (25-18, 11-9 Sun Belt) gave Brown an early 2-0 lead in the first inning as Lockridge started the game with a leadoff triple and scored the first run of the game on a Matt Sanders single to right field. Later in the inning, Chase Smartt battled back from an 0-2 count and drew a bases loaded walk to drive in the second Trojan run.
Lockridge added to the Trojans 2-0 lead with his second career home run. He blasted a three run shot to left field in the sixth inning and gave Troy a 5-0 lead.
Texas State (22-22, 10-10 Sun Belt) battled back and scored three runs in the ninth inning on a pinch-hit three-run home run from Dylan Paul.
Corey Childress closed the door on Texas State as he picked up the final three outs of the game. He now has nine saves this season, which moves him into third place on Troy's single-season saves record list.
Matt Sanders, along with Lockridge, had two hits on the day. TJ Binder, Trevor Davis, Cameron Sanders and Smartt had one hit each in the game. Lockridge was the only Trojan to have an extra base hit. He had a triple – his third of the year – and a home run.
The Trojans look to go for their first road sweep this season, as Houston Mabray will toe the rubber on Sunday. First pitch is set for noon.
Atwood’s Walkoff HR Lifts App State to Series Win
BOONE, N.C. — Grayson Atwood hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Appalachian State University baseball to a 6-4 walkoff win over Arkansas State on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium.
With the victory, Appalachian State (13-31, 8-16 Sun Belt) won this weekend’s pivotal Sun Belt Conference series over Arkansas State (20-23, 9-15 Sun Belt), two games to one. The Mountaineers have won three-straight conference home series and matched last year’s Sun Belt win total with six league games left to play.
Facing a 4-3 deficit with runners on first and third base and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Atwood annihilated a 2-1 pitch from Arkansas State reliever Tanner Ring for the game-winner. The senior’s fourth home run of the season was a no-doubter right off the bat and sailed into the trees beyond Smith Stadium’s left-field wall, sparking the Mountaineers’ fourth walkoff celebration in their last eight conference home games.
Matt Vernon kickstarted the ninth-inning rally with a one-out double into the left-center field gap. One pitch later, Brian Bauk reached on a perfectly placed bunt single up the first-base line to chase A-State reliever Coulton Lee (5-4) from the game and set the stage for Atwood’s heroics.
Bauk’s ninth-inning bunt single capped a big day for the junior, who finished a career-best 4-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored, including what proved to be the game-winner. His two-run homer in the third inning gave App State its first lead at 2-1.
In addition to hitting the game-ending home run, Atwood doubled in the first inning and went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Chandler Seagle singled twice to round out three Mountaineers with multiple hits.
The unsung hero of the day was Appalachian State relief pitcher Reed Howell. Less than 24 hours after pitching 3.2 innings of relief in Friday’s series opener, Howell worked the final 4.1 innings out of the bullpen on Saturday. The right-handed sophomore limited Arkansas State to one run on three hits and earned the hard-fought victory to move to 5-1 on the season.
App State banged out 11 hits on Saturday and 38 over the course of the three-game series. The Mountaineers have recorded double-digit hits in a season-high five-straight games.
Ring, Garrett Rucker, Austin Baker and Jake Bakamus had two hits apiece for A-State, which has lost two games in a row after having its six-game winning streak snapped in the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader.
Appalachian State caps a four-game homestand on Tuesday night versus North Carolina A&T. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Smith Stadium.
UTA splits doubleheader with No. 18 UL Lafayette
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington split a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader against No. 18 Louisiana on Saturday at Clay Gould Ballpark.
UTA (23-21, 9-11 SBC) rounded up 10 hits, including Darien McLemore's fourth home run of the season in a 4-1 win in Game 1. Louisiana (28-16, 13-7) edged the Mavericks with a two-run seventh inning to even the series in Game 2.
"Overall, we played all right today and it's tough to play a doubleheader against a top-20 club," coach Darin Thomas said. "They pitched us better in the second game and we have to have a better approach with two strikes."
"We have to pitch better out of the bullpen and do a better job of putting the ball in play with something on it. We'll come back tomorrow and try to win the series."
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday at Clay Gould Ballpark as part of a four-game homestand.
Game 1 (Box Score)
UT Arlington 4, No. 18 Louisiana 1
McLemore was a catalyst for the Maverick offense in the series opener, going 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, an RBI and a walk as UTA pulled out a 4-1 win in the opener. The senior cranked his fourth home run in his last 13 games, breaking a scoreless tie with the leadoff shot in the third inning.
UTA tallied 10 hits to the Ragin' Cajuns' nine after Louisiana starter Gunner Leger retired its first six hitters. The Mavs recorded at least one hit in each of the final eight innings.
Freshman Josh Minjarez was 3-for-4, including a two-out, RBI single in the eighth inning. Brady Cox added a pair of hits to stretch his reached base streak to 17 games.
Kadon Simmons moved to 8-3 on the season and sat down six of his first eight batters on his way to pitching into the eighth inning. The junior allowed just one run on seven hits, striking out two and walking three in 7.0 frames.
Jacob Moreland allowed a pair of hits, but put up a pair of scoreless frames to earn his third save of the year.
Meanwhile, Leger retired five of the first six Maverick batters on groundouts before McLemore ended the pattern with his leadoff homer in the bottom of the third.
Alex Pinero tied the ballgame with a deep sacrifice fly to left in the sixth and the Mavericks responded with a pair of runs on back-to-back two-out singles from Quintin Rohrbaugh and Christian Hollie. UTA added an insurance run on Minjarez's single in the eighth, giving Moreland a three-run cushion to work with in the ninth.
Leger took the loss and dropped to 5-3 after dealing three earned runs on seven hits, three walks and two strikeouts through 5.2 innings.
Game 2 (Box Score)
No. 18 Louisiana 6, UT Arlington 4
The bats were hot for both teams in Game 2, but a two-run Ragin' Cajun rally in the seventh proved costly for the Mavericks as the Cajuns pulled out the 6-4 win.
UTA garnered 12 hits and Louisiana pumped out 15 with a pair of errors. Brady Cox went 4-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored to reach base for the 18th consecutive game this year.
Rohrbaugh and McLemore also had multi-hit games with Rohrbaugh finishing 3-for-5 with two RBI. McLemore was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Joel Kuhnel (4-3) threw 6.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits and a strikeout in taking the loss.
Eric Carter improved to 3-1 on the mound for Louisiana after giving up two hits and a punchout in his 1.1 innings. Dylan Moore earned his league-leading 11th save of the season with 3.0 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three on the night.
The Cajuns tested Kuhnel early in the top of the first plating a pair of runs to stake itself to an early lead.
UTA cut the lead in half as Cox and McLemore connected on back-to-back doubles in the bottom half of the frame. Two innings later UL got that run back to up its lead to 3-1 before UTA struck again in the fifth.
Both Kuhnel and UL starter Wyatt Marks put up a pair of zeros until the Mavs struck for three runs to take its first lead at 4-3 in the fifth. Williams lined an RBI single to left and Rohrbaugh laced a base hit of his own off of reliever Eric Carter to score two with two outs.
Kuhnel kept the Cajuns off the board in the sixth, but a pair of RBI doubles in the seventh inning from Hunter Kasuls and Kyle Clement gave the Cajuns the lead once again at 5-4.
Daniel James was called in to handle the final two innings and struck out two in the top of the eighth before allowing an insurance run on an RBI double in the ninth.
UTA mounted a rally in the ninth against Moore when Cox drew a one-out walk, followed by a McLemore single to left-center; however, Moore cued up a double play to end any chance of a comeback.
Georgia State-South Alabama Suspended Due to Inclement Weather
Game two to resume Sunday morning, game three to follow 30 minutes later.