Wednesday, April 6
Strong Pitching Leads UT Arlington Past No. 6 TCU
FORT WORTH -- UT Arlington survived a comeback bid by No. 5 TCU to down the Horned Frogs 4-3 on Wednesday night at Lupton Stadium.
The Mavericks, earning their 31st all-time win against a top-10 nationally ranked program - second of the season, improved to 17-13 for the year. TCU went to 22-6 overall as it had a five-game winning streak snapped. UTA picked up its first win against the Horned Frogs in three attempts in 2016, the Mavs were outscored 22-5 in the previous two losses.
"Jake (Wilcox) was great tonight, as was Moreland," UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. "Those two guys threw really well against a really good offense. They handed it to us last week at our place, so this was a big win for us to be able to come over here and both hit and pitch it the way we did."
Jake Wilcox was masterful in his five-inning start. The Sunnyvale, Texas native allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out three and facing little pressure. Wilcox improved to 2-2 with the win.
Jacob Moreland, tying for sixth all-time with his 77th-career appearance, was equally efficient in taming the TCU batters. Moreland's lone blemish came on one of his few mistakes in the eighth off a three-run homer to left. The right-hander finished with four innings out of the pen, giving up four hits and three earned runs on the way to his first save in 2016.
UTA's offense put pressure on TCU throughout as it had at least a runner every inning except the ninth. The Mavs finished with 13 hits to TCU's six and featured a hit from eight of the nine starters. Colton Turner led four Mavs who had two hits, Turner's run in the seventh proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch. Darien McLemore, Quintin Rohrbaugh and Noah Vaughan each had multi-hit games.
After stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, UTA was finally able to break through in a big way in the third. Brady Cox knocked his first home run of the season, a three-run shot that carried the left-field fence.
UTA continued its trend of putting runners on base, but were unable to extend the lead until the seventh. Using three hits to put Darien McLemore on third, the senior rushed in on a wild pitch, edging out the toss from the catcher.
TCU attempted to continue its rally into the ninth with a one-out single that was lined into center. However, Moreland was able to induce a double play to close the game.
"We have all the respect in the world for TCU," Thomas said. "We're a physical offense, maybe not in the realm of home runs, but we have physical guys who can hit the ball. A couple of years ago we had a similar offense, and it helps when you can score. But pitching wins, and if we don't get the start out of Wilcox like we did tonight, we don't get this win."
The Mavericks return home to begin an eight-game homestand on Friday that opens with a three-game series against ULM. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Eagles Fly Past Savannah State, 16-1
STATESBORO, GA. – Georgia Southern tallied 16 runs off 16 hits on Wednesday night to take a 16-1 win over Savannah State at the friendly confines. The game was the first between the programs in 12 years and gave the Eagles their second win in as many nights to improve to 17-12 on the year. Savannah State falls to 9-21 on the year. Next up for the Eagles is a series against UL Lafayette, starting Friday at 7 pm.
QUOTEABLES
HEAD COACH RODNEY HENNON
"It was a good night. I thought Lawson Humphries gave us a good outing and it was good to see the guys come out and throw well out of the bullpen. Chandler Newman, Kyle Mosely, Zach Cowart and Byron Yelverton all did a nice job behind Humphries and we played a pretty clean baseball game. Good effort as a team and we have to get ourselves prepared to play our best baseball this weekend."
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Evan McDonald // SS // JR // Platte City, Mo.
4-for-5 // 4 Runs // 2 RBIs // 1 Walk
Leadoff hitter Evan McDonald paced the Eagles from the top of the lineup, pounding out four singles with two RBIs while scoring four runs. He came up one run shy of Shawn Payne's school record five runs scored back in 2011 against Western Carolina.
SCORING RECAPS
BOTTOM 1ST – Evan McDonald and Cal Baker opened the game with back-to-back hits and moved around the horn on a wild pitch. A balk and a second wild pitch allowed two to score and give the Eagles an early 2-0 lead.
TOP 4TH – The Tigers got two hits in the fourth to score their first run and cut the Eagle lead to 2-1.
BOTTOM 4TH – Georgia Southern was the beneficiary of a leadoff error in the fourth when Kent Rollins got aboard. Two quick outs followed by four-straight singles allowed four more runs to score as the Eagles stretched the lead to 6-1.
BOTTOM 5TH – With one out in the fifth, Georgia Southern loaded the bases and got the conveyer belt churning. Ultimately the Eagles scored five runs off four hits and a Savannah State error to completely blow the game open.
BOTTOM 6TH – The Eagles cemented their best offensive night of the season with a five-run sixth frame. Four hits and four errors did the damage in the frame as the Eagles tacked on five more unearned runs.
NOTES
- Lawson Humphries picked up his first collegiate win with five strong innings. He worked around five hits and allowed just one run to improve to 1-1 on the year.
- The Eagles improved to 12-0 this season when scoring six or more runs.
- Over the last two nights, Georgia Southern has tallied 35 hits with 19 against College of Charleston and 16 on Wednesday night against Savannah State.
- Georgia Southern's four relief pitchers worked four innings of no-hit relief. Chandler Newman struck out two of his three batters faced while Kyle Mosely needed nine pitches for his three outs. Zach Cowart made his first appearance on the bump, striking out one and using just eight pitches. Byron Yelverton finished off the game, walking one while cementing the win.
- Evan McDonald's four-high game was matched by Logan Baldwin who went 4-for-6 with three RBIs. Matt Anderson, Cal Baker and Kent Rollins each had multi-hit games for the good guys.
NEXT GAME
Georgia Southern opens a three-game series against UL Lafayette this weekend beginning with Friday night's 7 p.m. game. Saturday's game starts at 7 p.m. while Sunday's finale is set for 1 p.m.
NO. 28 JAGS DEFEAT UNO BEHIND BELL
MOBILE, Ala. – Randy Bell struck out a career-high seven batters in a career-best eight innings pitched to lead No. 28 University of South Alabama baseball to a 12-3 win over New Orleans Wednesday at Stanky Field.
The right-hander allowed two earned runs on six hits without issuing a walk to earn his first career win at USA. Bell (1-1) retired the first 10 batters he faced in the game before surrendering a one-out single to Aaron Palmer in the top of the fourth inning. UNO right-hander Ryan Leone (1-2) allowed nine runs on six hits with four walks in two innings pitched in the loss.
"I had a good defense behind me and good run support," Bell said. "I just had the mentality that it was a 1-0 game the whole game to get through those later innings. I had command of my fastball, and threw the curveball when I had to to keep them off balance. This was a big win for us."
USA (22-8) jumped out to a six-run lead in the top of the first inning. Billingsley doubled to the right-center gap with one out, and LaBounty followed with a walk. A double steal moved both runners into scoring position with one out, before Danny Martinez drew a walk to load the bases for Carter Perkins, who delivered a two-run single through the right side of the infield that scored Billingsley and LaBounty for a two-run Jaguar lead. A sacrifice fly one batter later by Brendan Donovan plated Martinez and extended the USA lead to 3-0. Ben Gann followed with a three-run home run to center field – his fourth of the season – to push the Jag lead to 6-0.
The Jaguars added three runs to their advantage in the top of the second. Swaggerty singled to lead off the inning, and then stole second ahead of a walk by Billingsley. LaBounty followed with an RBI double to left-center field to score Swaggerty and increase the USA lead to 7-0. Martinez then lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Billingsley for an 8-0 Jaguar advantage. Perkins followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop to score LaBounty to extend the USA lead to nine runs.
South Alabama pushed across its 10th run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when LaBounty drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Perkins for a 10-0 advantage. Gann drew a two-out bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth to score LaBounty, who led off the inning with a walk, and extend the USA lead to 11-0.
UNO (18-10) scored its three runs of the game in the top of the seventh on an RBI groundout to second by Chaz Boyer and a two-run single by Jay Robinson to cut the Jag lead to 11-3.
South Alabama answered with its final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh. Swaggerty singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out RBI single by Martinez.
"When we have had success, our starters have gotten us into the last third of the ballgame," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "Randy Bell did a nice job, and we came out and swung the bats well for him. It was good to see (Ben) Gann swing it well, and (Carter) Perkins continues to drive in runs. I thought our guys responded nicely, and we needed it tonight against a very good team."
Swaggerty tied a career-high in hits, and finished 3-for-6 with a double and two runs scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Perkins finished 1-for-2 with one run scored and a career-high four RBI, and Gann added a home run, one run scored and four RBI. Robinson finished 1-for-3 with two RBI to lead New Orleans offensively.
USA will return to action this weekend when it hosts Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at Stanky Field, with game one scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch Friday.
Bobcats Tally Fifth Consecutive Win
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State extended the team's winning streak to five consecutive games with a 4-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday night. The victory pushes the Bobcat season record to 20-10.
The Bobcats were the first to score with three runs in the fourth inning, prompted by back-to-back singles from Tanner Hill and Cory Geisler. Hill scored later on a wild pitch while Luke Sherley knocked in Geisler. After that, Jonathan Ortega drove Nick Perez in with a single to give Texas State an early 3-0 lead.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was able to score a run in the fifth, but the best opportunity for the Islanders came in the seventh when they loaded the bases with no outs. Joe Powell stepped up to the mound and struck out three consecutive batters to keep TAMUCC scoreless in the inning. The Bobcats followed with another run in the bottom of the frame when Ortega scored on a Granger Studdard hit up the middle.
In addition to Powell's strong performance on the mound, Brandon Lewis earned the win in the longest outing of his short career. He walked two and gave up one earned run but struck three out.
WHO STOOD OUT
Joe Powell / RHP / Senior / Dallas, Texas
Powell entered with bases loaded in the top of the seventh and struck three consecutive batters out to hold Texas A&M-Corpus Christi without a run. He more than doubled his season output to this point, moving his season strikeout total from two up to five.
Jonathan Ortega / IF / Freshman / Victoria, Texas
Ortega led the Bobcats from the plate with three hits on the night, finishing 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
Pasquale Mazzoccoli / RHP / Senior / Katy, Texas
Mazzoccoli pitched the ninth inning, and in just eight pitches shut the Islanders down for his eighth save of the season, tying him for third all-time for saves in a season at Texas State.
Bulldogs Thwart Trojans in Midweek Tilt
LITTLE ROCK – Louisiana Tech never had one giant outburst on offense, but the visiting Bulldogs put up runs in five different innings on their way to a 7-4 win over the Little Rock baseball team at Gary Hogan field on Wednesday night.
Louisiana Tech (16-9) got two runs each in the first and fourth innings and added one more run each in the sixth and seventh innings to take the win. The Trojans (13-15) fought back to tie the game at 2-2 with a run each in the first and third inning, but Louisiana Tech continued to pull away after that.
"We're in a dark sport right now, but we can't start questioning ourselves," head coach Chris Curry said. "The season is going to have its ups and downs, and we're in a rough spot that we haven't experienced yet. We have to take a deep breath, quit putting so much pressure on ourselves and execute one pitch at a time. I believe in this club's makeup, character and ability, and it'll come back around."
Down 6-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Trojans had their best chance to make up the deficit.
Little Rock picked up two straight singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs, chasing pitcher Graham Ahlrich in the process. Ryan Scott was the next Little Rock batter, and he brought Zach Baker and Hayden Martin home with a single up the middle. Dalton Thomas followed by loading the bases again with a single.
That's when pitcher Adam Atkins – who replaced Ahlrich before Scott's at-bat – settled down. Atkins proceeded to strike out the next three Trojan batters, silencing the home crowd as Little Rock ended the inning with three runners left on base and the tying run on second.
After the Bulldogs added one more run in the top of the ninth, Little Rock was unable to get the three runs to tie the game in the bottom half. The Trojans grounded into their third double play of the night to end things after Baker got on base with a single.
The Trojans picked up eight hits on the night, reaching at least seven hits for the 28th consecutive game. Hunter Owens had two hits and scored two of the team's runs while Baker picked up two hits. Scott had a hit and added three RBIs, and Thomas had the team's other RBI.
Starter Will Hazen (1-4) got the loss for the Trojans after going 3.1 innings and allowing four earned runs on three hits. The junior struck out one Bulldog batter.
The Trojans gave up two runs in the top of the first inning on a double down the left-field line after Hazen allowed a walk and a single to the two batters before. The Bulldogs' rally began after Hazen recorded the first two outs of the game consecutively.
Little Rock answered right back in the bottom of the inning, cutting Louisiana Tech's lead in half. Hunter Owens started the inning with a triple to deep left-center field. The next batter, Ryan Scott, brought Owens home with an RBI groundout to second base.
In the bottom of the third, the Trojans got the tying run home when Owens began the inning with a single up the middle. He was balked over to second base and moved to third when Scott grounded out to first base. Dalton Thomas brought Owens across the plate with a sacrifice fly to right field, knotting the contest at 2-2.
Louisiana Tech regained the lead in the top of the fourth. The Bulldogs' first batter of the frame was hit by a pitch, and he eventually scored on a single to left field by Raphael Gladu. Keenan Wingfield replaced Hazen in the thick of the inning with one out and runners on second and third. He quickly got a strikeout, but Jordan Washam beat out the throw on a weakly hit infield single to short to score the Bulldogs' Chandler Hall from third. The inning ended with the Bulldogs leading 4-2 after Cameron Knight threw Washam out attempting to steal second.
Louisiana Tech added one more run to its lead in the sixth inning, loading the bases and then getting a deep single off the center field wall to bring home one more run. In the seventh, the Bulldogs got one more, this time unearned, to make it a 6-2 edge for the visitors at that point.
Wingfield would pitch 1.2 innings for the Trojans and get one strikeout. Dylan Slayton, Cody Daylor, Zach Ours, Cody McGill and Jacob Rateliff all pitched for Little Rock as well, combining for four strikeouts over five innings pitched.
"I'm firmly confident that this team will come out ready to go on Friday," Curry added.
The Trojans stay at home this weekend, hosting Georgia State for a three-game series starting Friday at 6 p.m.