Tuesday, May 17
A-State Knocks off No. 6 Ole Miss
JONESBORO, Ark. (5/17/16) – In its final home game of the season, the Arkansas State baseball team defeated No. 6 Ole Miss 8-6 in a wild finish at Tomlinson Stadium Tuesday night.
A-State led 8-4 going into the ninth inning, but made things interesting with three errors in the inning that allowed the Rebels to score two runs and bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
Ole Miss got its first run of the inning when Colby Bortles drove in a run on sacrifice fly that scored J.B. Woodman. Woodman reached on a one-out single and had advanced in the previous at-bat on a ball that was misplayed in centerfield after a single by Henry Lartigue.
The inning continued when Will Golsan reached on an error at third base. Michael Fitzsimmons reached on a popup to the catcher that was dropped, resulting in a run when Tanner Kirby attempted to throw out a runner at second base.
Kirby battled back, however, and got Connor Cloyd to strikeout to end the game for his second save of the season. Kirby tossed 2.2 innings and had five strikeouts.
Daltan Lovell and Ty White each went 4-for-5 with two RBIs for the Red Wolves on the night. Lovell blasted his first home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning with a blast to left centerfield and provided an insurance run in the eighth inning on a single to centerfield that allowed Jeremy Brown to score.
White had an RBI single in the fifth inning that gave Arkansas State a 4-0 lead and then tripled in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 6-4. Joe Schrimpf doubled later the inning to make it a 7-4 game. Garrett Rucker went 1-for-3 with a home run, while Tanner Ring had a 2-RBI single in the first inning.
Zach Haake started the game on the mound and was sharp in his two innings for work. He had five fly ball outs and struck out one before giving way to Collin Nord, who went 3.1 innings and gave up one run on four hits.
Bo Ritter threw one inning and surrendered three runs on five hits before giving way to Kirby for the final 2.2 innings.
A-State will play its final regular season series of the year when they travel to Little Rock for a three-game series at Gary Hogan Field.
Texas State Defeats Texas, Breaks Streak
AUSTIN – On a night when both Texas State and the Longhorns were looking to conserve pitching, the Bobcats outplayed them for the team's first win over Texas since 2005. Texas State busted a 24-game losing streak to the Longhorns with a 3-2 victory to improve to 28-25 Tuesday night.
Adding to the historical feel of the game, Pasquale Mazzoccoli threw three strikeouts in the ninth for his 12th save of the season, a Texas State record. He is now tied for ninth in the country in saves. Mazzoccoli wasn't the only pitcher to tally three fannings in the game as Chase Hodson also threw three. With every pitcher throwing just one inning throughout the game, Anthony Pagano and the winning pitcher, Quinn Atwood, added two strikeouts apiece. The nine pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts in the game, matching the team's highest total this season, and they only gave up five hits to the Longhorns.
While Mazzoccoli ended the game with an exclamation point, freshman Jonathan Ortega started it with a bang. After not getting a hit in the first two meetings against Texas, the Victoria native blasted a leadoff home run to left field to put the Bobcats up early, 1-0.
The Longhorns answered with two runs in the second inning, but couldn't get anything else off the Bobcats. In the seventh, Mickey Scott tied the game when he drove in Theodore Hoffman, and then the team's RBI leader, Tanner Hill, came up big in the eighth when he drove a hit through the right side gap that the right fielder couldn't bring in. Granger Studdard scored on the play and put the Bobcats on top for good.
Texas State has won two in a row and is looking for more as the Bobcats head to Arlington to play UT Arlington in the final series of the regular season, starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Cajuns Rout New Orleans, 17-3, to Close Out Non-Conference
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The 19th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team capped its five-game road trip with a dominating 17-3 victory over New Orleans in seven innings on Tuesday night at Maestri Field.
Louisiana (34-19, 18-9 Sun Belt) pounded out 19 hits with Nick Thurman, Kyle Clement and Stefan Trosclair each registering three hits in the contest. Trosclair and Thurman both drove in three runs on the night as seven Cajuns posted a multi-RBI performance in the game.
The 17 runs and 19 hits are the second most recorded by the Ragin’ Cajuns in a game this season. Louisiana went 3-2 during its five-game road trip.
Sophomore Wyatt Marks (4-6) earned his fourth win of the season limiting the Privateers (30-21, 14-13 Southland) to two runs (one earned) on three hits in five innings of work. Marks struck out seven and walked three in the outing.
UNO reliever Ryan Leone (1-3) took the loss after giving up six runs on five hits in 0.2 innings.
Thurman gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead in the top of the second as he drove an RBI double into the gap in right center to score Steven Sensley from first base.
In the bottom half of the second, Kyle Bracey evened the contest at 1-all on a solo home run over the fence in left field.
The Ragin’ Cajuns broke the game open in the top of the third scoring six runs on six hits to take a 7-1 edge. RBI singles by Thurman and Alex Pinero and a two-run single by Joe Robbins highlighted the scoring in the inning.
The Cajuns added two more runs in the top of the fourth on a pair RBI ground outs by Kennon Fontenot and Pinero to make the score 9-1.
Fontenot brought home his second run of the game in the fifth on an RBI ground out to third base to give Louisiana a 10-1 advantage.
After New Orleans picked up a run in the bottom of the fifth on an error, the Ragin’ Cajuns exploded for seven runs on six hits and three walks to take a commanding 17-2 lead. All seven runs in the inning came with two outs, while Trosclair, Ishmael Edwards and Sensley each drove in a pair of runs in the inning.
The Privateers tallied the final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single up the middle by Peyton Marsh to make the final 17-3.
Louisiana returns to action on Thursday at 6 p.m. as the Cajuns host ULM in the final series of the year at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
Little Rock Falls to UCA, 7-6
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Central Arkansas topped Little Rock by a 7-6 final score Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park to win the third and final game of the first Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry.
With the score tied at 6-all through eight complete, the Bears scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the ninth inning.
Chris Townsend singled to lead off the frame before stealing second base and advancing to third on a deep fly ball off the bat of Brandon Montalvo. The next batter, Matt Anderson, struck out swinging, but the third strike was in the dirt and got away from catcher Cameron Knight. As Knight made the throw to first to record the out, Townsend broke for home. Anderson was out at first, but first baseman Nik Gifford's throw to the plate was off the mark as Townsend slid into home for what proved to be the winning run.
The Trojans went down in order in their final set of at-bats.
Both teams finished the game with 10 hits. Little Rock was led by Gifford's 2-for-3 effort that included a homer and three RBI. Dalton Thomas and Knight finished with two hits each.
Riley Echols earned the win for UCA, surrendering no runs on one hit over the final 3.0 innings. Keenan Wingfield took the loss for the Trojans after allowing two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings of work.
UCA plated two runs on two hits in its first set of at-bats. Tyler Langley led off the inning with a double to center field and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brooks Balisterri. Chris Townsend's ground out to second scored Langley for the first Bears run of the inning. After Montalvo drew a two-out walk, Anderson dropped in a RBI double to right field to put UCA up 2-0.
Little Rock evened the score with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first. Ryan Scott's single through the right side was followed by a single from Thomas, and a throwing error led to Scott scoring the Trojans' first run of the game. Thomas advanced all the way to third on the error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gifford to tie the score at 2-all.
Central Arkansas scored its third run in the second inning. Ty Tice drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Langley's second double of the game. Tice scored on a ground out to short by Balisterri. An RBI single by Balisterri in the top of the fourth put the Bears up 4-2. Montalvo led off the fifth with a triple and scored on a ground out to increase the lead to 5-2.
Little Rock plated four runs on five hits to take its first lead in the bottom of the fifth. Hayden Martin's sac fly to center scored the inning's first run, and Dalton Thomas' double down the left field line played the second. Finally, Gifford's two-run homer to right center field put the Trojans up 6-5.
UCA tied the score at 6-all on a sacrifice fly by Langley in the top of the eighth.
"We scored enough runs to win with six runs on 10 hits, but I wish mistakes on our end didn't lead to the loss," head coach Chris Curry said. "I thought we had good intensity, but the thing I like about playing at Dickey-Stephens is that it's a neutral site like the Sun Belt Tournament. It was a different feel for us, and our guys like that. I thought we played hard with all the other factors being there. I feel like this was a preparation game for the tournament, and I enjoyed it."
Little Rock closes its regular season with a three-game series against Arkansas State at Gary Hogan Field beginning Thursday. First pitch for game one is set for 6 p.m.