San Marcos, Texas – The No. 2 seed South Alabama came from two runs down in the ninth inning to win 6-4 in an elimination game against No. 3 seed Little Rock on Thursday at the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship.
South Alabama (39-19) staved off elimination with the win and must face another elimination game on Friday at 3 p.m. CT at Bobcat Ballpark. The Jaguars will face the losing team from the 4 p.m. CT matchup on Thursday between No. 6 seed Georgia Southern and No. 7 seed UT Arlington. Little Rock (26-28) is eliminated from the tournament.
Senior Cole Billingsley and sophomore Jared Barnes keyed South Alabama’s ninth-inning rally. With the bases loaded and a full count, Billingsley drew a RBI walk that brought the Jags to within one run at 4-3. Barnes then stepped in and laced a two-RBI double down the third base line to give the Jaguars their first lead of the game and put them up for good.
Billingsley provided insurance later in the inning when he scampered home from third on a wild pitch to give the Jags the two-run lead.
South Alabama senior Ryne Long earned the win in relief to improve to 3-0 on the season. Little Rock junior Cody Daylor (3-2) allowed three earned in two innings in the losing effort.
Little Rock used a three-run, bottom of the third inning to gain the early advantage. Senior Hayden Martin doubled to left center to plate junior Zach Baker for the first run of the game. Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Year Ryan Scott homered off of the scoreboard in right center three pitches later to put Little Rock up 3-0.
South Alabama got on the board in the seventh when sophomore Drew LaBounty singled with two outs through the left side to score freshmen Carter Perkins and Brendan Donovan and cut the deficit to one run.
The ninth-inning began with South Alabama when senior Ben Gann walked and junior Matt Bolger singled. Daylor struck out junior Adam Wolfe before LaBounty singled through the right side to load the bases and chase Daylor. Senior Jarrid Garcia, a lefty, came in to face the left-handed hitting Billingsley who worked the count full before drawing the walk. Junior Keenan Wingfield replaced Garcia and allowed the two-RBI double to sophomore Jared Barnes which gave the Jaguars their first lead of the game at 5-4.
The 2016 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship continues on Thursday with one more elimination game in the morning session and two games in the winner’s bracket to follow in the afternoon session. All games will take place at Bobcat Ballpark on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.