Eagles Take Midweek Sweep Over The Citadel, 1-0
STATESBORO, GA. - Georgia Southern Baseball closed out its midweek series with The Citadel on Wednesday night with a 1-0 win. The Eagles posted their fourth-straight win over the Bulldogs and improved to 12-9 on the year with the win. Cameron Hankins bagged the game-winning RBI with a bloop single to left in the fourth which plated Mason McWhorter. The Eagles visit UT Arlington this weekend for a three-game series.
Seth Shuman went five innings to pick up his third win from his third start on the mound this season. The freshman right hander threw five innings of two-hit ball to improve to 3-0 on the year. He struck out a career-high six batters in the win.
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"It's good to get the two wins in the midweek going into a big conference weekend. Our pitching staff really picked us up tonight. Seth Shuman did another nice job and the guys in the bullpen did what you'd like to see them do. Defensively we played a solid game, so those things are good to see. Obviously offensively we've got to perform better Friday night. We're going to face a good one in Kadon Simmons and we've got to compete a lot better than we did tonight."
SCORING PLAYS
Bot 4th - CIT 0 - GS 1 - Cameron Hankins drove in Mason McWhorter from left with an RBI bloop single to left.
GAME NOTES
- Senior Landon Hughes pitched a one-hit ninth inning to pick up his second save of the season with one strikeout.
- Georgia Southern struck out a season-high 18 times on Wednesday night, three more than their total in the season opener against Middle Tennessee.
NEXT UP
Georgia Southern travels this weekend for three games at UT Arlington. First pitch of the series is set for Friday night at 7:30 p.m. (ET). Danny Reed will call the action live on the Georgia Southern Sports Network with live audio streaming on GSEagles.com.
Trojans Split Home-and-Home with Samford
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Troy gave up a run in each of the last two innings to drop the second game of the mid-week series, 4-3, to Samford at Joe Lee Griffin Field Wednesday night.
The Trojans (12-8) failed to hold on after taking an early 3-2 lead after scoring all three of their runs in the third inning on back-to-back doubles from Matt Sanders and Brandon Lockridge. Sanders finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Lockridge delivered two RBIs on his double. TJ Binder batted 2-for-3 at the plate and turned in his first multi-hit game of the season.
Andrew Crane dealt five strikeouts en route to his best performance of the season on the mound – allowing no runs on two hits in four innings of work. Ryan Fultz (0-1) entered in the eighth and suffered the loss after giving up one run on one hit.
Samford (13-8) used late runs to bounce back after a disappointing loss in Troy Tuesday night. TJ Dixon led the Bulldogs at the plate – going a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Josh Rich (1-0) earned his first win of the season after shutting down the Trojans in one inning on the mound. Samford closer Wyatt Burns saved his ninth game of the season, which leads the country.
QUOTABLE
"It was a disappointing finish to a well-played game," Troy head coach Mark Smartt said. "Andrew Crane was outstanding, it was the best game he's played. We have a big weekend coming up, and we're going to head home and get ready."
SOUND "SMARTT" WITH YOUR FRIENDS
• Brandon Lockridge tied his career-best 20-game reached base streak – he has reached safely in every game this season.
• Troy has not won at Samford since 2013 – which was also the last time the Trojans were able to sweep the season series with the Bulldogs.
• The Trojans now fall to 12-26 under coach Mark Smartt when they are out-hit by the opponent – 4-5 this season.
WHAT'S UP NEXT?
Troy returns home to host the first Sun Belt series of the season this weekend at Riddle-Pace Field against No. 15 UL-Lafayette. First pitch of the series opener is set for 6 p.m. Friday.
Louisiana Baseball Comes Up Short Against Tulane, 6-4
LAFAYETTE, La. – The 15th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team saw its comeback bid come up short against Tulane as the Cajuns fell 6-4 on Wednesday night at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
The loss marks the first time the Ragin' Cajuns (11-8) have lost in consecutive games this season. Louisiana also saw its home record fall to 7-4, while the Green Wave won their third straight contest to improve to 8-13.
"You have to always pitch against the three-run inning," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "When you play a 56-game schedule you're going to get into what I call rough baseball where things don't sync up. Right now we don't have things synced back up. Last night we get good pitching but we don't hit and then tonight we fall behind early and then get hitting late. It's just one of those things you have to grind through it and fight through it till you get on the other side of it."
Starter Jevin Huval suffered his first loss of the season after giving up four runs (one earned) on three hits with a strikeout in an inning of work.
The Louisiana bullpen stood up over the final six frames as Colton Lee, Haden Erbe, Jacob Norman and Dylan Moore combined to hold the Wave scoreless allowing just one hit while striking out seven.
Tulane reliever Sam Bjorngjeld (1-2) earned the victory tossing 5.1 scoreless innings scattering three hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Brandon Issa picked up his first save of the year in the contest tossing 1.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Offensively, the Cajuns outhit the Green Wave 9-6 led by third baseman Joe Robbins who went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and scored twice. Hunter Williams had the only multi-hit effort for Tulane going 2-for-4 and scored two runs.
Freshman Todd Lott saw his 10-game hit streak come to an end in the contest going 0-for-2, while right fielder Steven Sensley extended his on-base streak to 15-games.
Tulane exploded for four runs on three hits and a Louisiana error in the top of the first take a 4-0 advantage. The Green Wave had three consecutive hits to start the game including an RBI single by Jarret DeHart back up the middle. After Tulane added a run on a Huval throwing error, the Green Wave picked up the final two runs of the inning on an RBI groundout to shortstop by Sal Gozzo and a sacrifice fly to left field by Tyler Heinrichs.
The Ragin' Cajuns got on the board in the bottom half of the first on a two-out, bases-loaded walk by Sensley to make the score 6-1. Bjorngjeld came on in relief with the bases still loaded and got second baseman Brenn Conrad to ground out to third base to end the threat.
The Green Wave tacked on two more runs in the top of the third on a pair of sac flys by Gozzo and Heinrichs to extend their advantage to 6-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Robbins pulled the Cajuns within three runs on a two-run blast well over the fence in left field to make the score 6-3. The home run was the second of the season for Robbins.
Conrad cut the Tulane lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the eight with an RBI single to right field plating Tyler Stover from second base, but that was as close as the Ragin' Cajuns would get in the contest.
Louisiana returns to Sun Belt Conference action on Friday at 6 p.m. in the first of three contests a Troy. All three contests will be broadcast live on News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM with Jay Walker and Jeff Schneider making the call.
A-State Baseball Falters in Late Innings in Walk-Off Loss to Austin Peay
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (3/22/17) – The Arkansas State baseball team took an 8-4 advantage into the bottom of the eighth inning, but five runs by Austin Peay, including two in the bottom of the ninth, lifted the Governors to a 9-8 midweek victory over the Red Wolves at Raymond C. Hand Park Wednesday afternoon in Clarksville, Tenn.
A-State (11-9) entered the bottom of the eighth inning ahead 8-4, but the first two batters of the frame reached and the team turned to Brandon Stuckenschneider to relieve Bo Ritter. The left-hander from Poplar Bluff, Mo., was able to get two outs and keep the Governors (11-9) off the board despite having runners on second and third with no outs. However, Austin Peay turned to the bench for pinch-hitter Brett Newberg and he hit a three-run homer to bring the home team within 8-7.
Zachary Patterson got the final out of the eighth and came out for the bottom of the ninth after the Red Wolves couldn’t add any insurance runs. The first two runners reached and Dre Gleason doubled home the tying run with no outs. After an intentional walk Chase Hamilton hit a hard ground ball that deflected off of a drawn-in Jeremy Brown to allow the winning run to score.
Patterson fell to 1-2 on the season, while Levi Primasing won the game after pitching a scoreless ninth inning for the Governors. APSU used six different pitchers in the game and was forced to the bullpen early after starter Jordan Witcig, who was making his first appearance since 2014, had to leave the game after hurting himself on the first pitch to the second batter of the game.
The Red Wolves used four pitchers with Bradey Welsh starting and lasting three innings. Welsh allowed two runs on four hits before Ritter tossed four innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits with a career-high five strikeouts against two walks.
Grant Hawkins led the offensive effort with three hits, including his first two doubles of the season, while Joe Schrimpf and Brown both homered and had three RBI. Tobias Johnson and Drew Tipton each had two hits apiece with Tipton hitting the first home run of his career in the fifth inning. Garrett Giovannelli, Cayce Bredlau, and Gleason had two hits each to lead the Governors.
Austin Peay scored two runs in the bottom of the first, but A-State scored six straight, including five in the top of the fourth inning, to go ahead 6-2. Brown delivered the biggest punch of the inning with a three-run homer, but the Red Wolves stole five bases in the inning, including the first two of the season for Alex Howard.
The Governors were able to score two unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the visitors got both runs back in the top of the eighth inning when Schrimpf blasted a two-run shot to left field for an 8-4 edge.
Arkansas State heads to Conway, S.C., to face the defending national champions, Coastal Carolina, in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series March 24-26. First pitch for Friday’s game is set for 5 p.m. (CT).