PAIR OF SHUTOUTS SECURE JAG BASEBALL SERIES SWEEP OF APP STATE
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama baseball team swept a Saturday doubleheader from Appalachian State at Stanky Field to secure a three-game Sun Belt Conference series sweep.

USA (16-11, 6-2 SBC) secured the sweep with a pair of shutout wins Saturday, with a 2-0 win in game two of the series and a 5-0 victory in the finale.

South Alabama will return to action Fri., April 6, at 4 p.m. (CT) when it travels to Conway, S.C., to open a three-game SBC series with Coastal Carolina.

GAME FACTS
USA 2, App State 0 (Game 1 of DH)
- South Alabama jumped out to a one-run lead in the bottom of the third. Deyvid Silva led off the inning with a single through the left side of the infield, and advanced to second on sacrifice bunt by Felix Aberouette. Michael Sandle and Travis Swaggerty followed with consecutive walks to load the bases with one out for Dylan Hardy, who delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to score Silva with the game's first run. Brendan Donovan then lifted a 1-0 pitch to deep right field, but App State right fielder Beau Myers made a leaping catch with his back against the wall to end the inning with a one-run Mountaineer deficit.
- Jaguar right-hander Tyler Carr pitched out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the top of the fourth. Alex Leshock and Bailey Welch reached on consecutive singles to open the inning. Kendall McGown reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases with no outs. Carr struck out Drew Beck for the first out of the frame, induced a popup to second off the bat of Riley Smith for the second out and struck out Jason Avers to end the threat and preserve a one-run Jaguar lead.
- South Alabama rallied for a run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Hunter Stokes singled to right field with two outs, moved to second on a single to right-center by Silva and scored on an RBI single to left field by Aberouette to double the USA lead at 2-0.

NOTES
- Aberouette recorded his first career hit at USA with a two-out RBI single to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning.
- Hardy finished 0-for-3 in the game, snapping his on-base streak at 25 games.
- Carr (4-2) scattered six hits and struck out five in six innings pitched to earn the win. Right-hander Zach Greene tossed three scoreless relief innings and struck out five to record his third save of the season.
- App State left-hander Andrew Vaccacio (1-6) allowed two runs on six hits with 10 strikeouts against two walks in seven innings pitched in the loss.
- Silva went 2-for-3 with one run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate.
- Beck finished 2-for-4 with a double to lead the Mountaineers offensively.

GAME FACTS
USA 5, App State 0 (Game 2 of DH)
- USA jumped out to a three-run lead in the bottom of the first. Hardy singled with two outs and Donovan followed with a walk before Davis lifted a 2-1 pitch from App State right-hander Cameron Kepley over the right-center field wall for a three-run home run and 3-0 Jaguar lead. Carter Perkins then doubled to right field before Will Luft delivered an RBI single into shallow left-center field to score Perkins for a 4-0 lead.
- The Jags loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second after a one-out walk by Paul Russo, a hit by pitch to Donovan and a two-out walk by Davis. But App State left-hander Tristan Helms struck out Perkins to escape the jam and preserve a four-run Mountaineer deficit.
- Luft drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Bates and scored on a two-out single to left field by Swaggerty to increase the USA lead to 5-0.

NOTES
- Jaguar left-hander Jared Proctor made his first career start in the series finale, and retired the final 11 batters he faced in the game. He tossed five shutout innings, and allowed just two hits with one walk and a career-high five strikeouts in a career-best five innings pitched to earn the win.
- Kepley (0-1) allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings in the loss for the Mountaineers.
- Hardy went 3-for-4 with one run scored to lead the Jaguars at the plate, while Perkins finished 2-for-4 with a double and one run scored. Davis homered, drove in three runs and scored once.
- USA extended its winning streak to six games over App State with the series sweep.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the mound:
"I thought we did a really nice job on the mound. (Tyler) Carr was okay in the first game, and (Zach) Greene was really good behind him. (Jared) Proctor with his first start – five innings and we got nine leadoff outs in the second game. That's very important when you get your leadoff out and force them to get a couple of hits in an inning to score a run."

- On the series sweep:
"I thought our guys pitched well. We made some mistakes in there that we need to get better at, but all-in-all when you don't give up a lot of runs on the weekend then you usually win. That's what we did and I was proud of our guys' effort."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Fri., April 6, at 4 p.m. (CT) when it travels to Conway, S.C., to open a three-game SBC series with Coastal Carolina.

Schmidt Tosses Complete Game Defeat Arkansas State In Series Final
JONESBORO, Ark. – Senior left-hander Colten Schmidt tossed a complete game on Saturday afternoon as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team defeated Arkansas State 6-1 in the series finale at Tomlinson Stadium.

Schmidt earned his second victory of the season for the Ragin' Cajuns (12-15, 3-6 SBC) limiting the Red Wolves (11-13, 3-6 SBC) to one run on eight hits with a career-best seven strikeouts. After loading the bases with one out in the first inning, Schmidt went on to retire 15 of the next 16 batters he faced. The complete game effort is the first of the season for Louisiana and marks the fourth quality start of the season for Schmidt.

ASU starter Peyton Culberston was tagged with his third loss of the year after giving up a run on a hit and four walks in 2.0 innings.

LEADING THE CAJUNS

Louisiana outhit A-State 9-8 led by junior Hunter Kasuls who reached three times in the game going 2-for-3 with a walk, double and drove in two runs. Senior Zach LaFleur also had two hits in the contest with an RBI.

Freshman Hayden Cantrelle extended his hit streak to 11 games going 1-for-4 at the plate with a double and scored a run.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Louisiana grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the top of the second inning when Blake Faecher came home to score on a wild pitch by Culbertson.

Kennon Fontenot added to the lead in the top of the third bringing home Kasuls on infield single to shortstop to make the score 2-0.

The Ragin' Cajuns increased their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth on a two-run double down the left field line by Kasuls. Later in the inning, LaFleur drove in Kasuls on a two-out single back up the middle to give the Cajuns a 5-0 edge.

Arkansas State got on the board in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded RBI groundout to first base by Tobias Johnson to make the score 5-1.

The Cajuns added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield by Jonathan Windham.

UP NEXT

Louisiana continues its six-game road trip on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the first of two games against No. 12 Southern Miss at Pete Taylor Park. The two teams meet again on Wednesday at 6 p.m. to wrap up the road swing.

Four-Run Eighth Propels Troy Past Georgia State
TROY, Alabama – Troy strung together four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to effectively put away Georgia State and take the Sun Belt series with an 8-2 win Saturday at Riddle-Pace Field.

Freshman Manning Early drove in half of Troy's (19-9, 5-4) runs in that eighth inning on one swing of the bat – a no-doubt homer over the tall wall in right. Early finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Daren Osby (4-0) improved on his undefeated record with seven solid innings on the rubber, giving up just two runs and striking out seven batters. Osby handed the ball over to Lance Johnson (1) in the eighth, who was able to shut the door on the Panthers (13-14, 2-6) to earn his first save of 2018.

The Trojans' biggest contributions at the plate came from Drew Frederic and Brandon Lockridge.

Frederic put Troy on the board in the first with a solo shot to left field – his second round-tripper of the series. He went 3-for-5 to lead all Trojan batters in the game. Meanwhile, Lockridge turned in his 15th career multi-RBI game with two runs driven in on two hits on the day.

Georgia State cut it close in the seventh inning, drawing within two runs of Troy but stranded two costly runners on in the frame. Brandon Bell led the Panthers offensively with a 2-for-5 day that included an RBI.

Starter Jake Rogers (3-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on five hits and four walks around four strikeouts in four innings of work.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"Daren (Osby) was great today. He got into some trouble early but was able to settle in and give us several quality innings on the mound. We took advantage of our chances today and were able to get runs in that we've been leaving out there recently. I'm proud of our club for winning this series at home and we're looking forward to Wednesday night."

Sound "Smartt" with your Friends
Coming into Saturday's game, Troy was 0-2 in conference series finales with losses to Little Rock and Louisiana in its previous two tries. However, with the win the Trojans improve to 4-3 in series finales this season.

Noteworthy
• Junior outfielder Brandon Lockridge turned in his 51st career multi-hit game for the Trojans. He also drove in two runs for his 15th career game with multiple RBIs.

• Drew Frederic hit two home runs in the series, a two-run jack to dead center in game one and a solo shot Saturday. He had just one previous homer in his career coming into the weekend.

• Manning Early's eighth-inning blast was the second of the freshman's career. He became the eighth Trojan this season to reach a double-digit RBI total.

On Deck
Troy will head north to meet long-time foe Jacksonville State in the 142nd rendition of the rivalry. First pitch from Jacksonville is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Five Run Fifth Inning Pushes Eagles Past Chanticleers in Series Finale
STATESBORO - Georgia Southern Baseball took a 5-4 win on Saturday to avoid the series sweep against Coastal Carolina behind strong work from Chase Cohen on the mound and a five run fifth inning. Cohen made his first start of the year, going seven strong innings and allowing just one run with eight strikeouts. The offense did all its damage in the fifth inning to salvage the game and improve to 6-3 in league play, retaining second place in the East Division.

The Eagles are at home this week for a Tuesday night game against The Citadel and a Wednesday evening battle with Mercer. Both games start at 6 p.m., get your tickets by visiting GSEagles.com/Tickets.

After the game, members of the Georgia Southern Baseball program gathered to shave their heads in support of the Vs. Cancer Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The team has been raising money for the foundation over recent weeks, culminating with Saturday's Vs. Cancer Game. A young boy who is battling cancer threw out the first pitch and was the honored guest of Eagle Baseball on Saturday. To join in the fight against childhood cancer, visit http://team.curethekids.org/gsbaseball2018.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Rodney Hennon
"Chase Cohen was really good for us today. He really stepped up for us after a tough first two games of the series. That was big, he set the tone for us today and we were fortunate to get some two out hits from Mitchell Golden and Mason McWhorter to get things rolling and it led to a five run inning."

SCORING SUMMARY
Top 2nd - A leadoff walk to start the second inning was converted to a run with a single to right that moved Sponseller first to third, and a sacrifice bunt that drove in the run, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. After the run, Chase Cohen settled down, retiring the next 13 batters in order.
Bottom 5th - The Eagles batted around in the fifth inning, taking a 5-1 lead in the process. After a Blake Simmons infield single, back-to-back infield ground balls retired the lead runner. Mitchell Golden tied the game with an RBI single off the Blue Monster, setting the table for a Mason McWhorter double that put the Eagles on top. A walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, followed by a four pitch walk to Christian Avant that made the lead 3-1. Pinch hitter Noah Searcy singled to left, driving in two and giving the Eagles a commanding lead with Cohen dealing on the mound.
Top 8th - Cohen exited after seven, bringing in Cole Whitney. The junior transfer gave up a solo home run to the leadoff batter as Coastal cut the lead to 5-2.
Top 9th - Another leadoff home run in the ninth made it a two-run game, while a double put another runner in scoring position with no outs. After a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners, a ground out to third made it a 5-4 game with one out. Braxton Johns came in and got a pop up to third with a runner on second for the game's penultimate out. Hayden Harris was summoned from the bullpen for a lefty-lefty matchup and dismissed Zach Biermann for the game's final out with a strikeout looking.

NOTES
- Chase Cohen made his first start of the season on the mound Saturday, returning to the weekend rotation for the first time since May 27th in the Sun Belt Tournament. He worked seven innings, scattering five hits and allowing just one run. He fanned eight batters and was two pitches off a career-high, tossing 118 offerings.
- Hayden Harris got his second attempt at a save this season, atoning for a blown save on February 18th at Georgia with a strikeout to leave the tying run at second base. It was the first converted save attempt for Harris who had a shaky start to the 2018 season.
- Mitchell Golden's triple in the fifth inning was his first career three-bagger. He drove in a run on the play and scored later in the inning on Mason McWhorter's double.
- Christian Avant had a day, going 2-for-3 with an RBI on a bases loaded walk in the fifth.

NEXT GAME
Georgia Southern will play a pair of midweek non-conference games against The Citadel and Mercer this week. Both games start at 6 p.m. with The Citadel coming to town on Tuesday night, while the Mercer Bears make the trip down I-16 on Wednesday.

Paul’s career day helps TXST snap skid
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team earned a 10-6 victory over Little Rock in a Sun Belt Conference series finale Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark.

The Bobcats (15-11-1, 4-5 SBC) snapped a six-game losing skid, while the Trojans fell to 16-11 overall and 6-3 in conference action.

The visitors initially scratched across two runs before the maroon and gold had a chance to bat, but TXST grinded out a pair of markers in the first and second frames to equalize.

An RBI double from junior Jaylen Hubbard in the bottom of the third plated senior Derek Scheible and gave the home side their first lead of the series, but more theatrics would be needed to close out the day. Senior Dylan Paul scored on a wild pitch later in the frame to push TXST's advantage to 4-2, and the maroon and gold erupted for three in the fifth thanks to homers from Scheible and Hubbard.

The 7-2 advantage was nearly matched by Little Rock when the Trojans scored four in the top of the eighth, but Texas State countered with a three-spot in the home half of the frame to create enough separation for the victory. Junior Braden Pearson sat down LR in order in the top of the ninth to secure the 10-6 triumph.

Texas State pounded out 14 hits, led by a career-high four from Paul. He drove in two and tied his career high with three runs scored. Senior Mickey Scott, Hubbard and fellow juniors Jacob Almendarez and Jonathan Ortega all finished with two hits. Hubbard had three RBIs and scored once, Scheible scored three times and Scott drove in two teammates.

Junior Wes Engle allowed two runs on four hits across the first 4.2 innings on the mound. He landed one out shy of earning the victory, finishing with three strikeouts and four walks in the no-decision. Classmate Kyle Bradford (1-0) relieved Engle and earned the victory after tossing 2.1 scoreless frames. He gave up just one hit, while striking out two and walking one.

Chase Coker and Matt Merino were the lone Trojans with double-figure hits, both finishing with two. Merino and Ryan Benavidez posted two RBIs each.

LR starting pitcher Ethan Daily (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up four runs in the first 2.1 innings. He walked five and struck out just three. Little Rock burned through seven pitchers on the day. Typical lights-out closer Justin Garcia was used for the third day in a row in the eighth, and he was tagged for two runs and three hits in just 0.2 innings before being pulled.

The Bobcats will now prepare for an upcoming five-game week. They will first travel to Waco, Texas, for a makeup game against Baylor at 6:35 p.m. April 2 before playing host to UTSA in the final of three games against the Roadrunners at 6 p.m. April 3. TXST will close out the stretch with a three-game road series against ULM April 6-8 in Monroe, Louisiana.