We will be providing Daily Recaps on Conference USA throughout the season. All the recaps are excerpts from the Press Releases. Click on the respective schools link at the bottom of the recap for the full release.
Southern Miss 6 Lipscomb 3
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss hitters started cold but rallied to overcome a early 3-0 deficit to win 6-3 Saturday evening in front of 3,322 fans at Pete Taylor Park.
“The big thing tonight was that Todd McInnis came into a jam and kept us into the game early,” head coach Corky Palmer said. “That could have been a big inning (in the fifth) for Lipscomb but we were able to hold them at three runs and make our come back.”
Lipscomb (0-2) was able to get on the board first with a run in the top of the fourth inning. Blake Bratcher drew a walk and moved to second on Ryan Wilkins excuse-me, check-swing single to right field. Justin Sanders picked up the RBI with a single to right field scoring Bratcher. Jay Moreland followed with a ground ball to first baseman Trey Sutton who threw out Wilkins at the plate for the second out of the inning and prevent further damage.
Long Beach State 3 Rice 2
LONG BEACH, Calif. — For the second time in as many games, the Rice baseball team dropped a one-run game on the road to a nationally-ranked team with a 3-2 loss to Long Beach State Saturday afternoon at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif.
The Owls are now 0-2 to start the season while Long Beach State improved to 2-0. The teams play the finale of the three-game weekend series Sunday at 1 pm Pacific Time (3 pm Central).
Long Beach State took advantage of a Rice fielding error to strike first for a run in the bottom of the first inning. After two quick outs, Forty-niner shortstop Danny Espinosa slugged a double to right-center. The next batter, Shane Peterson, reached on a Rice fielding error that should have ended the inning but allowed Espinosa to score from second base.
Rice Recap
Long Beach State Recap
Game 1: South Carolina 22 East Carolina 5
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Phil Disher and Reese Havens each drove in five runs to help No. 2 South Carolina to a 22-5 win over No. 24 East Carolina in the season opener for both schools at Sarge Frye Field.
Disher was 3-for-5 with two home runs, the first multi-home run game of his career, while Haves tied a career-high with five hits.
Matt Cisco picked up the win for the Gamecocks after allowing one runs on five hits with four strikeouts in five innings of work. Keegan Linza (3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 K), Tyler Musselwhite (0.0 IP, 2 R, 2 ER) and Will Casey (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 K) saw action on the hill.
T.J. Hose got the loss allowing 11 runs (nine earned) on nine hits with one strikeout in 1 1/3 innings. Brad Mincey (1.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB), Shane Small (3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 K) and Seth Simmons (2.0 IP, 1 H, , 2 R, 2 ER, 2 K) all saw their first collegiate action coming out of the bullpen.
ECU Recap
South Carolina Recap
East Carolina 13 South Carolina 4
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Brandon Henderson and Jamie Ray combined for seven hits and eight RBI to help No. 24 East Carolina to a 13-4 win over No. 2 South Carolina in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday night at Sarge Frye Field.
Trailing 2-1 in the third inning, the Pirates (1-1) plated five runs to break the game open behind Ray’s bases loaded triple. Harrison Eldridge led off the inning with an infield single then moved to second on Ryan Wood’s walk and landed on third when Batts reached on an error. Roller knotted the game at two with his second RBI of the game, a single to right field that scored Eldridge leading up to Ray’s triple. Ray trotted home on his at-bat when Reese Havens sailed a cutoff through into ECU’s dugout putting the score at 6-2.
ECU Recap
South Carolina Recap
Game 1: UAB 11 Ball State 10
Game 2: Ball State 3 UAB 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team split its doubleheader with Ball State on Saturday as the Blazers won a high-scoring first game, 11-10, before losing game two, 3-2, at Young Memorial Field. Senior Ryan Keedy was a combined 6-for-10 on the day with three RBI and two runs scored.
UAB (2-1) had to battle back to win game one as the Blazers got seven runs on just two hits in the fourth inning to take a 9-5 lead. Sophomore third baseman Luke Stewart provided the biggest blow of the inning with a three-run home run to right field to mark the Blazers’ first homer of the season.
Ball State (1-2) responded as Josh Field’s second home run of the game in the seventh inning brought in two runs to cut the deficit to 9-7. The Cardinals then got three more runs across in the eighth thanks to a two-run single by Wayne Bond Jr. to take a 10-9 lead.
UCF 16 FAMU 2
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) – After suffering through a lengthy rain delay before first pitch, the UCF baseball team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 16-2 win over Florida A&M Saturday at Jay Bergman Field. Junior starter Kyle Sweat delivered with a career-high eight strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work for the victory.
The Knights racked up 15 hits in the win over the Rattlers (0-2), led by senior Dwayne Bailey and sophomore Shane Brown, who each posted three hits. Brown also posted a career-high four RBI, and sophomore Chris Duffy set a personal mark with four runs scored.
UCF climbed on top of FAMU and starter Anthony Espin (0-1) in the second as Duffy reached on an error and senior Ryan Richardson blasted a double high off the center-field fence. Following an intentional walk to Brown, freshman Evan Stobbs was issued a free pass with the bases juiced for the first run. Junior Rob Lara then came through with a two-run single, junior Josh Siebenaler notched a sacrifice fly and Bailey complete the inning’s scoring with a double to right, making it 5-0.
Tulane 4 UIC 3
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Junior outfielder Aja Barto went 2-for-3 with an RBI and three stolen bases, and junior right-hander Mason Griffin tossed a scoreless ninth, as the Tulane University baseball team rallied to defeat Illinois Chicago, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at the new Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
The Green Wave rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits with two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, but Barto came through with the run that mattered most in the bottom of the eighth. For the second consecutive day, the Tulane bullpen was nearly flawless as Josh Zeid threw a scoreless seventh, sophomore Preston Claiborne gave up just a walk in the eighth and Griffin pitched his way around a leadoff walk in the ninth to earn his first career Division I save.
Western Carolina 11 Marshall 5
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Marshall University Senior left fielder Jeff Rowley tallied his second home run of the season, but Western Carolina hit four home runs to help lift the Catamounts to a 11-5 victory over the Herd in Saturday afternoon’s non-conference baseball game at Hennon Stadium.
With the loss, Marshall falls to 1-1 on the season while Western Carolina improves to 1-1 overall.
Marshall jumped out to an early 4-0 lead through four innings before the Catamounts used a five-run bottom half of the fourth, and three-run fifth and eighth innings to pace Western Carolina to its first win of the season.
Marshall Recap
Western Carolina Recap
Ohio State 1 Memphis 0
Memphis pitchers Marc Ashley and Will Hudgens combined to strikeout eight and hold Ohio to just one run, but for the second time in as many outings, the Tiger offense was stagnate as the Buckeye limited them to just three hits in a 1-0 shutout on Saturday afternoon at the 2008 Service Academies Spring Classic.
Memphis (0-2) was unable to solve the OSU pitching duo of J.B. Shuck and Alex Wimmers. The pair fanned 14 Tigers, with Shuck sitting down nine in six innings to pick up the win. Wimmers came on to work the remainder of the tilt, and struck out five to earn the save. The two faced just one batter over the minimum from the fifth to ninth innings.
Memphis Recap
Ohio State Recap
Pacific 4 Houston 3
HOUSTON – Pacific second baseman Adam Ching’s RBI-single in the top of the seventh inning snapped a 3-3 tie, lifting the Tigers to a 4-3 victory over the University of Houston baseball team Saturday night at Cougar Field.
Junior southpaw Jimmy Raviele was tagged with the loss for Houston. Entering the game in the seventh, Raviele struck out Jonathan Lewis before walking the number nine hitter Matt Fuson. Fuson advanced to second on Joe Oliveira’s ground ball to second before being driven home on Ching’s single to centerfield.
