Justin O'Neal had 2 hits and 2 RBIs-Photo Credit: Gary Hardamon
Northwestern State 10 Nicholls State 8
NATCHITOCHES – A six-run eighth inning, highlighted by back-to-back RBI pinch hit singles from Collin Bear and Eric DeBlanc, rallied Northwestern State from an 8-4 deficit to a 10-8 Southland Conference baseball win over Nicholls State Sunday afternoon at Brown-Stroud Field.
The win gave the Demons the series victory as they improved to 14-13 overall and 8-6 in conference play – just 1-1/2 games out of first place. Nicholls fell to 12-17 on the season and 6-9 in the league.
“That was a tremendous comeback for us,” said Demon coach J.P. Davis. “Bottom line, it’s about winning the series and that’s what we did.”
Things looked grim for the Demons through 5-1/2 innings after they fell behind 8-1.
A five-run fifth inning by the Colonels was sparked by a questionable play at first base when designated hitter Adam Miley’s grounder in between first and second base was fielded by Demon first baseman Justin O’Neal. O’Neal sprinted to the bag and appeared to have made the tag on Miley, but he was called safe. That would’ve been the third out of the inning as the Colonels went on to score three more runs following the play.
Northwestern State Recap
Nicholls State Recap
Sam Houston State 13 McNeese State 11
LAKE CHARLES, LA – Tyler Knight’s two-run single in the top of the 13th inning powered Sam Houston State to a 13-11 victory over McNeese State and a sweep in the Bearkats’ Southland Conference baseball series with the Cowboys.
Knight also had a two-run homer in the Bearkats’ five run inning in the top of the 11th inning. McNeese rallied for five runs in the bottom of the 11th to force two more extra innings.
The victory marked the sixth extra inning win for Sam Houston State (18-11, SLC 9-6) this season. With the series sweep, the Bearkats have won four of their last five Southland Conference games.
McNeese State jumped out to a 5-0 lead with two runs in the third and three more in the fourth inning. Ryan Mooney put the Bearkats on the board with an RBI single in the fifth.
Sam Houston State Recap
McNeese State Recap
UT Arlington 9 Southeastern Louisiana 0
ARLINGTON, Texas – Senior Ryan Robinson threw his first career complete-game shutout while leading UT Arlington to a 9-0 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington. The Mavericks (16-14, 9-6) used eight runs combined in the fourth and fifth innings and multi-hit games from four players, including Andrew Kainer’s 4-for-5 performance, to prevent the Lions (19-10, 10-5) from earning a series sweep this weekend.
“It was a very, very important game for us,” Maverick head coach Darin Thomas said. “This leaves us just one game out of first place, rather than being three games out of the lead. Our pitching has been really good all year, if we can just find a way to play defense and score we are going to be alright.”
After being held scoreless in nine innings on Saturday, the Mavericks went without a run through the opening four frames on Sunday before erupting for five runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth inning.
Matt Otteman scored the Mavericks’ first run with a single to right-center field, plating Jay Pitschka who led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch. Two batters later, Blake Holt received a walk to load the bases and then Chad Comer scored a run on a hit-by-pitch to give UT Arlington a 2-0 lead.
UT-Arlington Recap
Southeastern Louisiana Recap
Lamar 11 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7
Ricky Testa struck out 14 in 5.2 innings of relief and Quentin Luquette drove in four on three hits as Lamar completed a series sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with an 11-7 win at Vincent-Beck Stadium Sunday.
Testa (3-2) entered the game with one out in the fourth and two runners on before he got the final two outs via strikeout. Following a runner thrown out attempting to steal for the first out of the fifth inning, the senior righty recorded the next ten outs by strikeout before a groundout to end the eighth. He then struck out two in the ninth before another ground ball ended the game. The 14 strikeouts are tied for the fourth-most in a game in Lamar history and are the second-highest in the Southland Conference this year.
Lamar (22-10, 9-6 Southland) recorded its first SLC sweep of 2009 and its first in league action since taking three-straight from McNeese State to end the 2008 regular-season. A&M-Corpus Christi (11-21, 3-12) was swept for the second time in league play.
Lamar Recap
Texas A&M CC Recap
Central Arkansas 11 Texas State 4
CONWAY, Ark _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears scored eight runs in the sixth inning Sunday to take an 11-4 victory over Texas State in the Southland Conference series finale at Bear Stadium.
The Bears (15-14, 7-8) trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth but sent 14 batters to the plate against four different Bobcat pitchers. Senior third baseman Jonathan Yerby had a two-run single and junior catcher Eric Tennyson added a two-run double in the inning.
Tye Throneberry, Graham Martin both had RBI singles and Josh Huffman and Beau Geren came through with sacrifice flies. Tennyson, a junior from Harrison, was 4 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and was on base five times. Yerby went 2 for 5 with his team-leading ninth home run and had 3 RBI.
Central Arkansas Recap
Texas State Recap
Stephen F. Austin 12 UTSA 7
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Brian Ferguson went a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI, including the go-ahead single in SFA’s five-run eighth inning as the `Jacks took a 12-7 win from UTSA to clinch the weekend series at Jaycees Field.
The `Jacks (12-17, 5-9 SLC) trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but managed to score eight runs in their final three at-bats to take their second consecutive game over UTSA (16-14, 8-7 SLC).
SFA has now won five of its last six games overall, while UTSA has dropped seven of its last eight.
Ferguson led the offensive onslaught that saw SFA register 15 hits, the fourth straight game the `Jacks have had at least 11 hits. The senior had three RBI on the day and is currently riding a 10-game hit streak, the longest of his career. Bo Coffman also had a breakout game, driving in four runs with a 3-for-5 outing.
Alex Moshier did not allow a hit in his inning of work, earning his third win of the season while J.T. Mackey shouldered his first loss of the season for the `Runners.
Stephen F Austin Recap
UT-San Antonio Recap
