Kane Holbrooks leads the Southland with eight wins against no losses and ranks second in the league with a 2.16 ERA. Courtesy: Southland.org
Texas State has won its last eight games and Sam Houston State has won seven in a row entering Tuesday’s schedule. Both teams received votes in the NCBWA poll and Texas State, which has a one and a half game lead on both Sam Houston and UT Arlington. Conference play resumes Friday. Texas State plays host to McNeese State and Sam Houston welcomes Southeastern Louisiana. UT Arlington is at Stephen F. Austin. Other league action includes Central Arkansas at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UTSA at Nicholls State and Northwestern State at Lamar.
Central Arkansas
16-20, 8-13 Southland
Central Arkansas has lost six games in a row … the Bears lost 4-3 in 12 innings to Memphis before getting swept at home by UT Arlington … lost 11-10 in 10 innings in the finale … Tye Throneberry is batting .372 to lead the team and rank 11th in the Southland … he also leads the team with 32 RBI … Johnathan Yerby has hit 11 home runs, which is tied for third in the league and two behind the leaders … Yerby is tied for the team lead with 49 hits and is the lone leader with 10 doubles … Jeremy Cloud is the team leader with four victories … Bobby Pritchett, leads the team in strikeouts (47) and saves (5).
Lamar
24-17, 11-10 Southland
Lamar has dropped six of its last seven games after going 1-4 last week … lost a pair of non-conference games to McNeese State before dropping 2-of-3 at UTSA … the Cardinals face McNeese in a conference series May 1-3 … freshman Eric Harrington leads the league with a 2.05 ERA in nine starts … Ricky Testa is second in the Southland with 61 strikeouts in 57.2 innings … Brian Taylor is batting .348 to pace the Cardinals … Taylor has driven in a team-high 41 RBI and paces the squad with 54 hits and 13 doubles … Tyler Link leads the team with seven home runs and has 52 hits.
McNeese State
19-17, 8-13 Southland
The Cowboys have won five of their last six games thanks to a non-conference two-game sweep over Lamar .. McNeese State won 2-of-3 vs. Stephen F. Austin last weekend … Matt Fontenot is the team leader with a .367 batting average, which ranks 14th in the league … Shon Landry leads the team with 53 hits and Lee Orr has driven in 52 runs, the second best RBI total in the league … Orr is the Southland’s co-leader with 13 home runs … 26 of his 49 hits have gone for extra bases (nine doubles and four triples) … McNeese is second in the Southland with a team batting average of .327 (Texas State is first with .336).
Nicholls State
17-21, 8-13 Southland
Nicholls State pulled a 3-1 upset at No. 1 LSU last Wednesday only to follow it up by getting swept in a three-game series vs. Sam Houston State … Chris Murrill is the team leader with a .371 batting average, which ranks 12th in the league … he has 49 hits to share the team lead with Scott Moseley, who paces the squad with 32 RBI … Murrill is the Southland leader with six doubles and is stolen 23-of-25 attempts … Keith Kulbeth has hit four of the team’s seven home runs … Jarret Dunnam ranks sixth in the Southland with a 3.46 ERA … he and Ryan Cooper each have three wins, while Ross Larson has saved six games.
Northwestern State
16-18, 10-9 Southland
Northwestern State lost all three games last week by a combined 45-16 … lost 15-3 at Louisiana Tech on Wednesday … played league-leader Texas State only twice after rain prevented the teams from playing Friday or Saturday … lost 15-3 in game one and 15-10 in game two … Justin O’Neal is the team leader with 51 hits, 11 doubles and a .364 batting average … Chase Lyles has driven in 30 runs … Jimmy Heard is 5-2 to lead the team in wins … he has 43 strikeouts to pace the staff … Chad Sheppard has six saves and is one of two Southland relievers on the midseason watch list for NCBWA Stopper of the Year.
Sam Houston State
25-13, 14-7 Southland
The Bearkats have won each of their last seven games and eight of their last nine conference games to climb within 1 1/2 game of Texas State … beat Houston and Texas Southern in non-conference action before sweeping Nicholls State in Thibodaux … swept league hitter and pitcher of the week honors (2B Braeden Riley and RHP Sean Weatherford)… Nick Zaleski is second in the Southland with a .442 average … his 46 RBI rank third and his 65 hits rank third … SHSU ranks second with a .327 batting average and is second with a .969 fielding percentage … Weatherford is fourth in the Southland with a 3.23 ERA.
Southeastern Louisiana
23-15, 12-9 Southland
The Lions snapped a four-game losing streak with a 9-2 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette last Wednesday and then won 2-of-3 at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi … Joe Sparacino, who was 8-for-20 in five games last week, raised his batting average to .353 to lead the team … Cass Hargis leads the team with 54 hits … Brandon Street’s five home runs and 39 RBI pace the Lions … Ryan Boudreaux’s 3.67 ERA ranks eighth in the league … he is tops on the staff with five wins … Brandon Efferson has 47 strikeouts and is tied for fourth in the Southland … Chris Franklin leads the conference with nine saves.
Stephen F. Austin
15-23, 7-13 Southland
The Lumberjacks were 2-4 last week, going 1-2 in both non-conference and in the league at McNeese State … Stephen F. Austin won the series opener, but dropped both ends of a Sunday doubleheader … Sean Meyers is batting .400 to rank seventh in the Southland … his 56 hits, 13 doubles, four home runs and 39 RBI lead the team … his 14 stolen bases rank fourth in the league … Brian Ferguson is second on the squad with 25 RBI and leads the team with five triples … Erich Lehman leads the pitching staff with 35 strikeouts and four wins … Richard Folmer has six saves in 19 appearances.
UT Arlington
22-17, 14-7 Southland
UT Arlington split a home-and-home non-conference series with No. 7 Baylor and then swept all three games at Central Arkansas for a 4-1 week … the Mavs rand fourth in the league in batting and have two of the top four averages … Matt Otteman (.432) and Andrew Kainer (.420) are third and fourth while Michael Choice (.396) is eighth … UTA leads the Southland with a 4.30 ERA … Otteman is second in the league with 67 hits … Ryan Robinson and Nathan Long each have four wins … Long is the conference leader with 68 strikeouts … Choice was invited to the USA Baseball national team trials on Tuesday.
UTSA
21-18, 11-10 Southland
UTSA was 3-1 last week … against Dallas Baptist, Michael Rockett became the Southland’s career hits leader when he moved past Louisiana-Monroe’s Willie Core (296) … Rockett enters this week with 302 career hits … Zach Calhoon, who was named to the midseason watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, notched his 24th career save against the Patriots to pass Sam Houston State’s Luke Prihoda who recorded 23 saves from 2006-07 … Rockett is batting .379 to lead the team and rank 10th in the league … his 64 hits rank fourth … Jose Hernandez leads the Southland with 18 doubles and is fifth with 10 home runs.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
14-26, 6-15 Southland
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has last four of its last five games, including a pair to No. 6 Texas … lost 2-of-3 at Southeastern Louisiana … Martin Parra is batting .329 to pace the Islanders … he also leads the team with 50 hits and 35 RBI … Trey Hernandez, who is batting .227, leads the conference with 18 doubles and his team-best 11 home runs put him in a tie for third in the Southland … 18 of his 29 hits have been for extra bases … Brett Carnline leads the team with three wins and Brandon Orr has 30 strikeouts to pace the pitching staff … Hernandez also has four saves and is 1-1 in 12 pitching appearances.
Texas State
27-10, 15-5 Southland
Texas State has built a 1-1/2 game lead thanks to an eight-game win streak … played just two of the three games at Northwestern State because of rain … the Bobcats lead the conference with a .336 batting average and a .971 fielding percentage … Spenser Dennis owns the top batting average at .470 … Brett Atwood is fifth with his .415 average … Paul Goldschmidt has driven in a league-best 65 runs and has touched 107 total bases … his 47 runs scored rank third, while his 14 doubles are tied for third … Kane Holbrooks leads the Southland with eight wins and no losses and is second with a 2.16 ERA.
