Matt Otteman had a career-high seven RBI with a three-run homer and a grand slam on Friday
UT Arlington 14 #30 Texas State 6
ARLINGTON, Texas – Matt Otteman had a career night hitting a grand slam and a three run homer to finish with a career-high seven RBI in UT Arlington’s 14-6 victory over No. 25 Texas State on Friday evening at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington. Eight Mavericks finished with multi-hit games and senior Andy Sauter pitched 3.2 innings in relief to win his fourth game of the season. UT Arlington improves to 29-24 overall and to 19-13 in the SLC while Texas State had its six-game SLC win streak snapped and falls to 38-14 overall and to 24-7 in league play.
“It was a great offensive performance for us,” Mavericks head coach Darin Thomas said. “We obviously also got great bullpen relief from Andy Sauter and Drew Clementz tonight. It was good to see Andy get back out there and throw well because we are going to need him down the stretch. Drew did a great job. He hasn’t been out there in awhile, and that is tough to do that, and he went out there and threw two-scoreless innings.”
After the Mavericks took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off an RBI triple from Tim Steggall and an RBI single from Michael Choice, Otteman launched his first home run of the night – a three-run bomb to left field. The Mavs also scored runs in the inning off an RBI double from Steggall and an RBI single up the middle by catcher Chad Comer to give the Mavericks a 7-0 lead.
UTSA 15 Central Arkansas 13
SAN ANTONIO — It was another wild night at Roadrunner Field and it was capped by senior Jose Hernandez’ two-run homer with nobody out in the 10th inning and UTSA rallied for a 15-13 victory against Central Arkansas. The teams both scored in double figures for the second night in a row and combined for 43 hits, 19 of which went for extra bases.
The Roadrunners (31-22, 20-12 SLC) broke the program’s 12-year-old single-game record with eight long balls in posting their 18th come-from-behind win of the season. The 1997 squad launched seven bombs in a 22-7 victory against Incarnate Word on April 29, 1997. UTSA, which broke the single-season record six days ago at McNeese State (67, 1999), pushed its season total to 86, 14 of which have come in the first two games of this weekend’s series. In fact, the Birds have left the yard 44 times in their last 14 outings.
Junior Lance Brown got the game-winning rally started with a single through the left side of the infield for his fourth hit of the night. Hernandez then deposited a 1-0 fastball from Bobby Pritchett over the wall in left center for his second walk-off homer of the season and 15th of the campaign overall. The Anaheim Hills, Calif., native launched a game-winning two-run homer to cap a five-run comeback against Southeastern Louisiana on March 6.
Stephen F. Austin 11 Lamar 7
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Ryan Priest went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI, and the `Jacks pounded out 13 hits on six Lamar pitchers as SFA took an 11-7 win Friday at Jaycees Field.
SFA (23-29, 14-17 SLC) put on an offensive show in the first six innings of the game, scoring all 11 runs in the first six frames. Lamar (35-20, 19-13 SLC) only managed two runs and three hits off of SFA starter Jared West, who needed just 83 pitches to navigate through six innings for his fourth win of the year. West will finish the year with a sparkling 4-0 record and 1.38 ERA at Jaycees Field.
Tanner Hines finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, extending his hit streak to 18 games which ties him with Steven Hill’s 18-game streak in 2007 for the longest in the school’s history. Hines and leadoff man Zach Gardner combined to score five of SFA’s 11 runs, while it was Priest and Brian Ferguson that combined for seven RBI.
While West was tossing five shutout frames to open the game, SFA was building a substantial lead that started with a pair of runs in the second inning off of Cardinal starter Matison Smith. SFA took advantage of one of Lamar shortstop Jeremiah Sammy’s two errors on the day to get its first two hitters of the inning on before Adam Bosley picked up an RBI through the right side for the game’s first run. Joe Staley then hit into a double play one hitter later, but still managed to get the `Jacks second run across.
McNeese State 18 at Nicholls State 7
THIBODAUX — McNeese State collected 17 hits on the way to an 18-7 Southland Conference baseball victory over Nicholls State here Friday night.
It was the first game of a three game season ending series between the two teams. Rain forced the moving of Thursday’s first game to Friday and then more rain cut short a twinbill that had been set for Friday.
Now the two teams will attempt to complete the series with a doubleheader slated to begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
A two run homer by Sam Merrill in the eighth inning allowed the Cowboys to end the game one inning early on the 10 run rule. McNeese had held a 3-2 lead when the game was halted in the third inning because of lightning and when the contest resumed the Cowboys put up seven runs in the top of the fourth to salt the game away.
Jonathan Conrad (3-6), who had come on in place of starter Tyler Davis when the game resumed, was the winner, hurling four innings and giving up six hits and four runs. Davis pitched two innings, giving up a pair of hits and runs.
Southeastern Louisiana 7 Northwestern State 5
NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Demons sent the game to extra innings by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth, but the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team (35-19, 21-11 Southland Conference) scored twice in the top of the tenth and stranded a pair of Northwestern State runners in scoring position in the bottom of the tenth for a 7-5 win in ten innings on Saturday night.
The win, combined with a Thursday night loss by Texas-Arlington and a Friday afternoon loss by Lamar, insures that the Lions will be seeded no worse than third at the 2009 Southland Conference Tournament next week. Southeastern can clinch the No. 2 seed with a win on Saturday or a loss by Texas-San Antonio.
The Lions jumped out to an early lead as sophomore center fielder Cass Hargis reached first on a dropped third strike, took second on a passed ball and came home to score on a Demon error off the bat of sophomore catcher Josh Cryer to give Southeastern a 1-0 lead after one.
Sam Houston State 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6
HUNTSVILLE – Right fielder Tyler Knight blasted a walk-off grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to complete a 16-6 run-rule victory for Sam Houston State over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a Southland Conference baseball game Friday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
Knight’s home run was his second grand slam of the season and the third for the Bearkats this year.
A three-run homer by catcher Mark Wyatt provided the go-ahead runs for Sam Houston State in the bottom of the third inning.
The third inning rally marked the 21st time this season the Bearkats have come from behind to win as Sam Houston upped its season record to 32-21. The home run was Wyatt’s 12th of the season. He also hit a three-run bomb in Thursday’s 10-2 victory over the Islanders. Sam Houston and TAMUCC will complete the three-game series and the regular season Saturday at 1 p.m.
