Ryan Collins helped stave off a Northwestern State rally to keep the Lions alive on Thursday.
Southeastern Louisiana 9 Northwestern State 7
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Lions jumped out to a big lead with seven runs in the first two innings, but it was the bullpen that came up big on Thursday for the Southeastern Louisiana baseball team (36-21, 22-13 Southland Conference) as the Lions held off a rally by the Northwestern State Demons (26-26, 18-15 SLC) to advance to day three of the 2009 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament with a 9-7 win on Wednesday morning.
The Lions, who fell into the loser’s bracket after a 9-2 loss to Sam Houston State in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, wasted little time in jumping out to a lead on Thursday.
Senior second baseman Ty Summerlin got things started with his fourth home run of the season. Summerlin’s shot followed a lead-off single by sophomore center fielder Cass Hargis to put the Lions out in front 2-0 after one.
The Lions extended that lead in a big way in the second, sending ten men to the plate and scoring five runs. Hargis picked up an RBI on a sacrfice bunt safety squeeze to score junior right hander Philip Freeman, senior left fielder Brandon Street had a two-run double and sophomore catcher Josh Cryer’s two-out RBI single gave the Lions a 7-0 advantage and chased Northwestern State starter Jimmy Heard from the ballgame after just 1.2 IP.
Southeastern Louisiana Recap
Northwestern State Recap
UT-Arlington 7 Stephen F Austin 4
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Nathan Long broke the UT Arlington single-season strikeout record and Matt Otteman went 2-for-3 and hit his eighth home run of the season while helping UT Arlington to a 7-4 victory over Stephen F. Austin in loser’s bracket competition on Thursday at the Southland Conference Tournament at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The victory for the Mavericks marked their first postseason win since claiming the 2006 SLC Tournament, the first career postseason win for second-year head coach Darin Thomas and the Mavs first win over Stephen F. Austin this season.
“It was a good win,” Thomas said. “We talked last night about how disappointed we were and how just one win would get us some momentum and will get us into Friday.”
The Mavericks used multi-hit games from five hitters to produce runs in six separate innings. Long, meanwhile, was solid winning his sixth game of the season while pitching 7.0 innings with eight strikeouts and scattering eight base hits.
The Lumberjacks grabbed the early lead with an RBI double in the first inning before senior designated hitter Mitch Putman hit his fifth home run this month with a towering home run over the left-field fence to tie the score at 1-1.
UT-Arlington Recap
Stephen F Austin Recap
Sam Houston State 8 UT-San Antonio 6
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Sam Houston State catcher Mark Wyatt sent a towering shot over the fence in left field in the bottom the 11th inning to give the Bearkats an 8-6 tug-a-war victory over UTSA Friday at the Southland Conference Tournament in Whataburger Field.
The win extended the Bearkats’ win streak in the conference tournament to 10 games and put them in good position of reaching Saturday’s championship game. Sam Houston awaits the winner of tomorrow’s 9 a.m. game between second-seed Southeastern Louisiana and third-seed UTSA. That game will be played Friday at 4 p.m. and a Bearkat win puts them in the championship contest Saturday at 6 p.m.
Thursday’s thriller was a game neither wanted to let out of their grasp.
Trailing 4-3 through seven innings, UTSA (32-23) erupted for three runs in the top of the eighth to take a two-run lead. Center fielder Michael Rockett doubled in the first two runs and third baseman Lance Brown drove in another.
But just like they did in the sixth after the Roadrunners took a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the inning, the Bearkats again had an answer. In that bottom of the sixth, Sam Houston reclaimed the lead with two-run home run by right fielder Tyler Knight.
In the eighth, a two-run double down the right-field line by center fielder Adam DeLaGarza tied the game and forced extra innings. UTSA went in order in the ninth, while the Bearkats stranded two in the bottom half. After the Roadrunners went in order again in the 10th, Sam Houston left the winning run at third.
Texas State 6 Lamar 0 3rd
