Southeastern Louisiana 4, Texas Southern 1
HAMMOND, La. – The 2010 Southeastern Louisiana baseball team now has the school’s all-time best winning streak all to itself. After tying the mark Friday, the Lions broke it Saturday, taking their 11th straight game to improve to 11-0 on the year. The 4-1 victory over Texas Southern also clinched the series for Southeastern.
The Lions, ranked No. 29 nationally by Collegiate Baseball, received a solid pitching performance by starter Brandon Efferson (3-0). He threw 6.2 innings, giving up just one run on three hits. Efferson struck out six Tigers and allowed one walk. Josh Janway earned his second save, going the final two and one third innings, not allowing any runs or hits and striking out one.
Southeastern scored three runs in the bottom of the second to break a scoreless tie. With Philip Freeman on first and Cody Gougler on second, Brock Hebert bunted for a hit. Third baseman Michael Norris’s throw to first sailed past the bag, allowing Freeman and Gougler to come home on the play, and Hebert to advance to third. Two batters later, Trey Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Hebert.
After Texas Southern scored one run in the top of the sixth, the Lions matched it in the bottom of the frame. With two men out, Gougler doubled to left. Next up, Freeman reached on an error by shortstop Ray Hernandez, which brought Gougler around.
Gougler was the only Lion with multiple hits, putting up a line of two-for-three with two runs scored and a walk. Jeff Harkensee contributed a third inning double, while Justin Boudreaux and Brock Hebert tallied singles to round out the Lions’ five hits. In total, Southeastern benefitted from three Texas Southern errors.
Texas Southern starter Adrian Losoya (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing three runs (one earned) and two hits in five innings. He struck out five Lions and walked one.
Southeastern will go for the three-game series sweep vs. Texas Southern Sunday.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 10, Texas State 8
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Trey Hernandez drove in five runs including a three-run home run as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi handed Texas State a 10-8 defeat in the second game of their series at Bobcat Baseball Stadium on Saturday.
The Islanders (6-3, 1-1) jumped on the board early as Trey Hernandez belted a three-run home run in the top of the first off Brian Borski. It was his fifth home run of the season and second game of the season with at least five RBI.
The lead remained three until the Islanders crossed the plate three more times in the third. Chris Vergne and Hernandez drew back-to-back one out walks. Billy Buckner drove in Vergne with a single up the middle, while Hernandez crossed home on a wild pitch by Borski. Buckner scored the final run of the inning on a single by Weston Montgomery.
After a run in the bottom of the fourth, Texas State (4-5, 1-1) pulled to within three runs in the top of the fifth. Shaun Garcia led off inning with a single, stole second and scored on a hit by Andrew Stumph. Tyler Sibley made it a 6-4 game with a two-run single.
The Islanders responded with four runs in the top of the sixth inning. After Omar Garcia singled and scored with the bases loaded on a catcher’s interference call, Hernandez drove in a pair of runs with a bases loaded single. Buckner drove in Vergne with a single to right.
A&M-Corpus Christi had to hold off a pair of two-run rallies in the eighth and ninth innings.
In the eighth, Jake Liedka allowed a two-run home run to Kyle Kubitza. Texas State loaded the bases in the final inning with Kubtiza again driving in a pair with two away but Chris Pena ended threat by getting Jason Martinson to ground out earning his first save as an Islander.
Ian Campbell moved to 2-1 on the season as he started in place of Brandon Orr. Liedka, Roman Madrid and Pena followed out of the bullpen. Borski fell to 1-2 for the Bobcats.
Stephen F. Austin 8, Western Illinois 2
Western Illinois 13, Stephen F. Austin 6
NORMAN, Okla. – The Stephen F. Austin baseball team won its third straight game of the season on Saturday, running away with an 8-2 win over Western Illinois in the first game of a day-night doubleheader against the Leathernecks on the second day of the Sooner Classic at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
SFA and Western Illinois will play again in the scheduled 7:00 p.m. game of the tournament.
The ‘Jacks (7-2) took advantage of four Leatherneck (3-3) errors and put together 15 hits as Jared West picked up his second win of the season, allowing just one run in five innings of work. He struck out three and walked four on the day.
Overall, SFA pitchers allowed just four hits to WIU hitters and did not allow the Leathernecks to reach second base from the second to seventh inning. Cory Ochs bridged the gap to the ninth with three innings of work, allowing just two hits and allowing just one unearned run. Landon Kozeny got the final three outs in his fifth appearance of the season.
One again Garrett Smith led the offense with three hits in five at bats, including a run scored and two RBI. On the day the top two spots in the lineup and the No. 9 hole combined to go 8-for-14 with five RBI. Ryan Priest also rebounded from a disappointing showing on Friday to go 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored.
Western Illinois got to West early on with a run in the top of the first, but the junior worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam, allowing just one run. A double and a pair of walks had the bases juiced before a Dan Dispensa grounder plated a run, but West got Tom Lilja looking one batter later to get out of the inning.
SFA left a runner stranded on third in its half of the first, but cracked the scoring column in its half of the second. A leadoff walk to Jarid Scarafiotti and a Leatherneck error put the first two runners on for the ‘Jacks and Ryan Priest knotted it up with a double down the left-field line that scored Scarafiotti with Bo Coffman being thrown out at home plate on the play. Michael Haynes then continued his hot play with a single to shortstop two batters later that scored Priest from third for an early 2-1 SFA lead.
The ‘Jacks had another chance for a big inning in the third against Lingle with four hits in the inning, but the ‘Necks picked off Coffman from second after a leadoff double for the first out before SFA strung together four straight singles that resulted in an RBI by Garrett Smith. But one batter later Tanner Hines hit a sharp line drive to Anthony Kaskadden at shortstop who turned a double play to keep it just a 3-1 game through four innings.
Lingle made it through the fifth, but could not make it through the sixth as the ‘Jacks got to him for three runs on RBI hits from Haynes and Smith before David Hill came on in relief. The ‘Jacks ended up batting around in the inning, plating four runs to push the lead to 7-1 and break open the game.
Jordan Lewis then drove in the final SFA run of the day with a solo home run, his first of his career to left field with one out in the bottom of the eighth.
Lamar 4, Penn State 0
BEAUMONT, Texas – Matison Smith hurled Lamar’s first shutout of the season in a 4-0 defeat of Penn State.
The senior right-hander shut down the Nittany Lions on four hits. He struck out six batters and walked three in lowering his season earned run average to a miniscule 0.41.
After the Nittany Lions’ Heath Johnson and Jordan Steranka put together back-to-back singles with one out in the top of the first inning, Smith did not allow another hit until Johnson doubled down the leftfield line with one out in the sixth. Smith got out of that jam then came through with his third, three-up and three-down inning in the seventh.
Penn State’s Louie Picconi singled up the middle to lead off the eighth inning, but he was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. It was clear sailing for Smith in the ninth as he issued his third walk but also collected his final three strikeouts to complete the one hour, 53-minute game.
Smith’s teammates gave him all of the run support he really needed in the first inning when they pushed across three runs against Penn State starter and loser Steven Hill. Moore drew a walk to lead off the inning; the Nittany Lions cooperated by committing two errors in the frame, and Quentin Luquette and Wade Mathis came through with RBI singles.
The Cardinals scored their final run in the seventh inning on back-to-back singles by Aaron Buchanan and Ryan Meade and a sacrifice fly by Luquette. Meade, Luquette and freshman shortstop Tyler Theriot contributed two hits each to the Cardinals’ 11-hit attack.
Lamar and Penn State will complete the four-day tournament with a Sunday game, set for 1 p.m. in Vincent-Beck Stadium.
McNeese State 12, Lamar 9
BEAUMONT, Texas – The McNeese State Cowboy baseball team broke a four game losing streak as they walked away with a 12-9 win here over the Lamar Cardinals.
The win was the first for the Cowboys out of the three games they played in the Lamar Cardinal Classic Tournament and puts their record back at .500 with five wins and five losses.
The Cowboys scored eleven runs in the top of the sixth inning en route to beating Lamar (8-2) in the first of five meetings between the two schools. 17 batters came to the plate during the big inning.
Lee Orr doubled twice in the eleven hit inning driving in four runs. Orr was three for five at the plate with three doubles and five runs batted in while scoring twice himself. The three doubles ties a school record.
McNeese put up a quick run in the first inning with Steven Irvine driving in Jace Peterson to give the Cowboys a 1-0 lead. Lamar answered with three runs in the third and one more in the fourth for a three run advantage heading into the fifth inning.
After the 11 run outing in the fifth Lamar would cut it close, scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it a three run ball game.
“(Jonathan) Conrad threw the ball well and had a decent start,” said McNeese State head coach Terry Burrows. “He really only had the one bad inning that got them some runs. We tried to get (Tommy) Luce his first inning of the season after coming off of his finger surgery but they got to him a little bit. I’ll just chalk that up to being his first outing though.”
Cowboy starter Jonathan Conrad went six innings giving up six hits and four runs before being replaced by Zach Butler and Ryan Sampere who threw an inning a piece. Luce got his first action of the season as he gave up five runs on just a third of an inning pitched.
“The best thing about this is we get to end it on a positive note,” added Burrows. “We finally came out and got some hits and put some runs up and we’re finally hitting the breaking ball.”
Peterson had another good outing as he was three-for-five at the plate and scoring three runs and stealing his seventh base of the season in just nine attempts.
Northwestern State 3, Murray State 2
NATCHITOCHES, La. – Heath Hennigan tossed six innings and struck out eight batters and Andrew Adams picked up his first collegiate win in relief work as the Northwestern State Demons won their eighth straight game after beating Murray State 3-2.
The win improved the Demons to 8-2 on the season while Murray State fell to 4-5. Northwestern will go for the series sweep on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
“It was good to win a game like this,” said Demon head coach J.P. Davis. “We’ve had several games where we’ve won by quite a bit. We had to grind it out tonight. Overall, it was a good team effort.”
Preseason All-American Chad Sheppard threw a perfect ninth inning to pick up his third save of the season and 13th of his career. He needs four more saves to become Northwestern’s all-time career leader.
“The goal is to get to the ninth inning with the lead and bring him (Sheppard) in,” said Davis. “But the key tonight was the pitching (Andrew) Adams. He came in and was very dominant off the hill.”
Adams threw the seventh and eighth innings without surrendering a hit or a baserunner and struck out two batters. He relieved Hennigan who started the game but go the no-decision after throwing six solid innings.
“Heath got better as the game went along,” said Davis.
Offensively, the Demons got just six hits among three players, but they came when it counted the most.
Centerfielder Oscar Garcia went 2 for 2 with a RBI and a run scored and Tyler Baisley went 2 for 4 with a run scored. But it was the bat of Chase Lyles, who went 2 for 4 with a RBI that knocked in the game-winning run.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the seventh inning, Lyles belted a one-out RBI single into centerfield to score Garcia to give the Demons a 3-2 lead.
“Lyles has done it time and time again,” said Davis. “When the game is on the line, he steps up to the plate and did what he does best.”
MSU relief pitcher March Harmon took the loss after he gave up Lyles’ run-scoring single to go along with four hits. The ‘Bred finished the game with six hits with no player getting more than one.
After a scoreless first inning, Murray State got on the board in the second when Jonathan Craycraft hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Jason Laws who led off the inning with a walk.
The Demons quickly took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on a RBI single by Garcia and RBI grounder from Aaron Munoz.
The ‘Bred tied the game in the third when Elliot Frey hit a lead-off solo home run over the left field wall to tie the game at 2-2.
Laws tried to get something going for the ‘Bred in the top of the eighth, but a diving grab on a sinking liner by Garcia led to a 3-up, 3-down inning.
The eight-game winning streak is the longest by the Demons since the 2003 season.
Nicholls 7, Southern 6 (8 Innings)
Nicholls 11, Southern 6
THIBODAUX, La. – Chase Jaramillo and Blake Bergeron homered to keep the Colonel lineup rolling, and Jarret Dunnam and Clint Dempster held the Jaguar lineup in check as the Nicholls State University baseball team (7-3) extended its winning streak to seven with a double header sweep of Southern (1-4) by scores of 7-6 and 11-6 on Saturday at Ray E. Didier Field in Thibodaux.
The Colonels will look to make it eight-in-a-row by completing a series sweep of the 2009 SWAC Champion and NCAA Regional qualifers in Baton Rouge at Lee Hines Field on Sunday.
Nicholls found itself down early in game one against the Jags as Southern plated four runs in the top of the second. Nicholls got on the board with one in the bottom half, but Southern answered by reclaiming a four-run lead with a run in the top of the third to make it 5-1.
The Colonels finally sparked their rally with a three-run fifth to pull to within one. Consecutive two-out singles by Bear Comer and Jaramillo put men on for Bergeron, who brought everyone home with his first home run of the season to cut Southern’s lead to 5-4.
Nicholls pulled even in the sixth as a two-out RBI triple by Brady Bourque brought home pinch runner
Mike Barba to make it a 5-5 ballgame. Southern reclaimed the lead as a pair of passed balls allowed Curtis Wilson to plate an unearned run and make it 6-5. However, the Colonels tied things up once again as Jaramillo came home on an RBI groundout by Adam Miley to make it 6-6 after seven.
The game, originally scheduled for seven innings went to extras, as Drew Erwin came on and retired all three batters he faced for a perfect eighth inning of relief to turn the Jags away. Finally, Kasey Culverson completed the comeback with a walk-off RBI triple to score Ray Eureste for a 7-6 win.
In the nightcap, Southern once again started fast as Dempster allowed a double and hit two batters to load the bases before David Nolting delivered an RBI single to stake the Jags to a 1-0 lead after one half inning.
However, the Colonels wasted little time staging their comeback this time. Adam Miley delivered an RBI triple, and Beau Faulk followed with an RBI double to make it 2-1 after one.
The Colonels added to their cushion with a four-run second. Eureste led things off with a walk and Culverson and Comer followed with bunt singles to load the bases. After a wild pitch plated Eureste, Jaramillo launched a three-run shot to make it 6-1 Colonels after two.
Staked to an early five-run lead, Dempster began cruising through the Jaguar lineup. The Thibodaux native went seven innings pitched, allowing just one earned run on four hits while walking three and striking out seven.
Nicholls added three more in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the bottom of the seventh to pull away. The Jaguars tried to mount a comeback against the Colonel bullpen, plating three in the eighth and one more in the ninth, but it was too little too late as Nicholls claimed the 11-6 win.
BYU 11, UT Arlington 10
ARLINGTON, Texas – BYU scored nine runs off the UT Arlington bullpen in the final five innings take an 11-10 victory and avoid the series sweep on Saturday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks (4-6) pounded out 17 base hits but had seven relievers who combined allowed nine runs and six base hits with seven walks in the loss. BYU (4-7) finishes its Texas road trip with a 2-3 record with wins over UT Arlington and Baylor while dropping a pair to UTA and one against Texas A&M.
UT Arlington was led by All-American Michael Choice’s 3-for-4 performance, which included an RBI double and a solo home run to right field in the seventh inning. Sophomore first baseman Jordan Vaughn (2-for-5) also homered in the seventh inning, going back-to-back with Choice.
Every UT Arlington starting position player recorded at least one base hit while Steffan Guest (2-for-5) and Chad Comer (2-for-5) also had two-hit games and freshman Preston Beck led all players going 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Beck finished the series batting .643 (9-for-14) with two, four-hit performances.
Choice made his first career appearance on the mound in the top of the ninth inning as he allowed the game-winning, two-run home run to BYU center fielder Stephen Wells with one out. Wells’ homer to right field was the third home run by the Cougars this season.
Senior right-handed pitcher Kevin Sloan earned his second win of the season pitching 1.1 innings allowing one hit and one walk for BYU.
The Mavericks will continue their homestand next week with a pair of midweek games starting Tuesday, March 9, hosting No. 7 TCU at 6:30 p.m. and then on Wednesday, March 10, with Creighton coming to Arlington for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
Nevada 13, Central Arkansas 6
RENO, Nev. – The University of Central Arkansas baseball team failed to hold on to a late one-run lead as Nevada used an eight-run eighth inning to win the second game of the series 13-6 on Saturday. The Wolfpack (7-3) outhit the Bears (3-6) 17-11. The series finale will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. central time at Peccole Park.
UCA started the game with an early bang when sophomore third baseman Blake Roberts connected on a two-run homer over the left center fence. Nevada answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer from left fielder Brian Barnett.
UCA took the lead in the fourth when Roberts singled and scored on a double by senior center fielder Tye Throneberry. The Wolfpack took a 4-3 lead with a two-run double by first baseman Shaun Kort. They added another run in the sixth when Ronnie Mitchell II led off with a base hit and scored on Kevin Rodland base hit.
Bear catcher Michael Marietta doubled in the seventh and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior shortstop Kyle Prevett, cutting the lead to 5-4. The Bears regained the lead in the eighth with a two-run double from sophomore right fielder Jake Fuller.
The Wolfpack offense exploded with eight runs on five hits and four walks, two of which came with the bases loaded, in the bottom of the eighth. Nick Leid had a two-run double and Mitchell knocked in two on a base hit in the inning.
Nevada center fielder Westley Moss went 4-for-4 with two runs scored Brock Stassi added three hits and Kort and Barnett drove in three each. Roberts led UCA by going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Marietta and freshman first baseman Ethan Harris, who has a hit in each of UCA’s nine games this season, had two hits apiece.
Tyler Graham (1-0) picked up the win for the Wolfpack, allowing four hits and striking out two in 1.2 innings of relief. Starter Chris Garcia went 6.1 innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs while fanning two. UCA reliever Evan Cox (0-3) allowed two hits, three runs and two walks in two innings in the losing effort. Senior starter Bobby Pritchett gave up 11 hits, five runs, two walks and struck out four over 5.1 innings.
Northern Colorado 5, Sam Houston State 3
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Joe Willman pitched a complete game, spreading five hits over nine innings and striking out four Bearkats as Northern Colorado defeated Sam Houston State 5-3 Saturay night.
The Bears defeated Creighton 10-3 in the early game Saturday to put both Northern Colorado and the Blue Jays at 2-1 in the Bearkat Baseball Invitational tournament. Sam Houston is 0-2 in the tournament and drops to 1-9 for the year.
The Blue Jays scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and another in the second to go up 4-0. Sam Houston rallied for a run in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Designated hitter Seth Budde hit a three-run homer in the first for Northern Colorado. Mark Hudson went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a home run to lead Sam Houston.
Paul Spinn (0-2) went seven innings for Sam Houston, giving up 10 hits and striking out nine batters. Justin Jackson pitched one inning in relief.
The Bearkats will play two games to close the tournament Sunday, meeting Northern Colorado at 11 a.m. and Creighton 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
UTSA 9, San Francisco 8
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – UTSA plated a pair of runs in the ninth on a run-scoring double by senior Jeff Taliaferro and a pinch hit RBI single by sophomore Jason Mohn and the Roadrunners (6-4) halted their four-game losing streak with a 9-8 victory on Saturday at San Francisco’s Benedetti Diamond.
Trailing 8-7 with just two outs to go, the Roadrunners’ rally began when senior Ryan Rummel stroked a one-out two-bagger to left off Dons reliever Joe Oropeza, which chased the right-handed reliever from the game. USF head coach Nino Giarratano then called on Sean Burns (0-1) to face Taliaferro and the Roadrunner’s catcher lined Burns’ 1-0 offering off the wall in left to tie the game. Senior Eric Johnson was called from the bench to pinch run for Taliaferro and the Lufkin native promptly moved to third on a wild pitch. Mohn then delivered a base hit to left and that put UTSA in front for the first time.
Junior right-hander Kevin Clarke was able to retire the side in the bottom of the frame on just one hit, giving the Roadrunners their first win in the last seven days. Clarke (2-0), who entered the game with a runner on first and nobody down in the eighth, surrendered the go-ahead single that frame (run charged to junior Taylor Walton) but did not allow a run of his own over the final two frames and he picked up the victory.
San Francisco (5-5), playing its first true home game of the spring, lit up the scoreboard first with a three-run second off UTSA southpaw starter Matt Crocker. After UTSA responded with three marks one inning later, the Dons went back in front on Derek Poppert’s home run to lead off the third.
A two-out single off the bat of sophomore Casey Selsor in the fourth knotted the tilt at four, but Ryan Lipkin’s three-run homer to left off Crocker put USF back in front by three.
The Roadrunners rallied once again, this time with three marks on four hits in the seventh, including three consecutive doubles with two down and they tied the contest at seven.
Selsor was 3-for-4 with a double, walk and three runs scored, while Rummel, who was making his first start of the season, added three hits, including a pair of two-baggers, and he crossed the plate twice. Taliaferro added two doubles of his own to go along with a pair of RBIs and freshman Ryan Dalton was 2-for-4 with two runs.
