This is your SLC recap for March 28
Central Arkansas 8 #27 Southeastern Louisiana 6
The University of Central Arkansas Bears knocked off their first ranked opponent of the season on Sunday, beating #21 Southeastern Louisiana 8-6 in Southland Conference play at Alumni Field.
The win allowed the Bears (8-16, 3-6) to salvage the final game of the weekend series and hand the Lions (22-3, 7-2) just their second home loss of the season. UCA got 13 hits off three SLU pitchers and took advantage of four errors by the Lions, three in the decisive seventh inning.
The Lions led 2-0 after two innings but the Bears responded with three runs in the top of the third. Junior Kyle Prevett singled to left field and sophomore Jordan Getchell doubled to center. Ethan Harris’ sacrifice fly scored the first run and Clay Washington doubled to right for the second. Sophomore Blake Roberts singled to left field and SLU’s Jeff Harkensee misplayed it, allowing Washington to score for a 3-2 UCA lead.
After the Lions tied it in the fourth, the Bears got a single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead for good. A three-run seventh inning gave them even more of a cushion. FULL STORY
Texas State 5 Lamar 2
Lee Colon allowed only two hits over seven innings to outlast 2009 Freshman of the Year Eric Harrington on the mound and aided the Texas State Bobcats 5-2 victory over the Lamar Cardinals en route to a three-game Southland Conference sweep Sunday afternoon at Bobcat Field.
Texas State is now 7-2 in league play and 14-8 overall, while Lamar falls to 2-7 against SLC opponents and 15-9 overall. Colon (3-1) posted four scoreless innings, retired the side in order in the first, second and seventh inning and concluded the day with six strikeouts.
“The key to winning any game is the pitching and I thought Lee was amazing today,” said head coach Ty Harrington. “He was competitive and worked even harder in the seventh when we tied the game up.”
“The last six outs are always the hardest to get and Covey (Morrow) and Garret Carruth did their job to help us close out the game.”
Morrow faced two batters in the eighth, hit one and struck out the second and Carruth relieved the lefty with runners on first and second. Wade Mathis belted a base hit through the right side that could have been trouble for the Bobcats, but Laurn Randell overhauled the throw in to home plate to catch Aaron Buchanan at the plate to end the threat. Carruth faced just three batters in the ninth and picked up his third save of the season.
Lamar utilized the small ball to break open the scoreless game in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back walks put the Cardinals in scoring position and Joey Latulippe laid down a sacrifice bunt for a better look at the plate. Andy Mena followed with a sacrifice fly to push the first run across and a base hit through the ride side gave Lamar a 2-0 edge. FULL STORY
Sam Houston State 8 UTSA 6 1,000th career win for SHSU’s Mark Johnson
Sam Houston head coach Mark Johnson earned his 1,000 career coaching victory Sunday afternoon as the Bearkats rallied from 6-4 down to defeat UTSA 8-6 at Roadrunner Field.
Johnson, who coached for 21 years at Texas A&M and the past four at Sam Houston, has compiled a 1000-517-3 record. He stands as the 15th active coach and the 44th coach all-time to win 1,000 games as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level.
Second baseman Braeden Riley’s RBI double and a run-scoring single by first baseman Taylor Davis gave Sam Houston a two-run lead in the eighth inning. Center fielder Mark Hudson tied the game on a ground out to third base to score shortstop Ryan Mooney in the sixth inning. Mooney had singled and advanced on a Roadrunner error.
The Bearkats totaled their eight runs on 11 hits and four UTSA errors. Sam Houston led 3-0 and 4-2 before UTSA took a 6-4 lead with a four-run fifth inning.
Brandon Kimbrel (2-0) picked up the victory in relief, giving up only two hits in the final two and two-thirds innings. Brent Powers, Sam Houston’s starter, struck out 10 of the 24 batters he faced before leaving in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The victory gave the Bearkats a series sweep over UTSA .Sam Houston (11-13 6-3 Southland) has won six games in a row and eight of its last 10 contests. FULL STORY
Stephen F. Austin 17 Nicholls State 10
In what looked like it would be a runaway win for Stephen F. Austin, the Lumberjack offense had to keep scoring as SFA picked up a 17-10 win over Nicholls in the series finale at Ray E. Didier Field.
The win gives the `Jacks (15-7, 6-2 Southland) the series win over the Colonels (13-10, 4-5 Southland), but it was far from easy as the Colonels trimmed a 12-run SFA lead to just four runs at 14-10 before SFA was able to hang on.
The `Jacks were able to take advantage of 11 walks by Colonel pitchers and added 20 hits, and despite scoring 17 times could have scored more as they left 17 runners on base.
Bo Coffman and Ryan Priest led the offensive charge with four RBI apiece, with Priest finishing 4-for-5 on the afternoon. All but one SFA hitter picked up at least one hit, with eight `Jacks finishing with at least two.
Cory Ochs earned his first win of the season with 2.1 innings in relief of Brett Rogers, who just lasted 2.2 innings in the start. Tyler Minto was the first of eight Colonel pitchers to see the hill and took his first loss of the season, allowing five runs in just 2.2 innings.
After Adam Miley opened the scoring with a solo home run to lead off the second inning for Nicholls, the `Jacks got their bats going in the top half of the third. SFA did all its damage with two outs, starting with a triple by Darren Crabtree that was followed by an RBI single from Bobby Loveless. Bo Coffman then homered to right field one batter later to give SFA a 3-1 lead before Ryan Priest, Jordan Lewis and Riley Huble delivered hits of their own with Lewis’ and Huble’s driving in runs. FULL STORY
McNeese State 12 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
The McNeese State Cowboys completed a three game sweep of the Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Islanders with a 12-2 victory in seven innings here Sunday afternoon.
The contest was called due to the Southland Conference’s ten run rule.
The sweep is the first for McNeese (11-11, 5-4) over a conference opponent since 2008 when the Cowboys defeated Nicholls State in three games.
The Cowboys headed into the bottom of the seventh inning up eight runs before an Andy Riche’ double scored both Matt Fontenot and Jordan Venable to end the game.
McNeese jumped out to the early lead and never looked back, putting up eight runs in the first three innings including a pair of three run outings in the bottom of the third and fourth innings.
“Everybody swung the bat and got a hit,” said McNeese State head coach Terry Burrows. “Steven Irvine continues to have good at bats as well as Jace Peterson. They’re definitely the two toughest outs in our line-up but I’m just really proud of all the guys today.” FULL STORY
UT Arlington 10 Northwestern State 3
NATCHITOCHES, La. – Michael Choice homered twice and went 3-for-4 with four RBI to lead UT Arlington to its second straight Southland Conference series victory with a 10-3 win over Northwestern State Sunday afternoon at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Mavericks (12-12, 5-4 SLC) scored nine runs in the final four innings while starting pitcher Logan Bawcom (2-1) won his second straight start for the Mavs pitching 8.0 innings and allowing three runs and one walk with six strikeouts. The loss dropped Northwestern State to 16-6 overall and to 4-4 in Southland Conference play.
Choice, who homered four times in four games on the week, belted opposite-field homers in the fourth (solo) and ninth innings (2-run) while tallying his third career multi-homer game. Choice leads the Southland Conference and is tied for fifth in the nation with 11 home runs this season.
Junior shortstop Jesse Payne homered for the second straight game hitting a solo home run to right field in the eighth inning.
The Demons scored the first run of the game off Bawcom in the second inning, but then the junior right-hander settled in allowing only four hits and two runs the rest of the way. Northwestern State also scored a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and in the seventh on a wild pitch. FULL STORY
