This is your SLC recap for April 17th.
Texas State 12 #23 Southeastern Louisiana 10
Southeastern Louisiana put the tying run on base in the bottom of the eleventh, but Garret Carruth earned his third win of the season warding off the foe with a fanned batter and a groundout straight off his chin to hand Texas State a 12-10 extra-inning victory over the 23rd-ranked foe Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Carruth entered in the eighth with a 10-9 lead and retired two batters to line himself up for his sixth save of the season, but Jeff Harkensee took the seniors first pitch in the ninth over the right field wall to tie the game. Carruth allowed just two more hits over the next two innings, closing out the day with a 3 2/3 effort and a pair of strikeouts.
“It was an unbelievable effort on his part,” said assistant coach Derek Matlock. “He wanted the ball and showed how much he wanted the win for the team, lying out and finishing the game after being hit.”
Prior to threat, Jeff McVaney came through for Texas State in the top half of the eleventh, driving in Bret Atwood who reached on his lone single of the afternoon, with a triple off the right center wall. Kyle Kubitza followed up with an RBI double to tack on cushion.
SLU sprouted a 5-1 lead through two innings thanks to a pair of two-run homers from Justin Boudreaux. Jason Martinson helped trim the margin to 5-3 with a two-run single into right field that improved his hit streak to 21-straight games. The mark ties a Texas State school record set by Terrence Moore in 1999. FULL STORY
Nicholls State 5 Central Arkansas 3
Junior lefty Clint Dempster threw his first 9.0 inning complete game on Saturday, limiting Central Arkansas (11-23, 4-13 Southland Conference) to just one earned run on five hits and two walks while striking out eight to lead the Nicholls State University baseball team (16-18, 7-10 Southland) to a 5-3 win over the Bears on Saturday.
Dempster overpowered the Bears early on, facing just two batters over the minimum through the first 5.0 innings.
With Dempster cruising through the UCA lineup, the Nicholls offense got to work. Beau Faulk singled home Adam Miley with a two-out double to stake Nicholls to a 1-0 in the first.
The Colonels extended their lead with a three-run fourth. Brady Bourque and Steven Gauthe each drove in a run with an RBI single and Chase Jaramillo scored on wild pitch as Nicholls went up 4-0 after four innings. FULL STORY
Lamar 4 Sam Houston State 0
Lamar University’s Eric Harrington shut down Sam Houston State 4-0 on six hits Saturday afternoon in pitching his first shutout of the season and the third of two-year Cardinal career.
A sophomore right-hander from Port Neches-Groves, Harrington struck out three batters, walked only one and threw 76 of his 103 pitches for strikes.
Harrington, who improved to 5-1 on the season, got into serious trouble only in the fourth inning when second baseman Braeden Riley beat out an infield single and Chris Andreas doubled down the rightfield line to give the Bearkats runners at second and third with one out. Harrington wiggled out of the jam by retiring Jessie Plumley and Daniel Nottebart on successive flyouts to Quentin Luquette in right field.
The complete game was Harrington’s second of the season, the Cardinals’ second in row and their fifth on the season.
Shortstop Aaron Harrington, first baseman Wade Mathis and catcher Joey Latulippe had two hits each to pace the Cardinals’ eight-hit attack. In hitting safely in his eighth-straight game, Buchanan sliced his first triple of the season into the leftfield corner with one out in the seventh inning but failed to score. FULL STORY
Stephen F. Austin 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
Garrett Smith hit a bases-loaded walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth to give SFA its second straight 4-3 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at Jaycees Field.
SFA (23-10, 11-5 Southland) had not turned more than two double-plays on the year, but turned four on Saturday to negate 11 Islander (13-23, 5-12 Southland) hits against Lumberjack pitching.
Jared West gave up 10 of those hits, but kept the `Jacks in the game by issuing just one walk in a career-best seven innings; however, it was Cory Ochs that got the win to move to 2-0 on the year with two innings of scoreless relief.
Ian Campbell took the loss for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as he walked the leadoff man in the bottom of the ninth for what proved to be the winning run.
Once again it was the Islanders that jumped out in front early as Matt Holland delivered a sacrifice fly in the top of the third that scored Caleb Marx, who finished the day with three hits, including a pair of doubles. The inning could have yielded more for the Islanders, but Smith ended the inning by gunning down Trey Hernandez at home plate as he attempted to score from second on a single by Cory Ege. FULL STORY
UT Arlington 13 McNeese State 3
UT Arlington used a season-high 22 base hits with every starter recording at least two hits in a 13-3 victory over McNeese State Saturday in front of 873 fans at Cowboy Diamond. UT Arlington (16-20, 9-8 SLC) snapped a five-game losing skid while the Cowboys (20-14, 10-7 SLC) lost at home for the first time since March 24.
Rett Varner (4-4) threw 8.0 innings while allowing three runs (two earned) and scattering seven hits with four strikeouts to pace the Mavericks on the mound.
UTA scored in six of nine innings – with multiple runs in five frames – while coming up clutch at the plate delivering eight, two-out RBI in the game. Nick Orr led the Mavericks going 4-for-6 with three runs, two doubles and a triple while Preston Beck (3-for-6, 2 RBI) and Steffan Guest (3-for-5, 3 RBI) each finished with three hits.
The Mavericks never trailed scoring two in the first and then adding two in the third, a run in the fourth, two in the sixth and three runs in each the eighth and ninth innings. UTA’s previous season-high was 20 base hits against BYU (3/4).
UT Arlington finished with a season-high 10 extra-base hits in the game with season-highs in doubles (7) and triples (2) and Chad Comer hit his fourth home run of the season over the scoreboard in left field for a two-run shot in the eighth.
Junior All-American Michael Choice reached base in four of six plate appearances going 2-for-4 with three runs scored, one walk, one hit by pitch, one stolen base and one RBI. Choice has now reached base safely in 48 consecutive games dating back to last season. FULL STORY
Northwestern State 6 UTSA 5
Northwestern State 12 UTSA 2
Northwestern State right fielder Tyler Baisley had a bottom-of-the-ninth walk-off single in game one then blasted two home runs in game two as the Demons completed a three-game Southland Conference baseball sweep over Texas-San Antonio 6-5 and 12-2 in eight innings in a Saturday doubleheader.
The wins were the fifth and sixth straight for the Demons and ninth in the last 12 games as they improve to 25-10 overall and 12-5 in league play – leaping Southeastern Louisiana, a 12-10 loser to Texas State on Satuday, for second place in the conference standings. The Demons now prepare for back-to-back games against LSU on Tuesday in Shreveport and Wednesday in Baton Rouge.
UTSA fell to 13-21 on the season and 4-14 in the conference and sits in a tie for last place with Central Arkansas in the standings.
“It was just a really good day for us,” said NSU head coach J.P. Davis. “We did a tremendous job offensively and the pitching of Zim (Ryan Zimmerman) and (Andrew) Adams was really good.”
Zimmerman got a no-decision in game one after he threw 7.1 innings and gave up five runs, only two earned, with a walk a five strikeouts while Adams (2-3) picked up the win in game two after he allowed just one run on five hits with seven Ks in six innings of work.
“I think we found our Sunday starter in Adams,” said Davis.
In the first game, Baisley, who finished the day 5-for-9 with six RBIs, two home runs and a double, singled through the left side field to drive in the winning run as Northwestern State rallied from a 5-3 ninth-inning deficit with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Roadrunners 6-5. FULL STORY
