Photo by David Cohen, (BHEphotos/College Baseball Daily)
Strike one: Gauchos get a crucial conference victory
UC Santa Barbara narrowed Cal State Fullerton’s Big West conference lead to two games with a 3-2 victory Friday. Gauchos starting pitcher Shane Bieber secured his ninth victory of the season by allowing just two runs over seven innings. He was relieved by Kyle Nelson, who struck out six of the seven hitters he faced, on his way to his sixth save of the season.
UC Santa Barbara will try to clinch the series Saturday, which would move them one game out of first place in the Big West standings.
Strike two: Atlantic Sun race heats up
Kennesaw State lost to Stetson 6-2 Friday, and the Owls’ overall record sits just below .500 at 24-25. Even with the losing overall record, Kennesaw State’s 12-4 conference record after Friday’s action still gives the Owls the top spot in the Atlantic Sun standings by a game.
Jacksonville and North Florida both defeated conference opponents Friday and narrowed the Atlantic Sun’s regular season race to just two games between the three teams. Jacksonville sits just a game behind Kennesaw State, and North Florida is now just two games behind the Owls in the Atlantic Sun standings.
The Atlantic Sun regular season champion will hold the top seed in the conference tournament that grants the league’s automatic bid into the field of 64 to its winner. The Atlantic Sun has the potential to send at least one at-large bid into the NCAA tournament in addition to the automatic bid.
Strike three: Lauer’s no-no grabs Kent State the top seed
Kent State secured the MAC regular season title with a 14-0 drumming of Bowling Green Friday. Eric Lauer tossed the 11th no-hitter in Kent State’s program history and struck out 13 hitters to earn his ninth victory of the year. Bowling Green’s only base runner of the night reached on an error in the bottom of the third inning.
Kent State led 2-0 going into the top of the ninth. Catcher Pete Schuler led off by belting a solo home run, and the Golden Flashes batted through the order twice to add 12 more runs. Each player in Kent State’s batting order recorded at least one base hit and scored a run in the game.
The victory awards Kent State with the number one seed in the MAC tournament. The winner of the tournament will receive the MAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
