UTSA 8, UT Arlington 2
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Sophomore left-hander Casey Selsor tossed the first complete game of his career and he benefited from three home runs, as UTSA picked up an 8-2 victory against UT Arlington on Friday night at Roadrunner Field.
The Roadrunner won their first Southland Conference game of the season to improve to 9-7 overall and 1-3 in league contests.
Selsor (3-1), who retired nine of the final 11 hitters he faced, gave up two runs (one earned) on just six hits and a pair of walks, while striking out four in the 134-pitch outing (83 strikes). He was aided by home runs from junior Jason Mohn, freshman Ryan Dalton and senior Jeff Taliaferro.
"We played good in all three phases of the game tonight," Selsor said after the victory. "For the most part, everything was working for me. I struggled a little with my fastball in the middle innings, but after that, I really was able to get in a rhythm. It was huge to get our first conference win and now we have a chance to win a series tomorrow."
"Casey threw an outstanding game," UTSA coach Sherman Corbett said. "He began to get really strong in the seventh inning. I asked him before the ninth how he felt and he told me he was ready to finish it up. Even though we committed three errors, we made some plays behind him when we need to. I also thought the hitters did a good job of working their at-bats against an extremely good pitcher."
After the Mavericks (7-11, 1-3 Southland) plated an unearned run in the third, UTSA responded with a three-spot in the bottom of the inning when senior Ryan Rummel delivered a bases-clearing double down the left-field line with one down. It was a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night.
Mohn's first homer of the year, a two-run shot to left center, pushed the lead to 5-1 two frames later.
UTA's preseason All-American Michael Choice launched his league-leading seventh bomb of the year to lead off the sixth to pull the Mavs within three, but the Birds added three more in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
Rummel led off the panel with a single to right and Dalton launched a two-run shot to left three hitters later for his fourth long ball of the year. Taliaferro then followed with a homer to the same part of the field, which was his third of the spring.
Jason Mitchell (2-2) went the distance for UT Arlington, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on nine hits. He walked one and fanned five.
Mohn and Rummel both had a pair of hits for the Roadrunners, while Jordan Vaughn led the Mavericks with his 2-for-4 effort at the plate.
The three-game series continues Saturday at 2 p.m
Northwestern State 4, Stephen F. Austin 2
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Luke Irvine picked up his third straight victory and Chad Sheppard tied the Northwestern State career record in saves with his 16th - sixth of the season and the Demons defeated Stephen F. Austin 4-2 in Southland Conference baseball action on Friday.
The win moved the Demons to 14-3 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. It's the 14th win in the last 15 games for the Demons. SFA fell to 12-5 overall as it drops its first league game of the season and dropped to 3-1.
"Getting the first win of a series is pretty important," Northwestern coach J.P. Davis said. "SFA is a good ball club and they came in playing well. It was a well played game between both of us."
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m.with Heath Hennigan expected to get the start on the bump but a weather forecast that's calling for heavy rain could alter the starting time or push the game back to Sunday.
Irvine (3-0), the reigning Southland Conference and Louisiana Pitcher of the Week, remained perfect on the year after he hurled six innings and gave up just one run, none earned, on four hits with eight strikeouts. He saw his consecutive scoreless inning streak come to an end at 17 straight when SFA scored on a pass ball with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning to wreck the shutout.
"Luke (Irvine) was very good again today and really did a great job of establishing his off-speed stuff. There were two innings where he got into trouble and was able to get out of it."
Dustin Northcott, who tossed 18 pitches and 14 of those for strikes, threw a scoreless seventh and eighth inning to set up Sheppard to get his sixth save of the season. With the save, Sheppard now has 16 in his career, tying Skip Madden, who pitched from 1990-91, as the school's all-time career saves leaders.
"As good as we were on the mound today, we were just as good defensively," said Davis, whose team committed zero errors for the fifth time this season. "The two go hand-in-hand. (Tyler) Baisley made a great catch there in the fourth or fifth inning, then we turn the double play in the eighth inning.
Demon shortstop Trent Grondin led an 11-hit attack by going 3-for-5 while Chase Lyles, Adam Roy, and Justin Martinez each had two hits.
Lyles extended his career-long hitting streak to 16 games after a two-out, fifth inning single.
"Offensively, we did a nice job. The wind was blowing in and we did a nice job of adjusting to get on top of the ball."
SFA's Tyler Herriage (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season after his gave up three runs on eight hits with three walks and a strikeout.
After a scoreless first inning, the Demons scored three runs in the second when Tyler Baisley led-off with a walk, stole second, then scored on a Roy double to leftfield to make it 1-0.
Martinez followed with a walk and Aaron Munoz hit an RBI grounder to score Roy to make it 2-0. Eric DeBlanc then hit a push bunt single to first to score Martinez and give the Demons a 3-0 lead.
SFA got its first run in the fifth after Bo Coffman reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to third on a Ryan Priest double, then scored when Munoz couldn't handle an Irvine pitch.
Northwestern added another run in the top of the ninth when Oscar Garcia reached first on a two-out walk, went to third on a Grondin single to centerfield, and scored when Lyles singled to center.
"That run in the ninth was huge for us," said Davis. I've said it before, Chase Lyles does it all the time for us and he did it for us again today to give us the three-run cushion. But it wasn't only at the plate today, he made two really tough catches at third base with the wind blowing the ball around, one of them to end the game."
The Lumberjacks came back with a run in the bottom of the inning and had the tying run at the plate, but the threat faded when Priest fouled out to Lyles to end the game.
No. 17 Southeastern Louisiana 6, McNeese State 5
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Cass Hargis went 3-for-5, driving in the eventual go-ahead run in a three-run fifth inning, and Tyler Watkins fanned seven batters in 5.2 innings as No. 17 Southeastern Louisiana held off a ninth inning rally by McNeese State to claim a 6-5 victory Friday night at Cowboy Diamond.
Freshman Brock Hebert went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs as Southeastern (17-1, 4-0 Southland Conference) scored six unanswered runs after trailing 2-0 after three innings. Southeastern scored a run in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Josh Cryer before taking the lead for good in the fifth.
Joe Sparacino led off the inning with a double before scoring two batters later on a single by Hebert. Hargis gave Southeastern a 3-2 lead when he doubled to left-center field off McNeese starter Dustin Lloyd (0-4) that scored Hebert and Justin Boudreaux extended his hitting streak to 10 games when he doubled off Lloyd to drive in Hargis.
Hebert gave Southeastern a 6-2 lead in the ninth with a bloop single over the head of shortstop Matt Fontenot that scored Chris Franklin and Philip Freeman.
Watkins (2-1) earned his first win since a March 3 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. The right-hander retired the side to open the game before McNeese (7-8, 1-3 Southland) scored a run in the second and third inning.
Fontenot, who went 3-for-4, tripled to the gap in right-center field to drive in Steven Irvine that gave the Cowboys a 1-0 lead. McNeese State built a 2-0 lead in the third as Jace Peterson hit a one-out single, moved to third on a single by Lee Orr and scored on Irvine's sacrifice fly to center.
The Cowboys threatened in the sixth inning after Fontenot hit a one-out single and Bryn Thompson followed with a double to right. After Watkins fanned Jordan Venable for the second out, Josh Janway came in for the Lions and got Andy Riche' to ground back to the mound to end the inning.
The Cowboys put runners on first and second in the ninth off Janway before Franklin came on in relief. Blake Ellender greeted Franklin with a two-run triple and scored on Peterson's ground out, but Franklin fanned Orr and got Irvine to ground out to third to record his fifth save of the year.
Lloyd scattered nine hits and fanned five batters in his longest outing of the season for McNeese State.
The series will resume Saturday as the teams will face off at 1 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 3 p.m., but was moved up due to the threat of inclement weather in the area on Saturday.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14, Nicholls 3 (7 innings)
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pounded out 17 hits including three home runs as it stormed past Nicholls 14-3 in seven innings in the first game of a three-game Southland Conference series at Chapman Field on Friday.
With the run-rule victory, A&M-Corpus Christi improved 9-8 overall and evened its Southland mark at 2-2. Nicholls dropped to 11-6 overall and 2-2 in the Southland. It was the first time since the 2007 season that the Islanders run-ruled an opponent in Southland action. They did it three times that season including back-to-back games against Nicholls the last time they accomplished the feat.
"We did everything well today," Islander coach Scott Malone said. "I am really pleased considering how disappointed we were after Wednesday's loss to Houston Baptist. The reason we were so upset as coaches is we think we can be a really good team and we showed that today.
"Most importantly, we did that against a team that is really good. Nicholls was 2-0 after two games with Lamar last weekend."
Nicholls jumped out to a pair of early leads versus the Islanders. A&M-Corpus Christi responded quickly each time.
The Colonels scored an unearned run in the first off Roy Ferdin, but the Islanders tallied a pair of two-out runs. After Weston Montgomery singled, Trey Hernandez drove him in with a double. Hernandez crossed the plate on a single to right by Chris Vergne.
The visitors retook the lead off Ferdin (2-1) in the top of the second 3-2 with a pair of runs, but would not score again. Ferdin would toss a seven-inning complete game. It was the first by an Islander since the 2008 season when Omar Gutierrez went nine innings against UTSA. The junior scattered eight hits over seven innings allowing three runs with two earned, while walking one and striking out one. He allowed four hits in his final five innings of work with just one runner advancing to second.
"Roy was excellent on the mound today and it makes things a lot easier on the pitcher when you play good defense," Malone said. "It is a different game when you get good defense."
A&M-Corpus Christi took the lead for good in the bottom of the second with three runs off Jarret Dunnam. Second baseman Bobby Buckner began the inning with a solo home run to right-center field for his first as an Islander. Cory Ege doubled to drive in Jacob Perales before giving the Islanders a 4-3 advantage when he scored on a wild pitch.
After neither team scored in the third or fourth innings, the Islanders erupted for six in the bottom of the forcing Dunnam from the game. Dunnam entered the game 2-0 with a 3.91 ERA.
In the matching their highest-scoring inning of the season, the Islanders sent 11 players to the plate in the fifth. Trey Hernandez started the inning by reaching on an error in left field by Keith Kulbeth. Hernandez scored his second run of the game on an RBI single by Vergne. Marc Damon belted a two-run home run to right field for an 8-3 lead.
After Dunnam retired the next two hitters, Perales singled to center and moved to third on a base hit by Ege. Perales strolled home on a double by Omar Garcia off reliever Josh Labiche. Hernandez drove in the final two runs of the frame on a single to right.
Following an RBI single in the sixth by Ege for a 12-3 lead, the Islanders ended the game in the bottom of the seventh. With two away, Matt Holland pinch hitting for Damon blasted a two-run home run to right for the 14-3 win.
The Islanders posted 17 hits for the third time this season and now have 10 games with double-digit hits. Ege finished the game 4-of-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. He was a home run shy of the cycle. Five other Islanders posted two-hits each and eight starters had a hit. Hernandez had a game-high three RBI and now has 29 on the season. Montgomery, Ege, Vergne and Damon also had two. Montgomery extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
"We stayed consistent at the plate and were hitting line drives," Malone said. "It wasn't just a couple of guys today. We think we have seven or eight guys who can really swing the bat and we showed that today. We had hits and RBI up and down the lineup. The way we played offensively today is why we think we have a chance to be good."
Beau Comer, Adam Miley and Beau Falk each had two hits for the visitors.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m., while Sunday's finale is slated for a noon start.
Central Arkansas 4, Lamar 3
BEAUMONT, Texas - A solid pitching performance from senior Michael Wild and a pair of RBI from sophomore Blake Roberts gave Central Arkansas a 4-3 over Lamar on Friday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The win was the Bears' first in conference play this season.
Wild (2-2) went the distance for the second consecutive start, striking out four and walking none. He has now pitched 18 consecutive innings without a walk. UCA rallied from a 3-1 deficit, scoring the go-ahead run on a double steal in the eighth inning.
"Just a tremendous effort from Wild," UCA coach Doug Clark said. "That's what your bell cow, your ace, is supposed to do, get you innings and keep you in a close game. Nice job by Michael."
After UCA (6-11, 1-3 Southland Conference) left the bases loaded without scoring in the top of the third inning, the Cardinals (14-5, 1-3 Southland) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom on a sacrifice fly by Quentin Luquette. UCA answered quickly in the top of the fourth when Roberts reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Clay Washington to score to tie it at 1-1.
Wade Mathis' two-run home run down the right-field line gave the Cardinals a 3-1 advantage in the bottom of the inning.
UCA finally chased Lamar starter Eric Harrington after seven strong innings and promptly made the bullpen pay. The Bears tied the game at 3 on Roberts' RBI single to left field that scored Clay Washington, who had walked and stole second. The RBI was the second of the game for Roberts and gave him the team lead at 13 for the season.
Sophomore Jordan Getchell pinch ran for Roberts and stole second base to put another runner in scoring position. Zack Dickson grounded out moving Getchell to third before Bobby Pritchett walked. Pritchett then stole second and Getchell came in on the throw to second for what became a double steal and a 4-3 UCA lead.
Wild allowed a base runner, Tyler Theriot, in the ninth and he eventually reached third base before Wild struck out V.J. Bunner for the final out.
Roberts and Dickson both finished 2-for-4 for UCA, while freshman designated hitter Ethan Harris was 2-for-5.
Harrington struck out six and allowed six hits in seven innings for Lamar. Cory Holley, the second of three Lamar pitchers in the eighth, allowed the winning run and took the loss.
Game two of the series has been moved up to 1 p.m. because of expected bad weather.
Texas State 12, Sam Houston State 5
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Carson Smith highlighted his second-career win by tossing six scoreless innings and Tyler Sibley went 3-for-5 at the plate, scoring three runs, both aiding the Texas State Bobcats all-around effort over Sam Houston State Friday night to claim a 12-5 win over the foe at Don Sanders Stadium.
The Bobcats take game one in the Southland Conference series and improve to 3-1 in league play and 10-6 overall. The Bearkats fall to 1-3 and 5-12, respectively.
Tomorrow's game scheduled for 2 p.m. has been postponed due to heavy rain expected in the area. The teams will play a doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.
"Tonight I watched this team come together for a complete game," Texas State coach Ty Harrington said. "We used our momentum to take a big jump early and took their momentum away when they showed spurts of big moments."
"It is very hard to win on the road against anyone, but Sam Houston makes it tougher," Harrington added. "I'm very proud of the team for competing nine innings and excited to see what happens on Sunday."
Sibley opened the gates in Texas State's fifth consecutive victory with a base hit to left field and Bret Atwood followed with a deep single to the opposite field to shift the sophomore to third base. In the next at-bat, Kyle Livingstone plated Sibley with a sacrifice fly and Kyle Kubitza came behind to push Atwood home with a single through the right side for a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the second, Texas State doubled the tally on an RBI double from Atwood and a groundout from Livingstone, but Sam Houston State nearly spoiled the edge with the bases loaded in the bottom of the frame. However, with two outs, Smith struck out Greg Olson to call off the threat.
Smith (2-2) retired the fourth, fifth and six innings with strikeouts and closed out the game with five total. The sophomore walked four of his 36 batters faced and allowed five runs off eight hits in his longest appearance this season.
Texas State continued to complement the effort, scoring a run in the fourth and sending seven across in the final three frames. In the top of the seventh, Jeff McVaney iced a four-run frame with a two-run homer to left center to put the Bobcats up 9-0 before the stretch.
Sam Houston State finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run single to Mark Hudson. The
Bearkats tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, and left two runners on after Garret Carruth retired Hudson on strikes to end the inning.
Carruth closed out the game surrendering just one hit in his 1.1 inning of work with two strikeouts.
All but one Bobcat notched a hit in tonight's 16-hit outing. Sam Houston State finished with 10 hits, led by Ryan Mooney's 3-for-5 effort.
Dallas Gallant was tagged with the loss and falls to 1-4 on the season.
Courtesy: UTSA Sports Information
