Central Arkansas Shuts Out Mississippi State 2-0
Central Arkansas 2, Mississippi State 0
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Ethan McKinzie and Bryce Biggerstaff combined on a
seven-hit shutout Tuesday night as Central Arkansas downed Mississippi State
2-0 at historic Dudy Noble Field.
McKinzie (1-1), a junior righthander from Gravette, went six
innings in his first start and allowed just five hits and struck out four.
Sophomore Bryce Biggerstaff from Sherwood pitched the final three innings for
his first save. The pair allowed just seven singles on the night.
The Bears (24-26), who managed eight hits off five Mississippi
State pitchers, scored the only run they would need in the second inning when
senior designated hitter Blake Roberts singled home catcher Michael Marietta
for a 1-0 lead. UCA made it 2-0 in the fifth when Forrestt Allday walked and
went to third on Blake Marchal's infield single.
The Bulldogs then attempted a double play on Ethan Harris' ground
ball but he beat out the throw to first allowing Allday to score.
In the bottom of the ninth, Biggerstaff coerced a popup to third,
a ground out to third and a line drive to second base for the final out to give
the Bears just their second win over a Southeastern Conference opponent. UCA
beat Ole Miss 4-3 in Oxford in 2008.
The Bears, in sixth place in the Southland Conference, host league
leader Sam Houston State in the final regular-season series beginning at 6 p.m.
Thursday. The top eight teams receive berths to the Southland tournament.
Friday's game is set for 6 p.m., with Saturday's "Senior Day"
beginning at 1 p.m. at Bear Stadium.
McNeese
State 3, Louisiana-Monroe 2
MONROE, La. - McNeese State ran its winning streak to three games
with a 3-2 non-conference baseball victory over UL Monroe Tuesday afternoon.
The Cowboys got a five-inning, three-hit, one-run pitching effort
out of Trey McGee who was one of five McNeese hurlers and got credit for the
victory, his third against two setbacks.
McNeese scored the game's first run in the fourth inning and went
up 3-0 with two more runs in the top of the sixth. The Warhawks came up with
single runs in the sixth and seventh frames.
The victory evened this year's series between the two squads as
ULM had won the game played in Lake Charles only two weeks ago.
Neither team had an abundance of hits in the game, the Cowboys
getting six and the Warhawks five. McNeese leadoff hitter Seth Granger extended
his hitting streak to 10 games with a three for four effort. He also drove in a
run and scored a run.
Other players with hits for the Cowboys were Connor Lloyd, Renny Weber
and Tyler Klouser. Lloyd and Weber also knocked in runs.
Ryan Sampere relieved McGee in sixth inning and pitched one inning
of two-hit, one-run ball while Tyler Erickson went two-thirds of an inning
without giving up a hit or run as did Coby Miller.
Tyler Parke came on to pitch the ninth inning and get credit for a
save, his second of the season. He set down the Warhawks in order, getting two
of the batters on strikes.
Brent Gay, who hurled eight innings after relieving starter Alex
Hermeling, was the loser. Justin Stawychny belted a solo home run to lead ULM
hitters.
The victory lifts McNeese's record to 23-26 on the season and
leaves ULM with a 25-27 mark.
The Cowboys close out their regular season schedule in a three
game series with Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond beginning Friday.
No. 4 Baylor 14, UTSA 3
WACO, Texas - UTSA issued a season-high 12 walks and No. 4 Baylor stole eight
bases en route to a 14-3 victory on Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.
The Bears (40-11) pounded out 15 hits, including a three-run homer by Cal
Towey, and posted four multi-run innings.
Towey finished the non-conference contest with two hits, three RBI, three
walks, a trio of runs scored and a stolen base.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners (21-30) struck out 11 times at the plate, including
six times at the hands of Baylor starting pitcher Brad Kuntz.
Kolt Browder (1-1) picked up the win in relief after hurling three scoreless
frames.
The Birds struck first with an unearned run in the third.
Sophomore RJ Perucki reached with one out on an error by Baylor shortstop Jake
Miller. Perucki then stole second and sophomore John Welborn banged a two-out
RBI double off the left-field wall.
However, the lead was short-lived as the Bears answered with a four-spot in the
bottom half of the panel.
Logan Vick led off the frame with a single and later stole second. He advanced
to third on a flyout and Max Muncy drove him in with a single through the
middle of the infield. Dan Evatt followed Muncy with a walk and Towey belted a
three-run homer over the right-field wall to give Baylor a three-run advantage.
UTSA started to chip into the lead in the following inning.
Junior Ryan Dalton led off the stanza with a double and, two batters later, was
driven in on a double by senior Matthew James. Senior Jason Mohn then followed
with a single and, after a strikeout, freshman Horacio Correa III reached on an
infield single that allowed James to cross the plate.
It was all in favor of the Bears the rest of the way.
Baylor put the game out of reach with a trio of tallies in the fifth,
highlighted by a two-RBI single by Adam Toth. The Bears also tacked on two more
insurance runs in the seventh and five in the eighth.
Freshman Logan Onda (0-4) allowed six hits, four runs and walked three in three
innings.
UTSA will conclude its 2012 campaign with a three-game Southland Conference
series against Lamar, which begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Roadrunner Field.
No. 5 Rice 5, No. 29 Sam
Houston State 0
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Second baseman Christian Stringer went 3-for-5 with three
RBI as No. 4 Rice closed out Sam Houston State's 2012 home schedule with a 5-0
non-conference loss Tuesday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
The No. 5 ranked Owls up their season record to 37-14 as they
chalked up nine hits and had seven runners reach first on walks.
Andrew Benak (7-2) was the winning pitcher, spreading five hits over
seven and one third innings while striking out nine Bearkats.
Rice threatened early, five runners on base in the first two
innings. But Sam Houston starter Cody Dickson couldn't escape unscathed in the
fourth inning as first baseman J.T. Chargois and third baseman Shane Hoelscher
led off with a pair of singles and catcher Geoff Perrott singled to score
Chargois.
The Owls added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning on a
two-run single by second baseman Christian Stringer. After a leadoff double by
designated hitter Keenan Cook, Rice put two more runs on the board in the top
of the eighth inning.
The Bearkats, ranked No. 29 nationally this week, totaled five
hits and left six runners on base. Cody Dickson (4-4), the starter for Sam
Houston, took the loss.
Sam Houston State completes its regular season Southland
Conference with a three-game series at Central Arkansas Thursday through
Saturday. The Bearkats already have clinched the 2012 regular season league
title and will be the No. 1 seed at next week's Southland Conference tournament
in San Marcos.
No. 6 Texas A&M 5, Texas State 1
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
Texas State avoided being shutout in two consecutive games for the first time
since 2000 but could not come through with a victory as the Bobcats fell at No.
6 Texas A&M, 5-1, on Tuesday night at Blue Bell Park.
Garrett Mattlage's RBI
double with two outs in the seventh inning put the Bobcats on the scoreboard
and broke up Texas A&M's 4-0 shutout at the time. The double was the
freshman's second of the season and brought home Brooks Orton from second base
for the team's lone run of the ballgame.
The Bobcats hit the ball
hard all night and finished the game with nine hits as a team. Several sharply
hit balls by Texas State on Tuesday night were right at Aggie defenders and
resulted in tough outs.
Texas A&M improved to
38-14 overall with the win, while the Bobcats dropped to 29-21 in the team's 50th
game of the season.
The Aggies took a 3-0 lead
in the bottom of the second inning and extended their advantage to 4-0 in the
bottom of the fifth inning with a solo home run. Following the Bobcats run in
the top of the seventh, Texas A&M pushed across an unearned run in the
bottom of the frame for the final 5-1 count.
Redshirt freshman Taylor Black (2-3) was charged with his third loss of the
season after allowing four runs on 10 hits over 5.1 innings. He struck out one
and walked two.
Aggie starter Daniel Mengden
(2-3) held the Bobcats to just one run on seven hits over seven innings on the
mound to pick up his second win of the season.
Texas State used four arms
out of the bullpen over the final 2.2 innings. Ross Goebel and Covey Morrow
closed out the sixth inning before Austen Williams pitched the seventh and
Dylan Adamek pitched a perfect eighth.
At the plate, Tyler Sibley
finished the game with 2 for 4, while Isaac Nuti matched the effort with a
two-hit day. Mattlage finished 1 for 3 with one RBI and Orton went 1 for 4 with
a run scored.
Senior Jeff McVaney saw his
11-game hitting streak come to an end as part of a 0 for 4 day at the plate.
Texas State will head
straight from College Station to Natchitoches, La., its final three-game series
of the 2012 regular season. The Bobcats will play the first of the three-game
set at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday against Northwestern State.
No. 9 LSU 9, Nicholls State 6
BATON
ROUGE, La. - Nicholls State's never-say-die attitude reared its head again
against No. 4 LSU Tuesday night, as down by seven runs with two outs left the
Colonels scored four runs in the final frame to make it close but fell to the
Tigers 9-6 in Baton Rouge.
Nicholls
(25-26) was held scoreless for five innings beginning in the fourth and lasting
until the eighth, but got four runs on four hits in the inning to put a scare
into the Tigers (40-13) late.
Philip
Lyons and Blake Bergeron each finished with three hits on the night, as
Bergeron drove in two RBI and scored once, while Lyons drove in one and scored
one. Jeremy Hill extended his hitting streak to a new career-high of 13 games
with a hit on Tuesday night, which is now the longest for any Colonel on the
season and for any Colonel currently on the roster.
Mike
Wisecarver (1-7) was solid for the first two innings but eventually took the
loss after LSU's five run third, as the senior finished the night lasting five
innings giving up three earned runs on seven hits with four walks. The staff
would give up four more runs on the night, with three being credited to Brad
Delatte on a Mason Katz three-run home run and one to Jordan McCoy who pitched
the final inning.
Bergeron
doubled to lead off the second inning for the Colonels first hit of the game.
After going to a 3-2 count, Michael LeGrange was hit on the shoulder to reach
first to put two runners on with no outs. A sacrifice bunt by Austin Flores
advanced the runners to second and third for the first out. After the advance,
Beau Faulk singled to short right-center driving in Bergeron to give Nicholls a
1-0 lead. Two consecutive pop ups ended the inning for Nicholls.
Back-to-back
singles by Lyons and Matt Richard kick started the Nicholls third, putting two
runners on base for the second-straight inning. After a deep fly ball out,
Lyons tagged up and advanced to third with only one out. After a hard-hit
chopper to third that was almost mishandled got Bergeron out at first, Lyons
scored to give Nicholls a 2-0 lead with two outs in the inning. A walk to
LeGrange kept the inning going, but an infield fly ball ended the inning.
A
two-base error proved to be problematic for the Colonels in the home half of
the third, as back-to-back hits by LSU made the score 2-1, then a double and
throwing error allowed two more runs to score for LSU to earn the 3-2 lead with
no outs on the board. Another single drove in a runner from third for the 4-2
Tiger lead. Nicholls settled down after and got the next two batters, but
another single plated the fifth LSU run of the inning before a groundout closed
the door with LSU leading 5-2.
With
two outs Hill doubled to right-center to get a Colonel runner on base for the
first time in two innings, and was followed up by a single to left field by
Bergeron for his second hit of the game putting runners at the corners. But an
infield popup ended the Colonel threat.
Brad
Delatte came on in the bottom of the sixth inning and the LSU bats got hot as a
three-run blast by Mason Katz put the Tigers up 8-2. LSU put up another run in
the eighth after Jordan McCoy came on in relief of Delatte.
Adam
Seal came into pinch hit for Nicholls in the ninth and garnered his second hit
of the season with one out. Kevin Persick also came in to pinch hit and was
walked to put two Colonels on. Ray Eureste and Byron Cobb would come in for
both to put speed on the base paths. Lyons cracked a single up the middle
scoring Eureste and pushing Cobb to second. Richard tallied his second hit of
the night on a single to right field to load the bases. Hill hit a sharply
ground ball to second which was misplayed scoring Cobb and Lyons and advancing
Richard to third. Bergeron followed that up with a double to right field to
score Richard to make the score 9-6. The next two Colonels would go down in
order to close out the game.
The
Colonels close out the regular season with a berth in the conference tournament
on the line with a three-game series against Stephen F. Austin beginning
Thursday.