Baseball: March 18 Scoreboard
Sam Houston State 4, Baylor 3
Southeastern Louisiana 11, Jackson State 3
Abilene Christian 6, Alabama A&M 3
Lamar 9, Nichols 7 (11)
Sam Houston State 4, Baylor 3
WACO, Texas -- Starting pitcher Dylan Ebbs tossed 5 2/3 innings and Sam Odom finished off the remaining 3 1/3 innings to lead Sam Houston State to a 4-3 win over Baylor Wednesday night at Baylor Ballpark.
With the win Ebbs improved to 3-1 this season, while Odom registered his first save of the season and the second of his career.
Originally scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., the first pitch wasn’t until after 8:00 p.m. because of weather.
After being held to just one hit through the first three innings, the Bearkats broke out in the fourth with some timely hits. Second baseman Zach Smith led it off with a single and moved to third when left fielder Bryce Johnson reached on an error.
Right fielder Travis Lee drove in the first run with a fielder’s choice ground out. Ebbs followed with a single to right field to put runners on the corners again.
First baseman Spence Rahm then plated another run with a single to right field. After going first to third on Rahm’s single Ebbs scored on an RBI ground out by third baseman Hunter Courson.
Catcher Collin Yelich capped off the inning with a single to left field that scored Rahm to make the score 4-0.
Ebbs kept Baylor from answering in the bottom of the fourth after they started the frame with back-to-back singles. The sophomore righty got a chopper back at him and turned a 1-6-3 double play before getting a pop up to end the threat.
Baylor was able to scratch a pair of runs across with two outs in the sixth inning to chase Ebbs from the game. Center fielder Logan Brown singled with one out, moved to second on a ground and stole third base. He crossed the plate on a single by third baseman Duncan Wendel. After a walk, Wendel scored on an error to make the score 4-2.
Odom was called on out of the bullpen and was able to get the final out of the sixth. He retired the first nine batters he face and would have recorded a perfect relief outing if not for a two-out error in the bottom of the ninth.
Ebbs batted for himself and was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Smith was also 2-for-4 with a run scored, while Yelich had two hits and an RBI. Lee and Rahm were the other Kats with runs driven in. Returning to his role in center field, Colt Atwood was the only SHSU player with an extra-base hit after he ripped a one-out double in the seventh inning but was stranded at second base.
Sam Houston (4-2) will host Nicholls (3-3) for a three-game series this weekend at Don Sanders Stadium. Check GoBearkats.com or Twitter.com/BearkatSports for updates regarding the weather this weekend.
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Southeastern Louisiana 11, Jackson State 3
HAMMOND, La
. – Jacob Williams and Daniel Midyett ripped back-to-back solo home runs in the fifth inning Wednesday, and catcher Chris Eades knocked a two-run homer later in the inning, as Southeastern Louisiana powered past Jackson State, 11-5, at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (16-7) scored early and often against Jackson State (12-8).
After the Tigers picked up a two-out run in the first inning, Southeastern answered with a pair to take the lead.
Jacob Seward was hit by a pitch to open the first. He advanced to third base on Midyett's one-out single up the middle. Kevin Carr singled in Seward and Brett Hoffman singled in Midyett.
The Lions added three runs in the third, and two more in the fourth, before exploding for three long balls in the fifth off reliever Rene Colon.
Midyett's homer was his fifth of the season. It was the first of the year, and as a Lion, for both Eades and Williams.
Jackson State scored a pair of runs in sixth and ninth innings off the Lion bullpen. Two of the four runs were unearned.
Midyett, Hoffman and Kennon Menard each picked up three hits in the game. Webb Bobo and Carr produced two hits apiece. Every member of the Southeastern starting lineup reached safely in the game. Eades and Hoffman both drove in a pair of runs.
Lion starting pitcher Kyle Keller (2-0) picked up the win, allowing one runs in five innings pitched. He scattered three hits, walking one and striking out six. Kade Granier, Josh Green, Mac Sceroler and Mason Klotz each worked one inning in relief.
Southeastern returns to action Friday at 6 p.m. at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series.
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Abilene Christian 6, Alabama A&M 3
ABILENE, Texas – Slowly but surely, ACU is finding the offense it needs to match the way its pitching staff has performed for most of the 2015 season. Wednesday afternoon, the Wildcats put together one of their best efforts of the young season with a 6-3 win over Alabama A&M at Crutcher Scott Field.
For the fourth time in their last five games, the Wildcats pounded out at least 10 hits, and six ACU pitchers combined to strike out 12 Bulldogs while not walking one batter and scattering eight hits over nine innings. Conversely, an ACU offense that was hitting below .200 as a team just last weekend and had 164 strikeouts on the season going into Wednesday's game, collected 10 hits, only struck out four times, drew seven walks and raised the team batting average a few more ticks to .226.
ACU only scored in one inning Wednesday, but the six-run fifth inning was more than enough for the Wildcats to take home the win and improve to 3-14 on the season (2-7 at home). The Wildcats will be back in action this weekend when they host McNeese State in a three-game Southland Conference series at Crutcher Scott Field. The series opener is set for 6 p.m. Friday, followed by a 2 p.m. game Saturday and a 1 p.m. Sunday game.
Alabama A&M got a run in the second inning Wednesday on a balk by ACU starting pitcher
Joe Gawrieh, but that was all the offense the Bulldogs could muster until the sixth inning. But by that time the Wildcats had pushed six runs across in the fifth and taken a commanding 6-1 lead.
In the fifth inning, the Wildcats had three hits, drew three walks and had two hit by pitch as they sent 11 batters to the plate. With one out,
Aaron Draper and
Cody Huson drew walks and both advanced on a wild pitch.
Tyler Eager tied the game at 1-1 when he drove in Draper with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Alex Copeland was then hit and
Russell Crippen collected an infield single to load the bases with two outs.
Brayden Gomez then drew an RBI walk against Payden Kuhn, and that was all for the left-hander. Caleb Bowen came on in relief, and his first pitch hit
Garrett Hale, who plated Copeland with the run to make it 3-1.
Chris Altimont then delivered a two-run single and
Kyle Carroll an RBI single to push the lead to 6-1.
"That six-run fifth inning was big for us," ACU head coach
Britt Bonneau said. "We gook some quality at-bats in that inning. We were able to get some hits and some walks, and we had a couple of guys take one for the team. We're an offensive team right now that just has to keep grinding and battling. We're going to keep getting better offensively because we had such a good fall season at the plate. We'll find a rhythm at the plate, and hopefully we're starting to do that right now."
Brandon Lambright – who got the win for ACU to improve to 1-0 – gave up a solo home run in the sixth and
Bryce Welborn gave up a run in the seventh, but
Ladgie Zotyka got the Wildcats out of further trouble in the seventh with a strikeout and a flyout, and then he worked around a one-out double and a hit batter in the eighth to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
Kevin Sheets worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to finish the game for his second save of the season.
Eager continued his impressive start to the season with two hits and an RBI, while Copeland collected two hits and Altimont had two hits and two RBI for the Wildcats.
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Lamar 9, Nichols 7 (11)
THIBODAUX, La. - A contest that the Lamar baseball team controlled turned scary in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Cardinals put their first extra-inning game of the season to use and snapped its seven-game skid with a 9-7 win in 11 innings over Nicholls in non-conference action at Didier Field on Wednesday.
The Cardinals (8-12) used a trio of three-run innings to overcome the Colonels (11-8-1), none bigger than the 11th inning rally.
Jake Nash led off the 11th with a double through the right side and scored one batter later when Kevin Santana doubled down the right field line. Reed Seeley was hit by a pitch to give LU runners on first and second, and pinch-hitter Joe Arechiga put down a sacrifice bunt to the right side and allowed both runners to advance.
Satran recorded his fifth runner batted in of the game in on a sacrifice fly to score Santana, and Salazar singled to right field to score Seeley.
Ryan Cawthon came in and had to work for his first save of his career. He faced runners on second and third when he struck out Christian Correa for the second out. David Zorn had a big single through the left side to score one, but Cawthon shut the book when he forced Joey Morales to ground out.
Down 6-3 in the seventh inning, Colonel pinch hitter Tanner Vandevere singled to left center and scored Byron Cobb and Kyle Reese. Cobb pinch ran for Justin Smith, who reached on an infield single, and Reese reached on a one-out single up the middle.
Reese tied the contest at 6-6 in the eighth on a single to center field that scored Morales, who reached on a full-count walk.
Satran started the contest with a bang on his first career homerun as a Cardinal in the second inning. He scored Seeley, who lined a one-out double to left field, and Kyle Markum, who singled through the right side.
Bret Brown played a huge role in the bottom of the frame after Nicholls punched two across. LU starter Cody Laird opened the inning with a walk to Alex Shermer, which was followed by a single to right center from Eagle Wuestney. Shermer's walk was an eight-pitch battle.
Both runs scored on back-to-back singles to the right side from Zorn and Morales. Enter Bret Brown who immediately struck out Justin Holt on four pitches and Darius Knight on three.
Laird worked 1.1 innings and gave up the two runs on four hits and one walk. Brown worked one more innings and gave up one run, on a single from Smith to score Reese. Reese led off the Colonel half of the frame with a triple to right center. He finished his day with six hits in six at-bats.
Before Nicholls' run in the bottom of the third, Lamar added three more in the top of the frame on four-straight hits. It all started with Stijn van der Meer's leadoff single followed by a walk to Nash two batters later. Kevin Santana loaded the bases for Reed Seeley who singled through the right side to score van der Meer. Markum's single pushed across Nash and Satran's single scored Santana.
Satran's five runs batted in netted him the first multi-RBI game of his season, and the most that any Cardinal has had all season.
Including Laird, Brown and Cawthon, the Cardinals went through 10 pitchers. Collin Chapman appeared in his first contest this season and pitched one inning and gave up one hit. Will Hibbs worked two innings and gave up three hits.
Brent Janak threw one-third of an inning and surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk. Travis Moore and Enrique Oquendo both worked two-thirds of an inning. Derek Wade pitched two innings and Brandon Kirkham tossed a third and gave up a run.
Kirkham earned his first win of the season in his first decision.
Nicholls tossed eight pitchers in the contest, and starter Alex Ernestine worked two innings and allowed four runs on five hits. He took the loss and fell to 1-2.
Seven Cardinals, Nash, Santana, Seeley, Markum, Satran, Salazar and Eckols all had two hits in the game. Satran finished with five RBI and Nash, Seeley and Santana all had two runs scored.
LU's trek through Louisiana continues at New Orleans on Friday at 6:30 in Southland Conference action. The second contest of the three-game set is schedule for 2 o'clock on Saturday and the finale at 1 o'clock on Sunday.
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