Baseball: May 14 Scoreboard
Abilene Christian 4, UIW 3 (12)
Central Arkansas 5, McNeese State 4
Northwestern State 7, Nicholls 0
Southeastern Louisiana 5, New Orleans 0
Abilene Christian 4, UIW 3 (12)
ABILENE, Texas -- For a team that doesn't hit many home runs, two of the ACU Wildcats' six home wins this season have come courtesy of dramatic extra-inning blasts.
The second of those six came Thursday night when
Heath Beasley led off the bottom of the 12th inning by drilling John Shull's first pitch of the inning deep over the wall in left field to give ACU a 4-3 walk-off win over Incarnate Word in Southland Conference baseball action at Crutcher Scott Field.
Back on April 19, ACU trailed Sam Houston State 2-0 before
Taylor Fajardo's two-out, two-run pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth tied the game, setting the stage for
Kyle Carroll to win it with a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the 10th inning. ACU had not won a home game since that Sunday afternoon.
The victory pushes the Wildcats to 14-35 on the season and 12-16 in the Southland Conference, while the Cardinals fall to 19-30 and 10-18. The teams will resume the three-game series Friday at 2 p.m. with the season home finale set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
When Beasley dug into the batter's box to lead off the bottom of the 12th inning, Incarnate Word pitchers had retired 20 straight Wildcats after
Tyler Eager's two-run triple in the fifth inning gave ACU a 3-2 lead. Starter Gabe Encina retired the final eight men he faced, reliever Matthew Decker retired all three Wildcats he faced, and Shull retired the first nine men he faced.
But Beasley wasted little time hitting his first career home run, crushing Shull's first pitch of the 12th for a no-doubt, game-winning home run.
Until that point, Thursday's series opener provided few fireworks as two of the best starting pitchers over a couple of sluggish innings to put the opposing offenses in neutral.
ACU's
Thomas Altimont got out of a first-inning jam by allowing just two runs, and from that point on he was rock solid, retiring 18 of 19 Cardinals between the end of the first and the end of the sixth inning to give ACU's offense a chance. The Wildcats were facing UIW's ace in Gabe Encina, who entered the contest with a 1.99 ERA, and he was dominant early before a walk to
Kyle Carroll in the third led to an RBI single by
Colton Hall to cut the UIW lead to 2-1.
The Wildcats got to Encina in the fifth when, with one out and runners at first and second, Eager tripled to right field to drive in Carroll and Hall to give ACU a 3-2 lead. UIW answered back in the seventh against Altimont when Colton Bessett doubled, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single by Aaron Warren to make it 3-3.
The ACU bullpen trio of
Ladgie Zotyka,
Nick Palacios and
Kevin Sheets gave up just one hit and struck out five batters and worked out of a couple of jams to give ACU's offense a chance to win it in extra innings, which is exactly what Beasley did with one swing of the bat.
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Central Arkansas 5, McNeese State 4
CONWAY, Ark. _ Three comebacks were enough to earn the University of Central Arkansas Bears a 5-4 victory over the McNeese State Cowboys in Southland Conference play on Thursday night at Bear Stadium.
The Bears (26-21, 15-13) came back from a 1-0 deficit after two innings, a 2-1 deficit after four and finally a 4-3 margin after seven innings. UCA got two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to win their third game in their past four.
Junior Chris Townsend started the final rally with a leadoff single and moved to second on Travis Hull’s sacrifice bunt. Charles Deckard drew a pinch-hit walk and was replaced by pinch runner Michael Haun. Lucas Quary came on in relief and got Ty Tice to ground out, moving both runners.
Logan Preston walked to load the bases and first baseman Matt Anderson was hit by a pitch to tie it at 4-4. MSU closer Collin Kober came on and promptly walked Nick Rougeau to score Haun and give the Bears a 5-4 lead.
The Cowboys (31-22, 17-11), who entered the game tied for third place in the SLC, got a runner to third base in the top of the ninth but UCA junior Bo Stitch recorded the fnal two outs, striking out Joe Provenzano looking to end the game and earn his team-high fourth save.
Townsend went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored for the Bears. He had an RBI groundout in the third inning and an RBI double in the fifth. Hull finished 2 for 3 with and RBI as both teams finished with eight hits.
UCA starter Connor Gilmore went six innings, striking out 5 and allowing 4 runs in a no decision. Kaleb Fontenot also did not figure in the decision for the Cowboys, striking out 7 and allowing 3 earned run in six innings.
Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. Friday.
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Northwestern State 7, Nicholls 0
NATCHITOCHES, La. – It isn’t the preferred method of operation, but for the Northwestern State baseball team, waiting out weather delays is becoming common.
For the second straight week, the Demons encountered weather issues in the opener of a Southland Conference series, and for the second straight week, Northwestern State dominated the elements and came away with a victory.
After waiting out an 81-minute lightning and rain delay, Northwestern State received a stellar relief outing from Chase Hymel and a timely run-scoring singles from Nick Heath and Cort Brinson to score an 7-0 victory against Nicholls on Thursday night at Brown-Stroud Field.
With the win, the Demons (30-20, 20-7) clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s Southland Conference Tournament in Sugar Land, Texas. Northwestern State will open tournament play at noon at Constellation Field, home of the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters.
The weather delay, which began with one out in the top of the fourth inning, cut short a strong start by Demons right-hander Adam Oller, who had allowed one hit through an efficient 3 1-3 innings against.
Oller threw 25 of his 33 pitches for strikes before the weather arrived. As the delay grew longer and longer, third-year coach Lane Burroughs decided not to bring Oller back to the mound.
In Oller’s place, Hymel returned to his junior college roots as a starter. Once play resumed, Hymel fanned the last two batters of the fourth inning and proceeded to work 3 2-3 one-hit innings of scoreless relief.
It was the second-longest outing of the season for Hymel, an All-American starting pitcher last season at Delgado Community College in New Orleans.
Northwestern State took a 1-0 lead in the second on a two-out RBI single by Nick Heath, who has driven in five runs in his last two games. Heath’s single off Ryan Deemes (5-3) scored Caleb Dugas, who drew a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second by David Fry.
The Demons added another run against the Nicholls (33-17-1, 17-11) bullpen in the fourth, as a pair of Colonels errors aided the Northwestern State cause.
Another leadoff walk, this one by Garrett Logan in the fifth, set in motion a two-run Demons inning. Kwan Adkins was hit on a full-count pitch before Joel Atkinson drew a walk to load the bases.
Cort Brinson enhanced his all-conference credentials with a two-run single up the middle, giving him 40 RBIs on the season.
With the bases loaded, though, the Demons were unable to add to their lead as a Chase Daughdrill groundout to second base against a drawn-in infield turned into a triple play.
Brinson headed to third on contact while Atkinson froze. The Colonels tagged Atkinson out near third and then caught Brinson in a rundown and tagged him out near third as well.
The way Hymel and fellow reliever Brandon Smith handcuffed the Colonels the missed opportunity did not hurt the Demons.
Smith relieved Hymel after a leadoff walk in the eighth and retired the first three batters he faced before tossing a scoreless ninth inning.
Smith had a larger cushion to work with in the ninth, as C.J. Webster (RBI single) and Garrett Logan (two-run double) produced two-out, run-scoring hits in the Demons half of the eighth.
The series continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. as Northwestern State senior right-hander Josh Oller (9-1, 3.97) squares off against Nicholls left-hander Grant Borne (5-4, 1.53).
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Southeastern Louisiana 5, New Orleans 0
NEW ORLEANS, La.
– The Southeastern Louisiana baseball team clinched its first ever Southland Conference regular season championship with a 5-0 win over the University of New Orleans Thursday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
Junior right-hander Tate Scioneaux (9-2) tossed his third-straight complete game shutout as Southeastern (39-15, 23-5 Southland) downed UNO (14-38, 3-25 Southland), taking the first game in the Pontchartrain Bowl series.
The Lions scored all the runs they would need in the third inning, taking advantage of a pair of UNO miscues.
Julian Service led off the inning by roping a single through the left side and then stealing second base. He scored from second when Privateer shortstop Sam Carriere's throw to first on a Jacob Seward grounder kicked away.
Seward later stole second and advanced to third when the catcher's throw sailed into center field. He scored on an attempted steal of home when the catcher left his position before the pitch arrived at the plate.
The Lions added a run in the fifth. Daniel Midyett drove in Service with a sacrifice fly.
Kevin Carr put Southeastern up, 4-0, with a solo home run in the eighth. The one-out shot to left-center bounced off the top of the scoreboard.
Pinch runner Jacob Williams scored the Lions' final run in the ninth on a wild pitch.
Scioneaux earned the win, extending his scoreless streak to 29.2 consecutive innings. The Reserve, Louisiana, native scattered seven hits and struck out six en route to becoming Southeastern's all-time leader in innings pitched (310.1).
He is fifth in career wins (23) and strikeouts (253).
Service (3-for-4) led the Lions at the plate, scoring a pair of runs.
The series heads to Hammond, Louisiana, for the second game. Friday's 6 p.m. game at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field against the Privateers is a $5 Friday contest. All adult general admission tickets are only $5. Along with the reduced ticket price, the concession stand will offer a combo special for $5.
It is also Southeastern's Senior Day. Senior players Kevin Carr, Brett Hoffman, Kyle Keller and Jacob Williams, as well as equipment manager Zack Shickel, will be honored prior to Friday's game.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through either the KSLU or TuneIn Radio smartphone apps. Fans can also keep up with the action through live statistics or by following @SLUathletics on Twitter. Streaming video is available on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream.
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