State Divsion I baseball roundup

Early Bears' errors advance Bearkats

SOUTHLAND

SAM HOUSTON STATE 9, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 4

Sam Houston State University won its second consecutive Southland Conference Tournament championship and earned its fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in six years with Saturday's 9-4 victory over the University of Central Arkansas (34-26) at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Bears, who beat Houston Baptist University 3-0 earlier in the day to set up the championship game, looked like a team playing their fifth game in four days.

The Bearkats scored 3 unearned runs in the first 2 innings on 2 Central Arkansas errors. Bryce Johnson drew a full-count, one-out walk in the first inning, then advanced to second on a throwing error by UCA second baseman Eddie Sanchez as Andrew Fregia reached on a fielder's choice. Robie Rojas hit an RBI single to score Johnson for a 1-0 lead.

Hunter Hearn reached on a fielding error by third baseman Rigo Aguilar to start the second inning, advanced to second on Jaxxon Grisham's single to left-center field and scored as Taylor Beene reached on a fielder's choice. Beene scored on Johnson's RBI single to push the lead to 3-0. Hearn scored on Beene's RBI groundout in the fourth inning that gave the Bearkats a 4-0 lead.

"Our guys kept fighting. I think they just got the breaks," UCA Coach Allen Gum said. "We didn't get the leadoff hitter out and then we made a couple of physical errors early. Beating Sam [Houston State], you almost have got to get the leadoff guy out. And then if you miss a double play, that's trouble also."

Junior designated hitter Justin McCarty broke up Sam Houston State starter Dakota Mills' perfect game with a home run in the bottom of the fifth, capping a 12-pitch at-bat. The Bears, playing in their third Southland Conference Tournament championship game in five years, made it 4-2 in the sixth when Keaton Presley singled up the middle and later scored on Jansen McCurdy's RBI double. The rally was cut short when McCurdy was thrown out at home plate on an infield single by Aguilar.

"We finally settled down and got some things going," Gum said. "We had a chance to cut it to 4-3 and we got thrown out at the plate. And if you look at the box score, it looks worse than it is. They probably had five or six hits that they chopped on the dirt and bounced through the infield. And that's called baseball. They found some holes and they got some breaks."

An RBI single by Hearn and a two-run single by Beene pushed the lead to 7-2 in the seventh inning, and RBI singles from Clayton Harp and Blake Chisholm in the eighth inning gave Sam Houston State a 9-2 lead. UCA scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth, aided by three Sam Houston State errors, to cut the lead to 9-4.

The Bears finished with six hits but didn't have a player with more than one, though the first five hitters in the lineup -- Presley, McCurdy, Hunter Strong, Aguilar and McCarty -- all had one each. Ty Tice took the loss for the Bears after allowing 4 runs -- only 1 earned -- on 5 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts over 6 innings.

"I'm proud of our guys because they never quit. They kept fighting," Gum said. "They kept fighting the whole time and never gave up, even when we were down quite a bit. They kept fighting and kept plugging."

Presley, Sanchez, Brooks Balisterri and Brandon Hagerla were named to the All-Tournament team. Hagerla went the distance in 90-degree heat in Saturday's victory over Houston Baptist, allowing 10 hits and 1 walk. He tossed 12 2/3 scoreless innings in two tournament appearances.

"There was no question who we were going with," Gum said. "Because we know who he's been every single day in our program. Our baseball program is fortunate to have him, our university is very fortunate to have a guy like whim, who is loyal and full of substance as he showed today."

William Hancock doubled to left-center field to start the fifth inning, advanced to third when Sanchez reached on a fielder's choice and score on Presley's sacrifice fly to give UCA a 1-0 lead.

Aguilar singled to start the sixth inning and advanced to second on a throwing error by Houston Baptist pitcher Cody Marshall. Aguilar advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Balisterri's sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 2-0. Strong hit a one-0ut single in the seventh inning, moved to second when Aguilar was hit by a pitch and scored on McCarty's RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

"I'll be honest, I was a little bit disappointed," Gum said. "We didn't get a couple of bunts down and a couple of other things. I think we could have expanded the lead."

Overall, though, Gum said he was happy with how his team played Saturday and this season. The Bears started Southland Conference play with a 1-5 record but finished 17-13, which tied their best victory total in conference play. UCA won at least 30 games for the third time in the past five seasons.

"It was a tough loss [to Sam Houston State] today and they're hurt. But when we get a couple of days and we can take a look at this season, where we were at the beginning and how we finished, it was a successful season."

SUN BELT TOURNAMENT

SOUTH ALABAMA 4,

ARKANSAS STATE 2

The University of South Alabama (38-19) built a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then added single runs in the fifth and ninth innings to eliminate Arkansas State University (28-27) from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday at J.J. Clements Stadium in Statesboro, Ga.

Colton Thomas hit a one-out double down the left-field line in the first for the Jaguars, then scored on Travis Swaggerty’s RBI double. Swaggerty scored on a Wells Davis RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

The Red Wolves cut the lead in half in the third when Grant Hawkins tripled on the first pitch, then scored on Garrett Rucker’s sacrifice fly.

South Alabama pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Drew LaBounty, who reached on an error by Hawkins, scored on Carter Perkins’ RBI single. Hawkins made up for his error in the seventh, drawing a four-pitch walk to start the inning and scoring on an RBI double by Rucker to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Jaguars added some insurance in the ninth when LaBounty singled to start the inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Will Luft’s two-out RBI double.

Rucker finished 2 for 4 to lead the Red Wolves, who finished with 6 hits, with the others coming from Drew Tipton, Alex Howard, Joe Schrimpf and Hawkins. Tanner Kirby (4-2) took the loss for ASU after allowing both South Alabama runs in the first inning on 4 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings. Tyler Carr (7-1) picked up the victory for South Alabama after allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts over 6 innings. Matt Peacock earned his 10th save after allowing 1 walk and 4 strikeouts over the final 3 innings.

Sports on 05/28/2017

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