Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
Lumberjacks Lose First Home Contest
3/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2007
NACOGDOCHES - Despite Steven Hill's second straight five-hit game, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks fell 8-4 in the first game of a three-game set against Southland Conference rival Lamar Friday afternoon. It was SFA's first loss at Jaycees Field this season and moves its overall record to 12-13 and its SLC mark to 1-3. Lamar is now 17-9 overall and is a perfect 4-0 in conference play.
Lamar struck first when Colin DeLome hit a three-run home run in the top of the first. SFA cut the lead to two in its half of the second inning when Zach Gardner scored on a fielder's choice hit by Kevin Crabtree. But the Cardinals added three more runs in the top of the third for a 6-1 lead.
The Lumberjacks added another run in the bottom of the third after Hill led off the inning with a double to right field. He advanced to third on a Jared Pitts' left field single and crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly hit by Chris Smith.
The Cardinals added another run in the top of the fourth for a 7-2 lead. Gardner once again scored in the bottom of the sixth after leading off with a left field double. He stole third before scoring on a Kevin Croft ground out to cut the lead to 7-3. Lamar added its final run of the game in the top of the seventh for an 8-3 lead.
SFA added one more when Hill hit his ninth home run of the season over the right field fence for a final score of 8-4.
Hill finished the night going a perfect 5-for-5 for his second consecutive five-hit game. He was 5-for-6 Sunday at Southeastern Louisiana. Hill's home run was also his third in two games.
Gardner was 2-for-5 from the plate with a double and a stolen base. It was his fourth-consecutive multi-hit game. Hill and Gardner each scored two runs apiece.
Crabtree and Pitts each had three hits in five at-bats. Crabtree also had an RBI.
SFA starter Jared Schrom suffered his second loss of the season after giving up seven runs, five earned, off nine hits in 5.0 innings of work. He walked one and struck out two.
Lamar's Brian Sisk took his fifth straight win after holding the Lumberjacks to just four runs off 16 hits. He also had four strikeouts.
The Lumberjacks and Cardinals will face off in Game 2 of the three-game set Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. from Jaycees Field.
-SFA-
