Stephen F. Austin
Texas-Arlington
Lumberjacks Run-Rule Mavs, 12-1
5/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 12, 2007
ARLINGTON, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks scored 10 runs in the final two innings to put together their second-straight run-ruled victory in as many games as they took a 12-1 win from the Texas-Arlington Mavericks Friday night in Arlington. SFA saw multi-hit performances from six different Lumberjacks as Kevin Croft and Chris Smith each had a home run. SFA moves its Southland Conference record to 14-11 and is now 27-23 overall. The Mavericks suffered their sixth straight loss, as their overall record moves to 12-35 on the year and their SLC record is now 3-22.
In the top of the third inning, Kevin Croft had SFA jump out to a 1-0 lead with a solo shot over the left field wall. It was his 10th home run of the year. Right after Croft's home run, Zach Gardner hit a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch from UTA's Dillon Gee. Justin Long then hit an RBI single through the right side to extend the Lumberjacks' lead to 2-0.
The Mavericks threatened in the bottom of the sixth, having their first two batters land on base. With no outs, Richard Folmer was called from the Lumberjack bullpen. He gave up a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over a base, before striking out the next two and escaping the inning without allowing a run.
Then, in SFA's half of the seventh, Kevin Crabtree led off with a single to center field. He moved over to second on a sac bunt from Jeff Brewer and scored when Croft put a single through the left side to give SFA a 3-0 advantage. Gardner then hit another single to move Croft over to third. Croft scored his second run of the game when Long nabbed his third straight hit of the game, extending the Lumberjacks' lead to 4-0. With one out, Steven Hill put a base hit through the left side to score Gardner from second for the 5-0 lead. Chris Smith then approached the plate and hit a three-run home run to blow the game wide open with an 8-0 lead.
The Lumberjacks were not done, however. After Folmer got himself out of a two-on, no-out mess without allowing a runner to advance, Brewer advanced on a one-out single and moved to third base on a double from Croft. Brewer got the halt at third without Croft realizing and Croft was out on a 7-6-2-4 play as he got tagged out between second and third. Gardner then hit a single to score Brewer from third to extend the lead to 9-0. Then after Long was issued a walk, Hill hit a two-run double to move the score to 11-0. Hill scored from second when Smith hit a base-hit as the Lumberjacks then ended their four-run rally with a 12-0 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, reliever Heath Konesheck walked the first batter, Daniel Rieder, and he advanced to third on a double from Mitch Putnam. Rieder then scored what would be UTA's lone run of the night when Ben Burum hit a sac fly to center field. As David Newby flied out to right field to end the inning, the Lumberjacks recorded their second-straight run-ruled victory with a final score of 12-0.
SFA recorded 16 hits in the outing, as Gardner, Long, and Croft each recorded three hits. Croft's and Smith's home runs were their second in as many games as Smith also recorded four RBI in his second straight contest.
Jared Schrom earned the win for the Lumberjacks, pitching 5.0 innings and striking out two while giving up only four hits. He moves his record to 4-3 on the year. SFA and the Mavericks will face off in Game 2 of the three-game set Saturday at 2 p.m. from Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington.
-SFA-
