Stephen F. Austin
Houston Baptist
`Jacks Blitz Huskies
2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 27, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - It only took an inning for the SFA Lumberjacks to claim a lead they would not relinquish in a 10-3 win over Houston Baptist on Wednesday at Jaycees Field.
The `Jacks (3-2) fell behind 2-0 after the top half of the first inning, but did not take long to answer, sending 10 batters to the plate against first-time starter Sean McLemore for HBU (6-6). Kai Kirby led off with a single, before McLemore lost control of the strike zone and surrendered three consecutive walks, the third by Kevin Croft to drive in Kirby and get SFA on the board.
Third baseman Brian Ferguson followed that up with a line out to third, but Husky first baseman Bo Cipra could not handle a throw to first in an attempt to double off Croft, allowing Kevin Crabtree to score. Adam Bosley would then single to left-center on a hit-and-run to bring home Matt Whatley. Then after a strikeout, shortstop Jeff Brewer came through with a two-out RBI single to score Kevin Croft and give SFA a 4-2 lead after one inning.
Senior Kevin Thomas got his first start of the season and found his groove after a rocky first inning, shutting out the Huskies over the next four innings before exiting with a 4-2 lead after five.
SFA opened things up in the bottom of the sixth, however, with five runs off of Husky reliever Brian Revels. Matt Whatley followed a Crabtree walk by nearly going yard to just left of the 400-foot sign in center field for an RBI double to push the lead to three, advancing to third on the throw. However, it looked as though he would be stranded there as Revels was able to get Croft and Ferguson to ground out harmlessly with the infield in to come one out from getting out of trouble.
But the `Jacks were able to put something together with two outs, getting a walk from Bosley and a hit-by-pitch from Noel Trevino. Zach Gardner then blew the game open with a one of his two hits on the day, a two-run double off the left-field wall, just missing his first career grand slam. SFA would score two more runs in the inning after Husky third baseman Eric Shiro kept the inning alive with a throwing error and entered the seventh with a comfortable 9-2 lead.
Kevin Crabtree would put an exclamation point on the afternoon though, sending Revels to the dugout with a monster leadoff home run -his first of the season - into the left-field parking lot - in the seventh to plate SFA's final run of the day.
The pitching would coast the rest of the way, with Jared Schrom, Travis Harrelson and Erik Gregersen combining to toss the final four innings with only one run allowed.
Thomas picked up the win for SFA, earning his first-ever win as a starter. Whatley reached base four times, including drawing three more walks to bring his season total to nine already through only five games.
The `Jacks will travel to Waco on Thursday before opening up the QTI Baylor Classic on Friday against defending Horizon League champion Illinois-Chiacago, followed by games versus Illinois on Saturday and Baylor on Sunday afternoon.
-SFA-
