Stephen F. Austin
Houston
Cougars Use Late-Inning Rally To Push Past 'Jacks
3/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2008
HOUSTON, Texas - The Lumberjack baseball team used a Sean Meyers home run in the top of the ninth to knot the game, but the Houston Cougars scored an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth to squeak by SFA 5-4 on Tuesday at Cougar Field.
Jake Stewart singled home Chris Wallace, who had reached on an error by SFA shortstop Jeff Brewer, with one out in the ninth to get the win for Houston (9-5) and give Chase Dempsey his second win of the season. Richard Folmer took the loss for the `Jacks (8-6) to go to 2-2 on the year, despite not allowing an earned run.
The win is the third straight by the Cougars over SFA and is the `Jacks third one-run loss of the season.
Both pitchers moved through the initial two innings with ease before Kai Kirby broke took Cougars starter John Touchton deep for his first career home run, a two-run shot with nobody out in the top of the third inning. Kevin Croft got on with a one-out single only two batters later and Kevin Crabtree picked up a walk, but Touchton then fanned Trent Blanchard to get the Cougars out of the inning.
`Jacks starter Lance Luetge made that lead stick through his time on the mound, a five-inning start that saw him only allow three Cougar hits and four total batters reach base and lower his season ERA to 1.40. The only real jam he faced was in the bottom of the fourth when the Cougars put runners at second and third base with two outs on a walk and double by Bryan Pounds, but Luetge got his third strikeout of the game when Jimmy Cesario swung through a full-count pitch.
It took the Cougars getting some help from SFA to finally get on the board after Luetge was lifted before the sixth inning for Vince Wade, but Wade struggled and walked the first two batters of the frame before being taken out in favor of freshman Alex Moshier. Both of those runners would find the plate after the bases were loaded and Cesario hit a sacrifice fly to left, and Ryan Lomand hit an RBI single through the left side that went off the gloves of two Lumberjacks to tie the score at two apiece. The inning was nearly much worse as Kevin Crabtree made a diving catch at the base of the left field wall on a hard-hit ball by Chris Wallace with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Erik Gregersen then made his way into the game in the seventh and put the Cougars down in order. Unfortunately, the eighth inning was a different story. Gregersen walked the leadoff man, Bryan Tully, and Houston head coach Rayner Noble then decided to sacrifice him to second with his cleanup hitter Pounds. Cesario then followed him with a two-hop single up the middle that scored Tully from second to give Houston its first lead of the game. After Cesario moved to second on a groundout and to third on a wild pitch, he was then able to move to home on a balk to give Houston a 4-2 lead going into the ninth.
Noble then decided to lift Chris Wright, who had struck out a career-high eight batters and not allowed a run, for Chase Dempsey and pinch hitter Justin Roland immediately greeted him with a sharp single to center field. Sean Meyers then hammered the third pitch he saw from Dempsey on to the street running parallel to the right field fence for his first home run of the season and tied the game at four apiece.
The `Jacks open up conference play against Southeastern Louisiana on Friday with a three-game series versus the Lions. Erich Lehmann is slated as the SFA starter for the first game of the series, against slated starter Wade Miley for the Lions.
-SFA-
