Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana Tech
`Jacks Lose Third Straight In Extra Innings
3/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 10, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Lumberjack pitching allowed only one earned run on Tuesday, but Louisiana Tech was able to take advantage of four other SFA miscues to push across seven more unearned runs and pull out an 8-6 win in 10 innings at Jaycees Field.
The game marked the sixth consecutive loss for SFA (3-9, 0-3 SLC) and was the first time that SFA has played in extra innings in three straight games in recorded history. It was also the first time the `Jacks had taken on Louisiana Tech (8-3, 0-0 WAC) since 1995.
SFA rattled out 10 hits on the afternoon, but left at least 11 men on base for the third consecutive game as only two hits came from the SFA lineup after the No. 4 hitter Sean Meyers, in 19 at-bats.
Meyers finished the day 3-for-5 with a double, triple, RBI and run scored. Tanner Hines and Zach Gardner each had good days at the plate as well, with Hines going 3-for-6 and Gardner going 3-for-5.
Ryan Priest allowed two unearned runs in the 10th to take his third loss of the year after Jared West tossed a career-best six innings in his second start of the season. West finished with a pair of strikeouts and no walks, allowing three runs but none earned.
Kyle Roliard earned his first win with 1.2 innings of scoreless work for Louisiana Tech.
Again, the Lumberjacks had their chances to win the game late in comeback fashion.
SFA had given up a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth before Richard Folmer came on to throw the ninth and sandwiched a walk of Patrick Thomas around strikeouts of Nick Grunenwald and pinch hitter Clay Alexander. But Alexanders's swinging third strike went off the glove of SFA catcher Ryan Sinclair for a passed ball that allowed Alexander to reach first and extend the inning. Kevin Winn then hit a first-pitch double into the left field corner to score a pair of runs and give Tech a 6-4 lead before Folmer struck out his fourth hitter of the frame to end it.
The `Jacks then went to work offensively in the ninth themselves against Mike Jefferson, getting a leadoff single from Gardner to start things. Two batters later Meyers tripled to right field, scoring Gardner. Meyers then scored the tying run when Bo Coffman delivered his only hit of the day, an RBI-single through the right side of a drawn-in infield.
Jefferson then walked Sinclair and Thomas Staley to load the bases with only out. Bulldog coach Wade Simoneaux then went to left-handed Roliard out of the pen and snuffed out an attempted Lumberjack squeeze play as Coffman was caught on a pitch out and tagged out at third base with Gabriel Garcia-Serrano at the plate. Roliard then struck Garcia-Serrano out swinging to send the game to extra frames.
The Bulldogs quickly got runners on first and second with only one out against Priest in the 10th, and scored the eventual winning run when a Grunenwald ground ball went right through the legs of Garcia-Serrano to score Devon Dageford.
SFA is scheduled to travel to Ruston on Wednesday for the second game of the two-game set against the Bulldogs. Game time is set for 6:00 p.m. with Jared Schrom to take the hill.
-SFA-
