Stephen F. Austin
Houston Baptist
`Jacks Finish Off Season Sweep Of Huskies
4/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2009
HOUSTON, Texas - The Lumberjacks pounded out 17 hits to pick up its fourth win of the year over Houston Baptist and sweep the season series on Wednesday, 13-3, at Husky Field.
Every SFA (10-16, 3-8 SLC) position player got at least one at bat on the afternoon, with seven Lumberjacks registering multiple hits. Tanner Hines and Joe Staley led the offense with three hits apiece and two runs scored. Staley finished with his second straight three-hit game, finishing 3-for-3 and just a triple short of the cycle. Hines finished 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI.
Brett Rogers evened his record at 2-2 by allowing only one run in five innings on the mound, striking out five with no walks in his first career appearance against the Huskies (2-20).
Andrew Beasley took the loss for HBU, allowing 12 hits and six runs in 6.2 innings of work as one of five Husky pitchers that took the hill on the day.
Hines plated the first run of the game for the `Jacks in the top of the third, ending up with a leadoff double after just missing his first home run of the season off the top of the left field wall. Two batters later he moved to third and came home on an RBI single from Bo Coffman. A well-executed hit-and-run by Brian Ferguson put Coffman at third and Staley brought him in one batter later with a sacrifice fly to center for a 2-0 SFA lead.
Hines picked up his third hit of the day and made it 4-0 in the top of the fourth, shooting a two-out double into the right-center field gap that scored Gabriel Garcia-Serrano and Zach Gardner.
The Huskies cashed in on a leadoff triple in the fifth on a single from Logan Wyeth to get a run back, but the `Jacks immediately pushed the lead back to 5-1 just one inning later when Gardner scored on a passed ball after a two-out triple off the center field wall. The triple was Gardner's ninth of his career, moving him into sole possession of first place on the all-time list at SFA.
SFA added two more in the seventh, once again making it happen with two outs. Ferguson reached third with two outs with a triple and made it 6-1 two pitches later by scoring on a wild pitch from Husky reliever John Garey. Staley then made his third hit of the day count by launching his second home run in three games over the right field fence.
HBU cut it back to 7-3 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh off of Cory Ochs. Wyeth picked up his second RBI of the year with a run-scoring single in the inning, and Erich Shiro added the other run with a sacrifice fly that scored Nick Homan.
It did not take the `Jacks long to strike back though as Nacogdoches native Justin McAninch took the first pitch he saw in the top of the eighth over the left field wall for his first home run of his career in his first-ever start.
SFA eventually batted around in the inning, sending 12 hitters to the plate and pushing across six runs to take a 13-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Ryan Priest finished off the game for the `Jacks, throwing scoreless innings in both the eighth and ninth.
The `Jacks get Thursday off before opening up a crucial three-game set with two-time defending SLC champion UTSA on Friday at Jaycees Field.
-SFA-
