Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
Priest Powers `Jacks Past Lamar
5/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 15, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Ryan Priest went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI, and the `Jacks pounded out 13 hits on six Lamar pitchers as SFA took an 11-7 win Friday at Jaycees Field.
SFA (23-29, 14-17 SLC) put on an offensive show in the first six innings of the game, scoring all 11 runs in the first six frames. Lamar (35-20, 19-13 SLC) only managed two runs and three hits off of SFA starter Jared West, who needed just 83 pitches to navigate through six innings for his fourth win of the year. West will finish the year with a sparkling 4-0 record and 1.38 ERA at Jaycees Field.
Tanner Hines finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, extending his hit streak to 18 games which ties him with Steven Hill's 18-game streak in 2007 for the longest in the school's history. Hines and leadoff man Zach Gardner combined to score five of SFA's 11 runs, while it was Priest and Brian Ferguson that combined for seven RBI.
While West was tossing five shutout frames to open the game, SFA was building a substantial lead that started with a pair of runs in the second inning off of Cardinal starter Matison Smith. SFA took advantage of one of Lamar shortstop Jeremiah Sammy's two errors on the day to get its first two hitters of the inning on before Adam Bosley picked up an RBI through the right side for the game's first run. Joe Staley then hit into a double play one hitter later, but still managed to get the `Jacks second run across.
Ferguson delivered his first RBI of the day on a single though the right side that scored Gardner in the third inning, but the `Jacks really opened it up with a five-run fifth inning. SFA sent all nine of its batters to the plate in the fifth against reliever Ricky Testa, loading the bases on singles from Gardner and Hines and the second error of the day on Sammy. Ferguson then shot a single over the mound and past second base for a two-run single, and one batter later Priest delivered a three-run homer to left field to give SFA a comfortable 8-0 lead.
The Cardinals pecked away for their first two runs of the day in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Link and a RBI groundout from Brian Taylor to get the score to 8-2, but SFA answered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning. Justin Long delivered the inning's big hit, sending a pinch-hit double into the left-field corner that scored both Gardner and Hines. Priest then went the other way one batter later, getting his fourth RBI of the day when he doubled into the left-field corner.
That was plenty of cushion for SFA, although the Cardinals did make things interesting with a five-run seventh inning. Ten Cardinals came to the plate in the inning against three Lumberjack pitchers, with Lamar needing only four hits to get across their five unearned runs.
Chris Court was summoned on for the second consecutive day and closed got the one batter he faced in the seventh to close the inning, then sat the Cardinals down in order in the eighth, including a punch out of Cameron Campbell to finish the eighth. Richard Folmer then tossed a perfect ninth in his first appearance of the weekend.
SFA and Lamar close out their series and the regular season on Saturday, starting at 1:00 p.m. The `Jacks will honor its senior class before the game on Senior Day.
-SFA-
