Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State
Sam Seals Series vs SFA
5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 7, 2011
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Sam Houston State pounded out 17 hits off of three Lumberjack pitchers to secure its first series win over SFA since 2008 in taking a 7-3 win in the second game of a three-game set on Saturday at Jaycees Field.
SFA (30-16, 17-9 SLC) never led in the ballgame for the second consecutive day and has now dropped three consecutive games for the first time this season.
Sam Houston (32-17, 15-11 SLC) got at least one hit from every hitter in its lineup, with Ryan Mooney's 3-for-5 day pacing seven `Kats who finished with a multi-hit afternoon. Matt Shelton struck out four in 5.1 innings in running his record to 7-1 on the year, while Michael Burchett allowed just three hits in 3.2 scoreless innings for his seventh save of the year. It was also the second consecutive game that Bearkat pitching did not issue a single walk.
Bryson Myles and Jarid Scarafiotti each finished with two hits apiece for the SFA offense, but the `Jacks few scoring opportunities all seemed to come with two outs in an inning with SFA hitting just 1-for-8 on the afternoon with two away. Tyler Herriage allowed four runs on 10 hits in six innings of work and was saddled with the loss to fall to 2-5 on the season.
The `Kats staked Shelton to an early 3-0 lead with an RBI groundout from Luke Plucheck in the second inning, and a two-out, two-run single to right-center off the bat of John Hale in the third.
SFA cracked the scoreboard in its half of the fourth inning when Scarafiotti scored Myles from second on a single after Myles had stolen his second bag of the afternoon to run his season total to 42. The `Jacks built the threat when Jackson Hood followed the single by being hit by a pitch, but Shelton pitched out of it by getting both Darren Crabtree and Max Lamantia to fly out.
Herriage kept the `Kats off the scoreboard in each of the next three innings, keeping the score at a 3-1 deficit before the `Jacks could get back on the scoreboard in the sixth. Three straight one-out singles from Garrett Smith, Scarafiotti and Hood loaded the bases for Crabtree, who hit a grounder right at Mooney at second base who booted the ball and left all runners safe with Smith coming across to cut the lead to 3-2. But Burchett followed that by striking out Lamantia and then got some defensive help from third baseman Kevin Miller, who robbed Hunter Dozier of extra bases with a diving stop at third base to end the inning.
The `Kats then answered SFA's scoring inning with one of their own, scoring three times in the top of the seventh to break open the game at 6-2. Sam Houston got RBIs from Mooney, Braeden Riley and Chris Andreas off of Herriage and reliever Colton Eubanks, which was more than enough for Burchett to work with in the final three innings.
Burchett allowed an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Smith in the seventh, but nothing more as he got six of the final seven hitters of the game.
The Lumberjacks will try and avoid the sweep on Sunday at home when Zack Taylor gets the ball for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch. He'll be opposed by freshman lefty Caleb Smith for the `Kats.
-SFA-
