Stephen F. Austin
12-22, 4-10
Sam Houston State
25-10, 13-1
SFA Drops Game Two of Southland Series at Sam Houston State by 5-2 Score
4/14/2018 6:42:00 PM | Baseball
'Jacks muster just three hits in third-straight setback to Bearkats
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - In a reversal of what happened in Friday night's series opener between Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State, it was the Bearkats who got on the board first but unlike what transpired in the opener the 'Jacks' comeback bid came up short in a 5-2 setback Saturday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
Trying to get hits and score runs off of Sam Houston State starter Seth Ballew proved to be a difficult task to accomplish for the 'Jacks. During his six innings of work, the left-hander allowed just the only three SFA hits of the game and didn't yield a Lumberjack run until the sixth.
For the 'Jacks, freshman Sean Beasley traded zeroes with Ballew through the game's first three frames. Through the first three innings, Beasley racked up all four of his strikeouts with his final one coming with the bases loaded in the home half of the third.
After the 'Jacks went down in order in the fourth, Sam Houston State put the first runs of the game on the board. Beasley got Clayton Hard to ground out to Manny Vasquez at short to start the Sam Houston State fourth before a walk to Ben Haefner followed by back-to-back singles put the home team up 1-0.
The Bearkats doubled their lead with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Riley McKnight before the fourth came to a close and another walk issued by Beasley in the home fifth helped the hosts increase their lead.
Jaxxon Grisham drew a five-pitch base on balls from Beasley and came around to score the eventual game-winning run on Blake Chisolm's one-out RBI single. Following another single that put runners on the corners, Beasley exited and junior left-hander Cody Adams came on to pitch for the 'Jacks. The sidearming southpaw got Haefner to strike out swinging but on the last pitch he threw to Jordan Cannon the ball bounced to the backstop and allowed Chisolm to scamper home.
Down 4-0, the 'Jacks' rally began in the sixth when Nic Minor led off the frame with a double. After SFA's lone extra-base hit of the afternoon, Jared Martin drove the junior in with a one-out RBI single through the left side.
Sam Houston State got that run back in the home half of the sixth with an RBI single off the bat of Grisham before SFA cut into the lead again in the seventh without the benefit of a hit. Eric DeJesus drew a six-pitch walk from Dominic Robinson to begin SFA's seventh before moving to second on a wild pitch by the Bearkats' second relief arm of the frame Colin Cameron.
Another wild pitch from Cameron pushed DeJesus to third before Minor drove a fly ball deep to right to score the senior and make it a three-run game once again. That fly ball out was the first out for Bearkat reliever Dakota Mills who finished the game.
Through the final two frames, SFA's lone baserunner was Josh Evans who reached on a dropped fly ball with two outs in the eighth. Adams went on to retire the last seven Bearkats he faced through the sixth, seventh and eighth innings but the 'Jacks could get nothing going against Mills.
Two of the four walks issued by Beasley turned into runs for Sam Houston State who clinched the series with their Saturday afternoon win. Hunter Hearn finished with a game-high three of the Bearkats' 10 hits. For SFA, Beasley (2-2) suffered the loss and struck out four in 4.1 innings of action. Adams went the final 3.2 frames, giving up three hits and one run while striking out two more.
Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m., the 'Jacks send senior right-hander Trevor Kiminski to the hill to try and avert a sweep at the hands of the Bearkats. No pitcher has been named yet for Sam Houston State for the finale of the Southland Conference set.
-SFA-
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ballew, S. (3-1)
L: Beasley, Sean (2-2)
S: Mills, D. (8)
Batting:
2B: Minor, Nic 1
RBI: Martin, Jared 1 ; Minor, Nic 1
SF: Minor, Nic 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DeJesus, Eric 1 ; Minor, Nic 1
SB: Campbell, Josh 1
CS: Daley, Nick 1
Batting:
RBI: Grisham, J. 1 ; Chisolm, B. 1 ; Ochoa, T. 1 ; McKnight, R. 1
SH: Bohnert, E. 1
SF: McKnight, R. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Grisham, J. 1 ; Chisolm, B. 1 ; Haefner, B. 1 ; Cannon, J. 1 ; McKnight, R. 1
SB: Ochoa, T. 1
HBP: Chisolm, B. 1
