SFA Can't Keep Pace with Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 11-6 Non-Conference Setback

Tuesday, April 17

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

13-23

Arkansas - Pine Bluff

13-16

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Stephen F. Austin

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

SFA Can't Keep Pace with Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 11-6 Non-Conference Setback

4/17/2018 10:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Martin homers but UAPB pounds out 14 hits and puts up four multi-run innings

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Jake Georgiades gave the Stephen F. Austin baseball team a 1-0 lead after one with an RBI single, but visiting Arkansas-Pine Bluff started its 14-hit assault on the 'Jacks' pitching staff with a pair of home runs in the second and the Golden Lions went on to defeat SFA 11-6 Tuesday night at Jaycees Field.

Using four multi-run innings, Arkansas-Pine Bluff made SFA go through seven pitchers and did enough damage off of the first four arms to put an end to the 'Jacks' four-game non-conference winning streak.

Jared Martin and Eric DeJesus each went 2-for-5 with an RBI for the 'Jacks who left eight runners on base and loaded the bases with no outs in both the fifth and sixth innings but came up with just three total runs during those two frames.

Starting pitcher Jordan Powell cruised through his first inning and a third of work, retiring the first four Golden Lions he faced before the visitors used a couple of big swings in the second to take the lead for good. Nick Kreutzer drilled a solo bomb to straightaway center and two batters later Richard Sanchez bounced a two-run shot off the top of the right-field fence to put Arkansas-Pine Bluff up by two.

The Golden Lions' three-run second started a stretch of six consecutive innings in which the visitors put at least one run on the board. After the visitors plated another score in the third, the 'Jacks countered in the home half of the frame with a solo homer off the bat of Martin to make it a two-run game, but each of the next four runs went to the visitors who upped their lead to 8-2 entering the bottom of the fifth.

A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch helped Arkansas-Pine Bluff put two runs on the board in the fourth before the visitors tacked on two more in the fifth by using an RBI double followed up with a bases-loaded walk.

DeJesus cut the 'Jacks' deficit to four in the home half of the fifth when his RBI single scored Nick Daley from first. An error out in left field by Arkansas-Pine Bluff allowed Martin to come home on that same play before two RBI singles as well as a balk from Cole Ridgely in the sixth pushed the Golden Lions' lead to 11-4.

SFA managed to plate two more runs - one on a fielder's choice ball from Daley in the sixth and the game's final one on Josh Campbell's two-out RBI single in the eighth - but Arkansas-Pine Bluff's early lead was too much to overcome.

Trayson Kubo tossed a scoreless seventh before Jordan Powell and Jake Norton followed suit with scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth respectively as those three Lumberjack relievers were the only three who did not let up a run to the visitors.

Powell (0-2) suffered the loss for the 'Jacks, giving up three runs on four hits through his two innings of work. On the other side, Cody Holmes (1-0) secured his first 2018 victory by giving up four runs on six hits and five walks in five frames of action.

Although he didn't get a hit on the night, Daley walked twice and reached on a fielder's choice to get on base three times. The junior racked up three stolen bases in the loss, giving him 21 on the season - the fourth-most in a single season in the 'Jacks' program history.

Five Arkansas-Pine Bluff players posted two hits and Ricardo Sanchez finished with a game-high three RBI to pace the visitors who won their first game against a Southland Conference opponent in three chances this season.

Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., the 'Jacks look to regroup when they return to Southland Conference play by hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Jaycees Field.

-SFA-