'Jacks Drop Southland Conference Series Opener at Northwestern State 3-2

Saturday, April 7

Natchitoches, La.

8:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

10-19, 3-7

Northwestern State

15-13, 5-5

Stephen F. Austin

Northwestern State

'Jacks Drop Southland Conference Series Opener at Northwestern State 3-2

4/7/2018 11:08:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Evans and DeJesus finish with two hits each but eighth-inning error allows NSU to win opener

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

NATCHITOCHES, La. - Poised twice to push a game-tying run across home plate in the top of the ninth, the Stephen F. Austin baseball team instead saw a pair of pinch runners get picked off on the base paths and suffered a 3-2 setback to Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field Saturday night.

Pitching was never the issue for the 'Jacks as six arms combined for 10 strikeouts while yielding only two hits in a tilt which spanned two days thanks to a series of severe thunderstorms which moved through the area after the game was put on hold Friday night.

Once things resumed Saturday night, SFA opted to go with junior righty Jake Norton on the hill to replace first-year southpaw Dru Dziedzic who had his way with the Demons through his 2.2 innings of action in the first portion of the game Friday night. Dziedzic issued only one walk in that span and did not give up a hit to Northwestern State.

Norton followed Dziedzic's lead, retiring NSU's Lenni Kunert on just three pitches. That brought the 'Jacks to the plate for the first time in over 24 hours and the visitors wasted no time in getting something going against the Demons' David Hlad.

Jared Martin and Josh Evans began the SFA fourth with back-to-back singles and following a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt down the third base line by Skylar Black, senior Eric DeJesus dropped an RBI single into right field to give the 'Jacks their first of two leads on the evening.

Norton ran into a little bit of trouble in the home half of the fourth as the junior gave up two walks and hit a man to load the bases for Northwestern State. After getting the first of his four strikeouts for the first out of the inning, a ground ball out pushed the game tying run across before Norton's second punchout ended the inning.

Martin drove in the 'Jacks' final run of the game in the fifth by producing a sacrifice fly that scored Cody Williams who reached on a one-out single to right earlier in the frame. SFA's fifth came to a bizarre end, however, as the Demons completed a 742 putout to cut down Nick Daley at the plate who was attempting to score from second on the play as well.

Again SFA's lead did not last long as the Demons produced yet another game-tying run in the home portion of the fifth. After Norton struck out the first two batters he faced in the fifth, Kunert drove a 2-2 offering from SFA's junior deep into the right field corner. With Brown-Stroud Field still soggy from the downpour that occurred Friday night and part of Saturday afternoon, Williams lost his footing trying to track the fly ball and Kunert wound up safe at third with a two-out triple.

On a 2-2 pitch to NSU's David Fry, Norton's toss bounced by Black and allowed Kunert to race home from third and tie the game.

The 2-2 score stood for two-and-a-half innings as NSU's Hlad traded zeroes with SFA relief arms Austin Hearn and Jesus Gamez, each of whom tossed a one, two, three inning to keep the Demons at bay.

Daley led off SFA's eighth with a sharp single to center before he was thrown out at second on a stolen base attempt. That allowed Hlad to face the third consecutive inning before Northwestern State took the lead for good.

Turning to Trayson Kubo out of the bullpen, the 'Jacks watched their right-handed reliever give up a leadoff double to Sean Taylor who was moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt. Kubo intentionally walked Fry to try and set up a double play and that appeared to be just what would come to pass when Luke Watson swung at Kubo's 1-0 offering.

Unfortunately, Watson's one-hopper to DeJesus at second was misplayed, allowing Taylor to score the game-winning run from third. Cody Adams finished the eighth by getting a strikeout and a flyout but the 'Jacks' ill-timed baserunning miscues in the ninth proved costly.

Evans started SFA's ninth with a hard single to center and was pulled for pinch runner Kyle Cullen. Cullen, however, was just a step late getting back to first on Hlad's pickoff move and was the first out of the frame. After Skylar Black went down on strikes, DeJesus laced a double down the right field line before heading back to the dugout in favor of pinch runner Nic Minor.

Minor took a healthy lead at second with Vasquez at the plate and was picked off at second to end the game. Although the 'Jacks' pitching staff posted double-digit strikeouts, they also issued six walks compared to just one by Northwestern State.

Evans and DeJesus each went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead SFA's nine-hit attack. Hlad (3-1) worked the game's final six innings and struck out four to pick up the win. Kubo (0-2) suffered the tough-luck loss for the 'Jacks.

Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m., the 'Jacks and Demons will conclude their Southland Conference series with a doubleheader from Brown-Stroud Field. Senior right-hander Trevor Kiminski is set to start game one on the hill for the 'Jacks.

-SFA-