Stephen F. Austin
13-11, 7-1
Central Arkansas
10-13, 5-3
SFA Strikes for Three Doubles in Saturday Showdown at Central Arkansas
3/23/2019 4:49:00 PM | Baseball
'Jacks drop first Southland game of 2019
CONWAY, Ark. - Heading into the day as the lone Southland Conference team without a loss in league play, the SFA baseball team ran into an aggressive Central Arkansas team that scored five of its seven runs in the first two innings en route to a 7-0 win Saturday afternoon at Bear Stadium.
SFA, who saw its five-game overall winning streak and seven-game Southland Conference winning streak snapped, remains atop the league standings with the first three weeks of the conference schedule nearly in the books.
SCORING SUMMARY
B1 | With intentions of evening the series, the Bears came out swinging early. A four-hit frame culminated with a two-out, two-run double off the stick of first baseman Tyler Smith before Kolby Johnson increased the hosts' lead to 3-0 with an RBI single.
B2 | The Bears' lead increased to five with just one swing of center fielder Josh Ragan's bat. Needing just one more out to get out of the frame, Covington sent a 1-1 offering to Ragan who hit a towering fly ball that kept drifting back until it just cleared the wall in left field for a two-run shot.
B4 | Christian Brasher's leadoff bunt single helped the Bears tack on another run. After a sacrifice bunt and a groundout moved Brasher to third, more productive two-out hitting allowed him to come home as Jay Anderson's RBI single up the middle made things 6-0.
B8 | Central Arkansas' bats were held silent until the home half of the eighth. With one out, Brasher socked a solo homer over the fence in left-center to account for the final margin.
AT THE DISH
• Freshman outfielder Brandon Uhse led SFA's seven-hit attack by going 2-for-4 with one of the team's three doubles.
• Freshman infielder Carson Clowers notched the first extra-base hit of his collegiate career with a double.
• Sophomore outfielder Jared Martin also reached base twice, notching a hit and drawing one of SFA's two walks.
• Four different Bears put forth multi-hit efforts including Ragan and Smith who each finished with two hits and two RBI.
• Anderson and Brasher each had two base knocks as well, combining for two RBI and two runs scored.
• SFA grounded into a pair of double plays and left eight runners on base.
• The 'Jacks' failed to score a run in a game for the first time in 2019, suffering their first shutout loss since March 2, 2018.
ON THE MOUND
• For the first time in his collegiate career, Jaxon Covington (3-1) suffered a pitching loss. The freshman gave up seven of the Bears' 10 hits and six of their seven runs through his four frames of work.
• Trayson Kubo fired two scoreless innings of relief and Cody Adams came in to toss a scoreless seventh. Austin Hearn worked the eighth and gave up the Bears' last run in his lone frame.
• UCA's freshman left-hander Noah Cameron took home the win and improved to 3-0 on the year by working his way through seven innings of seven-hit, five-strikeout ball.
ON DECK
• Despite the setback, SFA can still win its third consecutive Southland Conference series of the season Sunday afternoon. The 'Jacks and Bears are set to duke it out from Bear Stadium at 1:00 p.m. in the final matchup between the two squads in the regular season.
-SFA-
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cameron, N. (3-0)
L: Covington, Jaxon (3-1)
Batting:
2B: Uhse, Brandon 1 ; Black, Skylar 1 ; Clowers, Carson 1
Base Running:
CS: Vasquez, Manny 1
Batting:
2B: Smith, T. 1
HR: Ragan, J. 1 ; Brasher, C. 1
RBI: Anderson, J. 1 ; Ragan, J. 2 ; Smith, T. 2 ; Johnson, K 1 ; Brasher, C. 1
SH: Sagdahl, N. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ragan, J. 2 ; Navarro. M. 1 ; Smith, T. 1 ; Brasher, C. 2 ; Sagdahl, N. 1
HBP: Sagdahl, N. 1
