Palmer's Powerful Pitching Performance Pushes SFA to 4-1 Win at Lamar

Friday, March 8

Beaumont, Texas

6:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

6-8, 1-0

Lamar

6-7, 0-1

Stephen F. Austin

Lamar

Photo by: SFA Athletics

Palmer's Powerful Pitching Performance Pushes SFA to 4-1 Win at Lamar

3/8/2019 9:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

'Jacks start Southland Conference slate with a win for first time since 2014

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

BEAUMONT, Texas - Headed into Friday night's Southland Conference opener at Lamar, it had been quite some time - a half-decade to be precise - since the SFA baseball team emerged as the victor in its first league game of the season.

With that in mind, the 'Jacks sent junior right-hander Alex Palmer to the hill and after his first dominant performance in Southland play SFA led off its league slate with a win for the first time since 2014.

Palmer bamboozled Lamar, racking up nine strikeouts through eight innings of four-hit, one-run baseball, and the junior was backed by a 12-hit SFA attack that generated three of its four runs in the first two innings to secure a 4-1 victory over the Cardinals Friday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

SCORING SUMMARY
T1 | After reaching on a leadoff single to begin SFA's first Southland Conference clash of the season, Nick Daley was able to cross home plate and give the 'Jacks an early lead. After swiping second, Daley moved to third on a flyout by Sean Moore. From there, Jason Blanchard's first wild pitch of the game allowed Daley to sprint home and put the visitors up 1-0.

T2 | A one-out walk by Jarrod Huber and a two-out walk by Nick Daley put the 'Jacks in business in the second. From there, the upper third of SFA's took over as Brandon Uhse and Jared Martin pushed the 'Jacks' lead to 3-0 with back-to-back RBI singles off of Blanchard.

B6 | After keeping Lamar off the board for the first five frames, Palmer surrendered his first run of the game in the sixth. Reese Durand started the frame with a triple and Anthony Quirion brought him home with a one out sacrifice fly to spoil the 'Jacks' shutout bid and trim the visitors' lead to 3-1.

T8 | SFA made it a three-run lead once again when Jarrod Huber followed Antonio Lima's one-out walk with an RBI triple. Huber's three-base hit was SFA's second triple of the night after Jordan Monacy had one with one out in the fifth.

ON THE MOUND
• Giving little to no ground to the Cardinals throughout his second-straight outing of seven or more frames, Palmer evened his 2019 record at 1-1 by surrendering one run on four hits through eight innings of action. The junior racked up nine strikeouts without allowing a walk.
• Palmer allowed just one baserunner through his first five innings of work. That baserunner came in the form of Lamar's Avery George who broke up Palmer's no-hit bid with a one-out single in the fourth.
• Junior Jeremy Rodriguez came on in the ninth and earned his team-leading third save of the season by striking out two of the four batters he faced in the frame.
• For Lamar, it was Blanchard who suffered the loss as he gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks through 4 1/3 innings of work.

AT THE DISH
• Monacy and Uhse powered the 'Jacks' 12-hit attack Friday night by each going 3-for-5 at the dish.
• Daley and Martin each enjoyed 2-for-4 showings on offense with the former scoring two of the 'Jacks' four runs.
• Huber, Martin and Uhse each drove in a run for the 'Jacks who had a runner thrown out at home on two occasions in the team's Southland Conference opener.
• George posted two of the Cardinals' four hits while Quirion and Durand struck for one each.

ON DECK
• SFA and Lamar continue their Southland Conference series Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. from Vincent-Beck Stadium in Beaumont. In search of the series win, SFA sends freshman left-hander Jaxon Covington (1-0, 1.00 ERA) to the hill to throw balls and strikes to the Cardinals.

CARDENAS' COMMENTS
On Alex Palmer's outing: "I think that last week Alex pitched really well, too, but there were some times in there where he didn't necessarily make a good pitch when he was behind in the count. This week I saw laser-like focus with him. He was challenging guys in bottom half of the zone and tonight the wind was blowing in slightly which allowed the ball to stay up and in a little more. Added to that was the ability for our defense to go out and make some plays behind him. That really settled him down and allowed him to be who he is and go out with a more relaxed attitude.

On Nick Daley's ability to control the game when he gets on base: "He's a spark plug. We're a little more methodical at the plate without him. When Nick's in the lineup, he's going to get on and try to put us into scoring position right away. Our guys really get excited when he's able to get on base because when he does that's usually when good things start to happen."

On getting a win in the first Southland game of the year: "What it does is reiterate what we have been telling our team all year long. If we pay attention to what we're doing at the plate and go through the processes that we practice, then we feel as though we can compete with anyone in the conference.

-SFA-