SFA Scores 4-2 Series-Opening Victory over Northwestern State

Friday, April 26

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

19-23, 0

Northwestern State

24-17, 0

Northwestern State

Stephen F. Austin

Photo by: SFA Athletics

SFA Scores 4-2 Series-Opening Victory over Northwestern State

4/26/2019 11:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Clowers drive in a pair, Palmer posts fourth win of the year

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - It was not easy - or without some late drama - but the SFA baseball team was able to do something it hadn't done in over one month: win a Friday night game.

Junior right-hander Alex Palmer tossed six innings of shutout baseball, SFA scored two in the second and two more in the eight and the 'Jacks held off a late charge by Northwestern State to lock up a 4-2 victory over their longtime Southland Conference rivals Friday night at Jaycees Field.

Prior to their win over the Demons, SFA's previous Friday night victory came on March 22 at Central Arkansas - a win that pushed the 'Jacks' Southland Conference record to 7-0 at the time. With Friday night's victory, SFA moved into a tie for third place in the league standings and sits just a single game back of Southeastern Louisiana for the top spot in the Southland with 11 league games remaining.

SCORING SUMMARY
B2 | Using a small ball approach, the 'Jacks were able to get the upper hand on the Demons. Designated hitter Josh Campbell was hit with the first pitch he saw before Jarrod Huber followed up with a hard double down the left field line to put a pair of runners in scoring position. After a groundout, the 'Jacks changed their strategy from swinging away to laying down bunts and it made all the difference. Shortstop Carson Clowers laid down a perfect bunt single to score Campbell from third before Nick Daley followed up with an RBI bunt single of his own that made matters 2-0.

B8 | Though it did not appear so at the time, the two runs the 'Jacks scored in the home half of the eighth proved to be the difference between victory and defeat. Sean Moore won a six-pitch battle with Northwestern State relief arm Austin Reich and hustled into second on a dropped fly ball by Demon center fielder Larson Fontenot to lead off the frame. SFA did not need the benefit of a hit to score the eventual game-winning run as Jake Georgiades wore a 2-2 offering from Reich to put runners at first and second. After pinch hitter Kyle Cullen drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, Antonio Lima drew a bases-loaded walk from Reich to push SFA's third run across. Clowers greeted Northwestern State reliever David Hodo, who came on for Reich following Lima's base on balls, with a sharp grounder to first base. That fielder's choice ball scored Georgiades from third and upped SFA's lead to 4-0.

T9 | Staked to a four-run lead thank to their two unearned runs in the home half of the eighth, victory seemed all but assured for the 'Jacks. The Demons, however, had other ideas. Austin Stegall greeted SFA closer Jesus Gamez with a solo homer to lead off Northwestern State's ninth, breaking up SFA's shutout bid and pulling the Demons within three. After issuing a walk to Lenni Kunert, Gamez appeared to settle himself down by reeling off back-to-back strikeouts. Northwestern State refused to go down though as Sam Taylor drew a five-pitch walk before Caleb Ricca cut the 'Jacks' lead to two with an RBI single. That hit signaled the end of Gamez's night and right-hander Austin Roth to try and close things down. Though Roth issued a five-pitch walk to Jeffrey Elkins to load the bases, the sophomore ended the drama-filled inning by striking out Northwestern State cleanup hitter Tyler Smith with a filthy bender to end the game.

AT THE DISH
• A trio of 'Jacks finished with multiple hits in the team's nine-hit attack. SFA's nine, one and two-hole hitters - Clowers, Daley and freshman Brandon Uhse - combined to go 6-for-13 with three RBI, For his part, Clowers put forth his first two-hit effort in nearly one month and drove in a season-high two runs.
• Daley notched an RBI as part of a 2-for-5 day at the dish. It was the senior's second multi-hit game in the month of April and the center fielder also had a stolen base in the win, pushing his season total to a team-leading 12.
• Uhse recorded his team-leading 15th mnulti-hit game of the year by going 2-for-4 at the dish. Georgiades, meanwhile, extended his team-leading hitting streak to six games with a 1-for-3 effort.
• The only Demon who posted a multi-hit game was Ricca who finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.

ON THE HILL
• Palmer (4-5) found himself in the win column for the first time in over a month by tossing six innings of shutout baseball. The junior right-hander let up just three hits while striking out six Demons.
• With those six strikeouts, Palmer upped his season total to 76 - the third-most in a single season by any SFA pitcher in program history.
• Roth's game-ending strikeout sealed up his first save in a Lumberjack uniform. The sophomore issued one of the eight walks given up by SFA arms in the team's first Friday night victory since March 22.
• By coming in and getting the last two outs of the eighth inning on a flyout and a groundout, senior left-hander Tyler Starks became the 'Jacks' program leader in pitching appearances. The
Mesquite, Texas, product made his 97th appearance on the hill for SFA in the win over the Demons.
• SFA's pitching staff worked its way around eight walks by striking out 11 and stranding 11 Northwestern State runners on base. The 'Jacks worked out of bases-loaded jams in the sixth and ninth innings, too.
• Suffering the loss for Northwestern State was Ridge Heisler (3-4) who gave up all of SFA's nine hits through his seven innings of work. Heisler fanned four and did not walk a batter.

CARDENAS COMMENTS
On how SFA finished the game | "That's a really good team and a really good offensive team. We knew going in it was going to be a dogfight all night and we wish we could have finished it in a little bit better of a fashion than we did. Kudos to the guys who came in and got the job done, though. Sometimes it takes an entire staff to get to the end and that's how we're doing things right now. Those guys are going to roll back out there again tomorrow and Sunday to try and give us the same result.
On getting the team's first Friday night win in over one month | "We knew if we could give [Alex] Palmer a lead early on that we'd have a chance to win tonight's ballgame. He's going to give us a consistent effort every Friday night and we knew that once we got to their bullpen that we could manufacture more runs to put us in a better position to win. We stretched our bullpen a little bit because it was a hot night. It's the first night that we've had this kind of humidity out here and you get a little tired, the pitch counts go up a little but still the guys did a great job.
On the defense behind Palmer | "If we can get our pitchers to pitch to contact, we feel very strongly about our defense. Coach [Caleb] Clowers does a great job of getting those guys prepared and they're prepared for tough plays in tough situations. The defense was great and that was a key component of tonight's ballgame.

ON DECK
• Going for their second-straight Southland series victory, the 'Jacks send junior southpaw Jacob Stobart to the hill in Saturday's showdown. The left-hander will be going in search of his team-leading seventh win of the season when SFA takes on Northwestern State at 12:30 p.m.

-SFA-