Rally in the Rain Helps 'Jacks Score 5-1 Win at Nicholls Friday Night

Friday, May 10

Thibodaux, La.

6:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

22-28, 0

Nicholls

25-25, 0

Stephen F. Austin

Nicholls

Rally in the Rain Helps 'Jacks Score 5-1 Win at Nicholls Friday Night

5/10/2019 10:44:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SFA scores four in the eighth to back another gem from Palmer

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

THIBODAUX, La. - Patience at the plate through the pouring rain coupled with some timely two-out hitting allowed the SFA baseball team to shake off its offensive struggles and remain in the thick of the Southland Conference Tournament picture.

With the rain coming down around him, freshman outfielder Brandon Uhse put SFA on top for good with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the eighth, the 'Jacks scored twice more in the frame on Nicholls' second error of the game and the Colonels became the latest Southland squad to run into the long-haired buzzsaw known as Alex Palmer in SFA's 5-1 win Friday night at Ray E. Didier Field.

Palmer was his usual dominant self and worked eight innings of one-run ball to pick up his fifth win of the year. SFA backed its ace with an eight-hit attack and scored more runs Friday than it had in its first four games in the month of May.

With five league games to go, SFA still sits in a tie for fifth place with Northwestern State after the Demons also won.

SCORING SUMMARY
B4 | After getting Brady Bell to ground out to begin the home half of the fourth, Palmer made his only mistake of the game by giving Adam Tarver something to hit. On the very first pitch he saw, Tarver launched a solo homer to left which handed the hosts a 1-0 lead.

T8 | Thanks to some excellent discipline at the dish the 'Jacks were able to set the table for the middle of their order in the top of the eighth. Jarrod Huber, Antonio Lima and Manny Vasquez each drew walks to load the bases with two outs, but it was Lima's gritty at-bat that highlighted things. The senior won a 10-pitch battle with Nicholls starter Trever Kilcrease and drew a base-on-balls to get the Colonels to reach into their bullpen. From there, Nicholls' lefty Beau Baloado loaded the bags with his five-pitch walk to Vasquez as the skies started to open up. Uhse looked at a strike from Balado before sending a sharp two-run single up the middle that put SFA up 2-1. Though they would need no insurance runs, the 'Jacks got them thanks to the Colonels' second miscue of the night. Jake Georgiades send a towering fly ball to straightaway center that Dane Simon dropped after slipping on the wet grass. That allowed Vasquez and Uhse to charge home and score a pair of unearned runs to make matters 4-1.

T9 | More two-out hitting helped the 'Jacks put their final run of the night on the board. Nick Daley doubled his Friday night double total by splitting the gap in right-center for his fifth two-bagger of the year. Lima put the finishing touches on a two-hit night by punching an RBI single to right-center that scored Daley and accounted for the final 5-1 score.

AT THE DISH
• Six of the 'Jacks' eight hits on the night came courtesy of their one, two and four-hole hitters. Daley, Lima and Uhse each had two hits and combined to go 6-for-12 (.500) at the plate with three RBI, three runs scored and two walks between them.
• Both of Daley's hits were doubles marking the second time in his SFA career that the Gilbert, Ariz., product struck for a pair of of them in a single game.
• Senior catcher Jarrod Huber had a double of his own in the fifth for his lone hit Friday night.
• No Colonel had more than one hit and Tarver's long ball represented Nicholls' only extra-base hit of the night.
• Tarvar and Champ Davison were the only two Colonels who reached base multiple times as each of them had a hit and a walk.

ON THE HILL
• Palmer's (5-6) pitching proficiency was on display yet again as the junior worked eight innings of four-hit, one-run baseball. The Arlington, Texas, product racked up six more strikeouts to push his season total to 91.
• After those eight innings, Palmer turned things over to senior left-hander Tyler Starks who struck out a pair and finished off the Colonels.
• Kilcrease (3-4) dipped below the .500 mark by getting tagged for the loss. In 7 2/3 innings, he gave up four hits and a pair of runs while striking out three and issuing a trio of walks.
• Balado's runs were of the unearned variety and Nick Heckman also surrendered a score as he tossed the last 1 1/3 frames of the tilt for Nicholls.

CARDENAS COMMENTS
On the eighth-inning rally | "When you throw Antonio Lima out there, he's going to give us a chance to win. We've really been struggling offensively and to get some big at-bats with from some key hitters with the approach we've been working for all this week and we haven't had a lot of practice time so we've kind of had to make adjustments on the fly. I'm really proud of our hitters all night for stepping up and sticking with it and not panicking. They did a great job of staying with the game plan on offense by pushing and grinding until we could make something happen."

On the play of Alex Palmer | "Alex Palmer is the best pitcher we've had in a long time here. Every time he goes out there he gives us a chance to win. What makes him such a great teammate is that he doesn't gripe about the offense, he just goes out there and does his job. Because he goes out there and does his job and allows out team to keep plugging away, you're never really out of it."

On the potential for a breakout series on offense after plating five runs in Friday's win | "When you're struggling offensively, it can take just one performance for everyone to get relaxed and back into it. Luckily we had a freshman in Brandon Uhse come through in the clutch and that's tough for a first-year guy to do. For him to come up there and hit a laser to center field to basically give us the game says a lot about the way he prepares and what he can do."

ON DECK
• SFA goes gunning for the series win Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. when the 'Jacks and Colonels clash in game two. For SFA, senior right-hander Trayson Kubo will get the start on the hill as he searches for his third Southland Conference pitching victory of 2019.

-SFA-