Vasquez Claims Runner-Up Finish at 2019 Southland Conference Home Run Derby
5/21/2019 8:18:00 PM | Baseball
Senior mashes 20 homer across two rounds at Constellation Field
SUGAR LAND, Texas - After going shot for shot with a pair of of other contestants in the opening round, SFA baseball senior Manny Vasquez forced a second round in the 2019 Southland Conference Home Run Derby.
Upon the conclusion of his two-minute round in the second round, Vasquez had again set the mark to beat for Sam Houston State's Hunter Hearn and Central Arkansas' Hunter Hicks, but when it was all said and done the derby's tiebreaker procedure had to be invoked and the result was, unfortunately, unfavorable for the 'Jacks' senior slugger.
Vasquez finished with 20 total long balls - 13 in the opening round and seven in the second - and claimed a runner-up finish in the second-annual Southland Conference Home Run Derby at Constellation Field Tuesday night.
Both Vasquez and Hicks socked 20 home runs over the two rounds, but due to the derby's tiebreaker rule that states the contestant who hits the first home run in his two-minute round sooner will hold the final advantage, Vasquez wound up in second place. UCA's Hicks launched his first home run of the second round on his first swing while it took Vasquez three cuts to knock his first out of the park in the deciding round.
A senior out of Naco, Ariz., Vasquez was the third contestant to go in the eight-man race for the Southland Conference Home Run Derby title belt and set the bar with his 13-homer performance in the opening round. It appeared as though that total would hold up until Hicks stepped to the plate. The contest's penultimate batter, Hicks hammered 13 before Hearn mashed the same number of taters in his opening round.
Vasquez and the rest of the 'Jacks are preparing to open the Southland Conference Tournament Wednesday morning at Constellation Field. The sixth-seeded 'Jacks are set to face off against third-seeded Southeastern Louisiana in the opening game of the Southland Conference Tournament at 9:00 a.m. The clash between the 'Jacks and Lions will be carried live on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with Randy McIlvoy and Derek Fogel on the call.
-SFA-
