ULM upsets top-seeded Texas State, Georgia Southern outlasts ULL in 13 Innings at Sun Belt Tournament

Baseball Championship Central

Padilla’s Two-Out Hit in Eighth Lifts Little Rock Past Troy

CONWAY, S.C. – Ramon Padilla’s eighth-inning two-out single, scoring Miguel Soto, gave No. 3 Little Rock the late go ahead in their 6-5 victory over sixth-seeded Troy in Wednesday’s opener of the 2019 Sun Belt Baseball Championship at Springs Brooks Stadium.

Chandler Fidel got the nod and gave a quality outing for Little Rock, throwing 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five. Donavin Buck earned the win after his two scoreless innings in relief would cap off the victory for the Trojans. The senior struck out three of the seven batters he faced.

Riley Pittman had two RBI for the Trojans of Little Rock and got the scoring going early with a home run in the bottom of the first. Troy Alexander and Nathan Lyons each recorded two hits for Little Rock.

The Troy Trojans tacked on runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings – a Austin Garafalo home run in the fifth and a Dalton Sinquefield double in the sixth to score Drew Frederic. Troy would eventually tie the game in the seventh on a Sadler Goodwin blast to right field. His home run plated both Rigsby Mosley and Reed Smith, who reached on back-to-back singles.

In the eighth – Little Rock’s Pittman grounded out to start the inning before James Gann singled through the left side. Soto then came on to pinch run for Gann. Troy was able to get Alexander to strike out before allowing a single from Nick Perez, advancing Soto to second. So with two outs Padilla singled through the right side, scoring Soto and giving Little Rock the advantage.

Buck allowed a quick single in the top half of the ninth before getting two quick outs on three pitches. He then struck out Frederic for the win.

Little Rock improves to 29-26 overall (18-11 Sun Belt) while Troy falls to 29-28 (16-14 Sun Belt). Little Rock will face the winner of Wednesday’s second game between Georgia Southern and Louisiana on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET. Troy will play the loser of that same game on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. ET.

Eagles Outlast Ragin’ Cajuns, 6-5, in 13 Innings

CONWAY, S.C. – It took four hours and four minutes, but No. 2 Georgia Southern survived against No. 8 Louisiana, taking a 6-5 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns in 13 innings to advance to a winner’s bracket clash with Little Rock on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET.

Steven Curry opened the 13th inning with a leadoff double that sparked the win. Mason McWhorter dropped a single to left, which moved Curry to third. A wild pitch to Nolan Tressler allowed Curry to score and moved McWhorter around to second. Tressler dropped a sacrifice bunt back to the mound and Ragin’ Cajuns pitcher, Jacob Schultz, tried to get McWhorter out at third but his attempt sailed wide allowing McWhorter to score for the win.

It appeared the Cajuns were in great position for the win when Handsome Monica homered with one out in the top of the 13th inning before the Eagles stopped the bleeding. The Cajuns also took the lead in the top of the 11th.

Orynn Veillon reached on a fielding error to lead off the frame and Monica sacrificed him to second. Daniel Lahare then singled to left. Veillon was going to hold up at third but the throw to the plate was wild. In his attempt to score over the overthrow, Veillon was ruled out and the plate. Brennan Breaux’s infield single chased home Lahare from second base with the go-ahead run.

Daniel Collins (4-1) earned a one-out win for the Eagles. He issued a walk to the first batter he faced but then struck out O’Neal Lockridge to end the inning. Eagle starter, Seth Shuman, pitched six innings and allowed two runs on two hits. He struck out five before GS went to the bullpen.

McWhorter led the way for the Eagles in the game with three hits and two RBI.

Schultz (2-3) took the loss for the Cajuns but only faced two batters in the game. Grant Cox got the start for Louisiana and went seven and two-thirds allowing three runs on three hits. He struck out four against one walk.

The 13-inning contest matched the record for longest game in terms of innings in Sun Belt Baseball Championship. It was the fifth game to go that distance and the first since 2014.

Mavericks Walk-off Chanticleers in Tenth, 9-8

CONWAY, S.C. – Fourth-seeded UT Arlington scored eight runs over the final three innings as the Mavericks defeated No. 5 and tournament host Coastal Carolina on Wednesday in the 2019 Sun Belt Baseball Championship at Springs Brooks Stadium.

The Mavs improved to 32-24 with the win and remain in the winner’s bracket heading into the third day of play on Thursday. UTA will face the winner of the ULM/Texas State matchup, which began after the conclusion of the UTA/CCU contest.

The Chanticleers rallied with five runs in the top of the ninth inning to move ahead 8-6 but were unable to hold off the Mavericks in the bottom half of the frame. UTA scored the winning run on a one-out RBI single to right field by Zac Cook, which scored Aaron Funk. Funk led off the inning with a bunt-single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Connor Aube.

Aube led the way for the Mavericks with three hits on the day, including a solo home run in the sixth inning. Cook and Josh Minjarez added two hits apiece for UTA.

Wyatt Divis (5-0) earned the win for UTA after coming on in the ninth. Drew Gooch got the start for UTA and went seven innings, allowing one earned run.

CCU starting pitcher Anthony Veneziano registered his second quality start of the season, allowing just one run on five hits, a walk, a hit batter and seven strikeouts over seven innings. The loss fell to CCU’s Dylan Gentry (1-1), as the left-handed pitcher gave up two hits and the game-winning run in the 10th.

Parker Chavers led the Chants with a team-high three RBIs.

ULM Upsets Top-Seeded Texas State, 8-0

CONWAY, S.C. – Trey Jeans threw a three-hitter, Joey Jordan drove in two runs and ULM shutout top-seeded Texas State, 8-0, on Wednesday to advance in the winners bracket of the 2019 Sun Belt Baseball Championship.

The 10th-seeded Warhawks (26-29) won twice in two days to advance from the single-elimination round on Tuesday. ULM defeated South Alabama, 12-7, on Tuesday before knocking off the Bobcats.

Jeans (5-8) struck out four with three walks and allowed only one extra-base hit in his seven and two-thirds innings pitched. Brendan Jordan and Braedon Barrett had two hits apiece for the Warhawks with Barrett driving in a run and scoring two runs.

The Warhawks plated six runs in the top of the second inning and never looked back. Texas State (36-19) mustered only two hits through the first six innings and no runner advanced past third in the contest.

Nicholas Fraze (6-4) took the loss for the Bobcats as he gave up six runs on six hits over three innings. He issued five walks and one hit by pitch. Brandon Lewis took over for Fraze and held the Warhawks at bay until the eighth inning. He pitched 4.2 innings and allowed two runs on two hits. Kyle Bradford came into the game with two outs in the eighth. He struck out all four Warhawk batters he faced.

ULM will now face No. 4 UT Arlington on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Texas State will head back to the field at 12:30 p.m. ET to take on No. 5 Coastal Carolina.