NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin defeated University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff 9-6 in the midweek matchup. SFA improves to 17-17 while UAPB falls to 11-25.
Peyton Parker put the Lumberjacks on the board early in the first inning with an RBI single to left field, bringing in Alex Rodgers who led the bottom half of the inning off with a double. The ‘Jacks took advantage of some pitching miscues in the next inning as they scored two runs off of three hit batters, a walk, and an error by the pitcher. Rodgers and Parker were the beneficiaries and got the RBIs after both being hit by the pitch with the bases loaded.
Following a one-run single from the Golden Lions in the top of the third, Cole Hill got SFA the three-run lead back with an RBI single of his own. A couple of batters later, Rodgers drove in his second and third RBIs of the game with a hard-hit single to right field.
The scoring continued into the fourth inning when Nolan Brown drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to center field. Later on in the inning with two runners on base, Cody Fleischer drove a double to the right center wall brining in those two runners, but got thrown out at third trying to stretch his double out to a triple. Following Fleischer’s two-run base knock, the Lumberjacks led 9-1 heading into the fifth inning.The Golden Lions were able to make some late-game rallies as they drove in one in the fifth with a solo homer and two in the eight with a two-run single. They were able to make the game interesting in the end as they started a two-out rally in the top of the ninth. With runners on first and second, the batter at the plate launched a high pop-up near third base that was able to find the ground driving in one run. The next batter was able to hit a single to bring in another run and make it a three-run ballgame. With the tying run at the plate, Colton Castilaw was able to strike out the last batter to hold on and win the game.
Rodgers and Parker both recorded two hits and a run in the evening, with Rodgers brining in three runs and Parker with two. Clayton Loranger was able to hit an infield single in the game to extend his hitting streak to 17 games.
Joe Richter picked up his second win of the year after going 1.2 innings allowing no base runners and striking out three of the five batters he faced.
SFA takes a day off tomorrow and prepares for the weekend series against UT-Arlington with the first match at Friday, April 21st at 6:30 p.m.