May 25, 2011

Box Score

SAN MARCOS - Lamar University had won its last seven opening round games in Southland Conference Baseball Tournament play, but the Cardinals could not run their streak to eight as they were 3-2 losers to Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday in first round action from Bobcat Ballpark.

The seventh-seeded Cardinals, who fell to 29-26 on the year, will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday morning at 9 with the loser being eliminated from the tournament. The No. 3 Islanders fell 3-2 to UTSA in 10 innings Wednesday, and lost 2-of-3 to the Cardinals in Beaumont during the regular season.

LU senior Blake Ford threw an outstanding game for the Cardinals, but ran out of gas in the seventh inning. The right-hander left the game after 6.2 innings of work, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.

"Blake did a phenomenal job out there today," said LU head coach Jim Gilligan. "It was extremely hot out there and he just had nothing left, but he did a great job and should have fared better."

With the Cardinals leading 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Lumberjacks began their rally behind SLC Player of the Year Bryson Myles who led off the inning with a double. With one out, Myles stole third for his 51st stolen base of the season after LU third baseman Pablo Salinas couldn't handle an excellent throw from catcher Joey Latulippe.

Myles came home on the second out of the inning, a Darren Crabtree sacrifice fly to left field. Ford struggled to get the final out as the Jacks were able to manufacture the tying run with two outs. Jackson Hood would smack a third straight SFA single to score catcher Jarid Scarafiotti and tie the game at 2-2.

Senior Stephen Tromblee relieved Ford in the seventh, but ran into trouble in the eighth. Tromblee allowed only one hit in the inning, but it would cost him as Crabtree walked and scored the winning run on a Scarafiotti double down the left field line. Tromblee would take the loss to fall to 3-3.

"This is a heartbreaker," Gilligan said. "It was just a great college baseball game, but unfortunately we didn't come out on top. That's a really good team over there, but I thought we could have pushed across a couple more runs early and really put the pressure on them."

While Lamar scored runs in both the second and fifth innings, it was the runners it left on the bases that ultimately cost the Cardinals. LU third baseman Pablo Salinas doubled home Jeff Abt in the second to get the scoring going, but the Cardinal rally would end with a pair of runners left on base in the inning.

After leaving a runner on base in both the third and fourth innings, the Cardinals finally scratched across another run in the fifth. Aaron Buchanan, who finished with two hits, singled with one out and moved to third on an Andy Mena double to put runners on second and third.

First baseman Wade Mathis drove in Buchanan with a long fly ball to right field, but the Cardinals would do no more damage in the inning.

SFA ace reliever Jason West set the Cardinals down in order in the ninth inning to pick up his 10th save of the season and send the Lumberjacks into the winner's bracket. Alex Moshier (2-0) faced just one LU batter, getting Salinas to fly out to left field to pick up the victory.

Tyler Herriage started and took a no decision for SFA after working six innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs and striking out six.

LAMAR