Arkansas State did enough in the ninth inning to send its game into extra innings Wednesday, but it didn’t do enough with its extra at-bats in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Mobile, Ala.
Garrett Pitts hit a home run in the top of the 13th inning and Mark Skinner pitched his fourth consecutive hitless inning as Troy defeated ASU 4-3 in the longest Sun Belt Conference Tournament game ever.
Sun Belt Tournament
At Stanky Field, Mobile, Ala.
All times Central
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
GAME 1 No. 5 W. Kentucky vs. No. 4 Texas State, 9 a.m.
GAME 2 No. 8 La.-Monroe vs. No. 1 La.-Lafayette, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 3 No. 6 Troy vs. No. 3 Arkansas State, 4 p.m.
GAME 4 No. 7 South Alabama vs. No. 2 Texas-Arlington, 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
GAME 5 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 9 a.m.
GAME 6 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 12:30 p.m.
GAME 7 Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 4 p.m.
GAME 8 Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 7:30 p.m.
ASU rallied from a 3-0 deficit with a run in the seventh and two in the ninth, but it was held hitless over the final four innings and fell into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
No. 3 seed ASU (30-26) will play either South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. today in an elimination game.
The Red Wolves almost rallied to earn a spot in the winner’s bracket. Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, Matt Burgess singled and Kaleb Brown entered as a pinch-runner. After Brown moved to second when Stuart Levy was hit by a pitch, Dustin Jones singled to score Brown and make it 3-2. Ty Michelotti followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Levy to tie the game at 3-3.
Lucas Feddersen reached on an error by third baseman Nick Masonia to put the winning run at second base, but Zach Maggio struck out to end the inning.
Skinner, who gave up the lead in the ninth, retired ASU in order in the 10th and stranded two runners in the 11th. After Jones reached on a dropped third strike and advanced to second base, Michelotti grounded out to end the game.
Sports on 05/22/2014