SUN BELT TOURNAMENT
ARKANSAS STATE 13, TROY 12
Arkansas State's 2016 baseball season will have at least one more game.
The No. 8 seed Red Wolves trailed the No. 4 seed Troy Trojans by eight runs in the fifth inning but came back to win 13-12 in an elimination game Thursday at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in San Marcos, Texas.
Troy led ASU 12-4 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Red Wolves (28-28) scored the game's final nine runs, including Tanner Ring's game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
ASU cut Troy's lead to 12-6 in the fifth inning on Tony Ortiz's two-run home run in the fifth inning. Jeremy Brown's two-run double pulled ASU within 12-8 in the sixth inning.
In the seventh and eighth innings, ASU scored a run to cut the Troy advantage to 12-10. Garrett Rucker's RBI single scored Ty White in the seventh, and Matt Burgess homered in the eighth to pull the Red Wolves within two runs.
The Red Wolves completed their comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Ortiz led off the ninth with a double to right-center field. White walked, and Joe Schrimpf was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rucker hit a ground ball, but shortstop Matt Sanders' throwing error to first base allowed White and Ortiz to score to tie the game 12-12 with Schrimpf moving to third.
On a 1-0 pitch, Ring singled to left field to score Schrimpf and complete ASU's comeback.
Bryan Ayers (3-3) pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the victory for ASU. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 5.
White led ASU offensively, going 4 for 5. Rucker went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI. Burgess also had three hits as ASU outhit Troy 19-18.
The Red Wolves will play the loser of Louisiana-Lafayette and Texas State at 6:30 p.m. today.
Justin Friend and Chase Smartt each went 4 for 5 to lead Troy (32-26) offensively.
The game was delayed 2 hours and 50 minutes because of lightning in the second inning.
SOUTH ALABAMA 6, UALR 4
UALR's bullpen couldn't hold a two-run lead in top of the ninth, and the Trojans saw their season end Thursday in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The No. 3 seed Trojans lost to No. 2 seed South Alabama in an elimination game. UALR ended its season at 26-28.
UALR led 4-2 going into the ninth inning, but South Alabama rallied for four runs to take a 6-4 lead.
Cody Daylor walked Ben Gann and gave up a single to Matt Bolger, putting runners at first and second with no outs. Adam Wolfe struck out, but Drew LaBounty singled to load the bases with one out.
Daylor was replaced by Jarrid Garcia, who walked Cole Billingsley to score Gann and cut the lead to 4-3. Keenan Wingfield came on for Garcia, but South Alabama wasn't done, as Jared Barnes hit a two-run double to left field to give the Jaguars (39-19) a 5-4 lead.
After Danny Martinez was intentionally walked, a wild pitch by Wingfield allowed Billingsley to score to make it 6-4 South Alabama.
In the bottom of the ninth, Nik Gifford struck out, Cameron Knight lined out to second and Ty Gunter struck out swinging to end the game.
UALR was held to five hits, with Ryan Scott going 3 for 4 and Hayden Martin 2 for 3. Scott hit a home run and a double and drove in three runs. Martin had a double, an RBI and two runs scored.
Scott ended his season with a program-high 66 RBI, breaking the UALR single-season record of 65 set by Chris Julo in 2003. He also holds the single-season batting average mark at .435.
Sports on 05/27/2016