JONESBORO, AR – The Arkansas State baseball team evened its Sun Belt Conference series against South Alabama with a 4-1 victory Saturday night at Tomlinson Stadium as the Red Wolves scored three runs on sacrifice flies.
A-State (13-16, 4-9 SBC) threatened early when Zach George and Austin Baker both singled to lead off the bottom of the first and were bunted over to second and third by Tanner Ring. Matt Burgess then flied out deep enough to center field to score George to give the Red Wolves an early 1-0 advantage over the Jaguars (21-11, 8-6 SBC).
South Alabama tied the score 1-1 in the top of the third on a RBI single by Jared Barnes, but Arkansas State scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth when George singled and scored on a RBI single by Baker. Baker later scored in the inning on another sacrifice fly by Burgess to give A-State a 3-1 edge.
The Red Wolves threatened again in the sixth inning after loading the bases with no outs on a single, walk, and error. George knocked in A-State’s fourth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to left field, but Baker struck out for the second out of the inning in the next at-bat. Ring hit an infield single to shortstop, but Collin Massanelli was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play to end the frame.
The Jaguars best threat to score again came in the eighth inning when Cole Gleason singled to lead off the inning and Ryan Raspino was hit by a pitch with two outs. Reliever Colton Kibler entered the game at that point and got a pop out to George at third base in foul territory to end the threat. Kibler shut the door on the Jaguars with a 1-2-3 ninth inning and earned his team-leading fourth save as the Red Wolves seized the second game of the three-game set 4-1.
Cody Jackson earned the win for A-State to improve to 3-0 as the right-hander entered the game for starter Jon Glidewell in the third inning and tossed a career-high five innings to work into the eighth inning. Jackson allowed no runs on four hits with one strikeout and didn’t walk a single batter. Glidewell only gave up one run on three hits, but walked five and struck out two in 2.2 innings.
Glidewell worked out of trouble in the top of the first inning when the Jaguars appeared poised to take an early edge. He walked the first two guys, but struck out the next two to get back on track. However, he hit the next batter to load the bases, but wiggled out of the jam as Gleason flew out to right field to end the inning.
Offensively, George was 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk and was hit by a pitch along with driving in one run on a sacrifice fly as he extended his on-base streak to 46 games. Baker also had two hits and drove in one run, while Burgess hit his team-leading 12th double and drove in two runs on sacrifice flies.
Austin Bembnowski took the loss for USA as he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts. The South Alabama bullpen only allowed one run (earned) on five hits in four innings of work. Offensively, the Jaguars registered seven hits with Barnes driving in the team’s lone run.
The Red Wolves return to action Sunday, April 5 in the final game of the three-game set against South Alabama. First pitch from Tomlinson Stadium is set for 1 p.m. For the latest on A-State baseball follow the team by logging onto the team’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/astatebaseball and following them on Twitter (@ASTATEBaseball).
(Courtesy: ASU Sports Information)
A-State (13-16, 4-9 SBC) threatened early when Zach George and Austin Baker both singled to lead off the bottom of the first and were bunted over to second and third by Tanner Ring. Matt Burgess then flied out deep enough to center field to score George to give the Red Wolves an early 1-0 advantage over the Jaguars (21-11, 8-6 SBC).
South Alabama tied the score 1-1 in the top of the third on a RBI single by Jared Barnes, but Arkansas State scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fifth when George singled and scored on a RBI single by Baker. Baker later scored in the inning on another sacrifice fly by Burgess to give A-State a 3-1 edge.
The Red Wolves threatened again in the sixth inning after loading the bases with no outs on a single, walk, and error. George knocked in A-State’s fourth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to left field, but Baker struck out for the second out of the inning in the next at-bat. Ring hit an infield single to shortstop, but Collin Massanelli was thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play to end the frame.
The Jaguars best threat to score again came in the eighth inning when Cole Gleason singled to lead off the inning and Ryan Raspino was hit by a pitch with two outs. Reliever Colton Kibler entered the game at that point and got a pop out to George at third base in foul territory to end the threat. Kibler shut the door on the Jaguars with a 1-2-3 ninth inning and earned his team-leading fourth save as the Red Wolves seized the second game of the three-game set 4-1.
Cody Jackson earned the win for A-State to improve to 3-0 as the right-hander entered the game for starter Jon Glidewell in the third inning and tossed a career-high five innings to work into the eighth inning. Jackson allowed no runs on four hits with one strikeout and didn’t walk a single batter. Glidewell only gave up one run on three hits, but walked five and struck out two in 2.2 innings.
Glidewell worked out of trouble in the top of the first inning when the Jaguars appeared poised to take an early edge. He walked the first two guys, but struck out the next two to get back on track. However, he hit the next batter to load the bases, but wiggled out of the jam as Gleason flew out to right field to end the inning.
Offensively, George was 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk and was hit by a pitch along with driving in one run on a sacrifice fly as he extended his on-base streak to 46 games. Baker also had two hits and drove in one run, while Burgess hit his team-leading 12th double and drove in two runs on sacrifice flies.
Austin Bembnowski took the loss for USA as he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts. The South Alabama bullpen only allowed one run (earned) on five hits in four innings of work. Offensively, the Jaguars registered seven hits with Barnes driving in the team’s lone run.
The Red Wolves return to action Sunday, April 5 in the final game of the three-game set against South Alabama. First pitch from Tomlinson Stadium is set for 1 p.m. For the latest on A-State baseball follow the team by logging onto the team’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/astatebaseball and following them on Twitter (@ASTATEBaseball).
(Courtesy: ASU Sports Information)
