Box Score
SAN MARCOS, Texas – For the first time since making a run in the 2005 Southland Conference baseball tournament, the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team won't have to worry about working its way through the loser's bracket after the opening round.
Harry Slade and
Brock Hebert each drove in runs in a decisive sixth inning and four pitchers combined to scatter nine hits as the Lions defeated Central Arkansas, 6-3, in the opening round of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament on Wednesday at Bobcat Ballpark
No. 2-seeded Southeastern (37-19) advanced to face host and third-seeded Texas State (32-22) in a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday. UCA (25-29), the No. 7 seed, will face Stephen F. Austin in an elimination game at noon.
Southeastern, which last earned a first-round victory since blanking then top-seeded Northwestern State in the 2005 opener, trailed 3-1 before cutting the lead on a fourth-inning RBI double by
Brett Hoffman that scored
Ladd Rhodes.
The Lions rallied to take the lead for good in the sixth as
Alex Marse opened the inning with a single before scoring on Slade's RBI double into the right-center field gap. After
Ben Hernandez moved Slade over to third on a sacrifice bunt, Hebert ripped an RBI single to left to give Southeastern a 4-3 lead that it would not relinquish.
Southeastern added a run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Slade before sealing it with a run in the eighth on
Jacob Fisher's squeeze bunt that scored
Jonathan Pace.
Jason Greenleaf (3-1) pitched 2.1 innings in relief to earn the victory for Southeastern after replacing starter
Andro Cutura in the fourth.
Dylan Hills tossed 2.0 innings of scoreless relief for the Lions before
Stefan Lopez pitched the ninth inning with two strikeouts to record his 20th save of the season.
UCA, making its first appearance in the postseason since playing in the Division II Gulf South Conference in 2006, took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning when Travis Snider reached on a leadoff hit and scored two batters later when Griffin Glaude reached on a throwing error by Hoffman.
Southeastern answered with a run in the third inning as Marse, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, led off the inning with single, stole second and moved to third on one of four errors by UCA. Hernandez then reached on an infield single, scoring Marse and knotting the game at 1-1.
The Bears added a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead, chasing Cutura for Greenleaf in the process. Snider led off the frame with an opposite-field double before scoring on Garrett Brown's RBI single to left. After Brown moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a single by Glaude, Blake Roberts lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Brown.
Caleb McClanahan (6-5) suffered the loss for UCA after allowing four runs – two unearned – and scattering seven hits in 5.1 innings. Snider and Blake Marchal had two hits each for UCA, which took two of three games from the Lions in early April.
Slade and Hernandez had two hits apiece for Southeastern, which collected 11 hits off four UCA pitchers.
Central Arkansas.... 010 200 000 - 3 9 4 (25-29)
Southeastern La..... 001 102 11x - 6 11 1 (37-19)
McClanahan, Biggerstaff (6), Owen (7), Steinmetz, (8) and Snider. Cutura, Greenleaf (4), Hills (7), Lopez (9) and Fisher. W - Greenleaf (3-1). Sv. - Lopez (20). L - McClanahan (6-5). E – Marchal 2 (11), Snider (6), Glaude (3), Hoffman (7). LOB - UCA 10, SLU 16. 2B - Harris (5), Snider (10), Slade (11), Hoffman (7). HBP - Hebert, Pace, Rhodes, Fisher, Marse. SH - Hernandez (21), Fisher (7), Hoffman (6). SF - Roberts (2), Slade (4). SB - Roberts (1), Marse (3). T - 3:07. A – 1,182.
