Baseball
Andrew Kainer had a run-scoring bunt single to tie it in the eighth. |
SOUTHEASTERN GETS BIG NINTH INNING TO DOWN MAVERICKS, 6-2.
April 20, 2008
ARLINGTON, Texas - - UT Arlington rallied late, but Southeastern Louisiana answered in the top of the ninth and took a 6-2 victory from the Mavericks on Sunday in a Southland Conference baseball game at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks hot offense of late was cooled off to a degree by Southeastern Louisiana left-handed pitcher Wade Miley, spoiling a dazzling performance by UTA right-handed starter Andy Sauter. Southeastern salvaged the third game of the series after the Mavericks took the first two.
The loss snaps a seven-game win streak for the Mavericks (19-21, 9-8), but they still captured a third consecutive series victory in conference play. Southeastern (19-18, 8-9) desperately needed Miley's outing. The Lions dropped below .500 in league play just the day before.
Miley (6-3) tossed a complete-game, allowing two runs on nine hits. He struck out nine.
"That's the best pitcher we've faced all year," UTA coach Darin Thomas said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win but came up a run short in the eighth. In the ninth, we just let things get away from us."
Sauter went seven innings and allowed just two runs, one earned. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter, finishing with a no decision.
Just like it did in Saturday's victory, UTA's offense came alive in the eighth. Consecutive hits by Blake Holts and David McLeod put runners on first and second with nobody out. Holt went to third on a ground-out. Matt Otteman followed with a run-scoring single to right, making it 2-1 and keeping runners on first and third. That's when pinch-hitter Andrew Kainer came up with the hit of the day. His bunt to the right side of the infield was perfect enough that it not only got the run home, Kainer was safe and the rally kept moving forward and made it 2-2.
But the Lions came right back, loading the bases with a hit, hit batter and hit before Ty Summerlin's fly ball to right fell safely to put the Mavericks down, 3-2. Two more singles made it 6-2.
Southeastern struck first with a run in the second inning when Xavier Qualls led off with a single to left and advanced to second when Sauter hit Brian McCants with a pitch. Casey Summerlin followed one batter later with a single to left, and the Qualls barely beat the throw from Mavericks left-fielder Blake Holt.
From there, Miley made the slim lead stick through the next few innings. He retired seven of eight batters in the third, fourth and into the fifth innings. UTA put the tying run on second in the fifth with two outs, but UTA couldn't punch the run home. Matthew Otteman gave the Mavericks another chance in the sixth, hitting a ball deep to the gap in left-center for a one-out double. But a strikeout and grounder ended the inning.
The Lions got a cushion in the top of the seventh when Summerlin lined a shot to third base that rolled into left-field. He advanced to second, then went to third on a bunt single and scored on a single to left to make it 2-0. Southeastern still had runners on first and second with nobody out. But Sauter made a nice play to get the first out at third on a sacrifice attempt. A double-play kept the deficit at two and made room for UTA's rally to tie in the eighth.
Rett Varner (1-2) took the loss for the Mavs.
