No. 5 Central Arkansas Topples No. 4 Houston Baptist
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY | REPLAY
SUGAR LAND, Texas - Central Arkansas put 11 runs on the board in the first three innings against Houston Baptist to pave the for the way for a 15 to 4 seven-inning win in the nightcap of Wednesday's Southland Conference Tournament action at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. The game ended after seven due to the 10-run rule.
Central Arkansas is the only lower seed to win a matchup against a higher seed thus far in the tournament. Favorites Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, and McNeese all came out on top in opening-round games.
Central Arkansas exploded for seven runs in the top of the third inning to extend a four-run lead to 11 to 0. The scoring barrage was punctuated by Keaton Presley's three-run home run, the first of five RBIs and three run scored on the night for the left fielder.
Also in the inning, Hunter Strong stroked a double, knocking in Jansen McCurdy and Presley. The double gives Strong 24 on the year, which is the most in program history for a single season. Zac Clark had held the record since 2004.
"This one is huge," said Central Arkansas Head Coach Allen Gum. "Scoring first is always a good start. Our guys came out great. We had all of the momentum. While we kind of gave it back to them, we recovered."
The third inning was part of a 12-hit evening. Brooks Balesterri and Eddie Sanchez led the hit parade with three each.
Houston Baptist pitchers surrendered 14 walks on the night, setting a new Central Arkansas program record -- one more than the 13 they had earlier this season in a game with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Tonight's run-rule victory is the second straight this year by the Bears over the Huskies.
Bears' hurler Tyler Gray earned the win. The right-hander threw five innings giving up just one earned and six hits to go with five strikeouts.
Central Arkansas will move on to face No. 1 seed McNeese Thursday at 7 p.m. CST. Houston Baptist will square off against Lamar at noon.
Every game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament will be carried live on ESPN3. Southland assistant commissioner Chris Mycoskie will handle play-by-play duties, while several Southland teams' radio announcers will also showcased in the ESPN3 booth during the early rounds. For the title game, Mycoskie will be matched with color analyst Greg Swindell, a former first-team All-American at the University of Texas and 17-year Major Leaguer.