Central Arkansas Tops McNeese in Nightcap
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SUGAR LAND, Texas – Central Arkansas beat regular-season champion and top-seeded McNeese Thursday night at Constellation Field in the final game of day two of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament.
Cowboys’ starting pitcher Peyton McLemore and Bears’ starter Mark Moyer matched one another through four innings, each holding his opponent scoreless and each giving up just two singles.
The worm changed midgame, however. Central Arkansas struck first in fifth inning, plating five runs on five hits, buoyed by defensive miscues. All runs in the frame came with two outs.
Jansen McCurdy drove in the first Bears run with an RBI single to bring home Dusty Wright. McLemore then balked in a run, allowing Michael Haun to cross the plate. Hunter Strong chipped in with a single to right field, scoring McCurdy to make it 3 to 0 in favor of Central Arkansas. A fielding error on the play allowed the runners to move up on the basepaths and further the damage. McLemore then uncorked a wild pitch, and Strong came across with the fourth run of the inning. Brooks Balesterri’s infield single drove in Rigo Aguilar for run number five.
The Cowboys answered with three runs in the top of the sixth inning, the first on a sacrifice fly by Ricky Ramirez after McNeese had loaded the bases with the first three hitters of the frame reaching. Matt Gallier followed with an RBI single, scoring Robbie Podorsky and prompting Central Arkansas head coach Allen Gum to turn to his bullpen in favor of Brandon Hagerla. The Bears reliever answered with a strikeout of Joe Provenzano before Shane Selman cut the lead to 5 to 3 with an RBI single of his own that scored Cowboys catcher Dustin Duhon. But that was all McNeese would muster as Hagerla kept Central Arkansas in front by getting Austin Nelson to fly out harmlessly with the tying runs on base.
Moyer’s final line included 5 1/3 innings pitched, three earned runs, four hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Hagerla gave up just one hit while going the final 3 2/3 innings to earn the save.
“Moyer went out there and gave us a chance to win,” said Gum. “We just took off right there (in the fifth inning) and we got a couple of breaks.”
The victory gives the Bears a spot in Friday’s 7 p.m. CST semifinal game against the winner of the noon McNeese-Houston Baptist matchup.
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.