Arkansas State’s offense finally got going Thursday, and because of that, its season will last another day
ASU scored two runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth, and senior starter Bradley Wallace pitched eight innings in the Red Wolves’ 4-3 victory over South Alabama in an elimination game at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Mobile, Ala.
The third-seeded Red Wolves (31-26) will play another elimination game at 6:30 p.m. today against either No. 2 seed Texas-Arlington or No. 6 seed Troy. ASU needs to win today and twice Saturday to reach Sunday’s final.
ASU has the opportunity after Wallace held South Alabama (22-33) to one earned run over eight innings while waiting for his team’s bats to come around. Wallace (4-5), who allowed 7 hits over 8 innings while striking out 6, retired the last 13 batters he faced as South Alabama went down in order in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
“That really helped our offense get back into tempo and kind of create some stuff instead of being on our heels,” ASU Coach Tommy Raffo said. “It seems like this tournament, we’ve kind of been on our heels almost the whole time.”
Tanner Ring’s RBI single in the first inning gave ASU a 1-0 lead, but South Alabama’s Garrett DeGallier scored on a groundout in the bottom of the first, reached on an error in the fourth and later scored to give the Jaguars a 2-1 lead.
The Red Wolves managed only two hits through seven innings against South Alabama starter Locke St. John. But Dustin Jones led off the eighth with a single and scored on Zach Maggio’s two-out single to tie the game at 2-2. Austin Baker followed with another single that scored Maggio to make it 3-2.
In the ninth for ASU, Stuart Levy singled, advanced to second on an error and scored on Lucas Feddersen’s single. Morgan Croft gave up an RBI single to South Alabama’s Cole Gleason in the ninth, but stranded the tying run to earn his eighth save of the season.
Tournament glance
at Stanky Field, Mobile, Ala. Double elimination
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Louisiana-Monroe 8, Western Kentucky 6
Western Kentucky eliminated
Arkansas State 4, South Alabama 3
South Alabama eliminated
Louisiana-Lafayette 11, Texas State 4 Texas-Arlington 7, Troy 3
TODAY’S GAMES
Texas State vs. Louisiana-Monroe, 3 p.m.
Troy vs Arkansas State, 6:30 p.m.
Sports on 05/23/2014