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Clutch Plays Give Jackets Sweep (3/5/07)
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
MIDLAND, TX – The Montana
State-Billings baseball team made the plays when they needed
them most in a doubleheader sweep of Texas-Permian Basin on
Monday. The Yellowjackets rallied from a five-run deficit to
win the first game 6-5 in 11 innings. They pounded out a dozen
hits in the second game, winning 9-0 to improve to 5-11.
“We needed a win like that,”
Yellowjacket head coach Chris Brown said of the extra-innings
marathon. “We were down and needed to find a way to win. We’ve
been in that position I don’t know how many times this year. We
just haven’t been able to get over the hump. To have a big
sixth inning like that was huge. To keep plugging away and get
a run across in the eleventh and make it stick was a big morale
boost. It carried over into the second game. When we got up
3-0 in the second game, we just kept pushing.”
Trailing 5-0 through five
innings of game one, MSU Billings posted a five-run sixth inning
that eventually forced extra innings. The Yellowjackets sent 10
batters to the plate in the inning, scoring half of them.
Nick
Hoskyn (Oelwein, IA) drew a bases loaded walk to score
Patrick
Smith (Flagstaff, AZ) for the first run.
Ryan Jones replaced Brent
Hardy on the mound for the Falcons, then proceeded to walk
Seth Moir
(Cody, WY), the first batter he faced, and plate
Kyle Pryor
(Billings, MT). The Yellowjackets drew four walks in the
inning, and
Doug
Longfellow (Lewistown, MT) was hit by a pitch. The big
punch of the inning came from
Willie
Crtalic (Billings, MT), who doubled in Hoskyn and
Longfellow.
The game remained tied into
the eleventh. Yellowjacket starter
Steve Scott
(Billings, MT) went 4 2/3 innings, allowing 10 hits and five
runs. He struck out four and walked one before giving way to
freshman
Cody Clark (Billings, MT) in the bottom of the fifth. Clark
pitched a solid 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, allowing five
hits while striking out four to earn his first win of the year.
In the Yellowjackets’ half of
the eleventh, Crtalic led off with a single, but
Chris
Harang (Glenview, IL) grounded back to the pitcher for a
double play. With two outs and nobody on,
Matt
Schoonover (Great Falls, MT) drew a walk. Smith singled to
move Schoonover to third, and then stole second to give the
Jackets two runners in scoring position. A short single by
Pryor plated Schoonover for the winning run.
Mike Cease
(Deer Lodge, MT) came on in relief to get the final two outs in
the bottom of the eleventh to earn the save. There were runners
on second and third when Cease entered the game.
Pryor was 2-for-5 with a run
and an RBI for the Yellowjackets. Smith also went 2-for-5.
Crtalic went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Schoonover
reached base three times, going 1-for-3 and drawing two walks.
The Falcons’ Will Basom and
Chris Smith each had three hits. Basom scored twice. Mario
Barredo was 2-for-5 and drove in two RBIs. Corey Robertson took
the loss after pitching the final five innings. He gave up four
hits and the winning run.
In game two, the Yellowjackets
plated three runs in the top of the first and never looked
back.
Brian Strom (Littleton, CO) pitched a complete game for his
first win of the season. He scattered five hits over seven
innings, striking out two and walking three. Three of the five
hits Strom allowed came in the seventh inning, but a double play
got him out of trouble. Strom retired the side in order in the
second, third, fourth, and fifth innings.
Pryor, Longfellow, Hoskyn,
Moir, and Crtalic had two hits apiece for the Yellowjackets.
Pryor, Moir, and Schoonover each doubled. Longfellow drove in
three RBIs, and Hoskyn plated another two runs. Crtalic had a
triple and scored a run.
The Falcons’ J Vinson took the
loss, giving up eight hits and six runs in four innings. Eric
Gutierrez had two of the Falcons’ five hits. All five hits
allowed by Strom were singles.
The Yellowjackets and Falcons
will meet in another non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in Odessa. |
