MOUNTAINEER BASEBALL

HEAD COACH, Aric Thomas
Game Review (3-27-06)

Mountaineers Win Two of Three Over the Weekend

Maintain 1st Place in the Bi-State Conference - But Streak Ends at 12

With two wins and a loss over the weekend, the Eastern Oklahoma State College baseball team improved its overall record to 20-9 and its 1st place Bi-State Conference record to 3-1.  In Friday’s non-conference match-up, the Mountaineers defeated Murray State 14-2.  On Saturday the Mountaineers edged Connors State College by a score of 3-2.  With that victory the Mountaineers extended their winning streak to 12 games.  Sunday the winning streak was halted by a 1-0 loss to Connors.

Friday’s 14 run output was the sixth time in the last nine games the Mountaineers reached double digits in the run column.  The offensive attack was led by Justin Mitchell.  Mitchell went 4-5 with a double, two runs scored and three runs batted in.  Chance Gerloff, Carey Crain, Ryan Davis, Tyler Fulps and Steven Fields all had two hits each.  Four freshman pitchers, Crain, Josh Miller, Austin Baker and Cody LaPlante, combined to allow just six hits and two runs, while striking out seven.  By picking up the win, Crain improved his record to 2-0.

Mountaineer pitcher’s Hiarali Garcia and Joe Noyes paced the way on Saturday.  Garcia (4-1) earned the victory with eight innings of work.  He allowed just five hits and two runs while striking out eight.  Noyes picked up his team leading fifth save of the season with a one inning, two strikeout performance.  Tim Sogan went 2-3 with a double, a hit by pitch and a run batted in.

By a score of 1-0 on Sunday, the Mountaineers winning streak was stopped at 12 games.  Blake King (5-1) was the hard luck loser on the mound.  King allowed just one hit over his seven innings of work.  Connors plated their only run in the bottom of the sixth inning.  With two outs and a runner on third, King struck the Cowboy batter out, but a passed ball allowed him to reach first and the runner from third to come home and score the only run of the game. 

With the three pitching performances of the weekend, Mountaineer pitchers have combined to allow four or fewer runs in 13 of the last 15 games Eastern has played.

The Mountaineers will play four Bi-State Conference games this week.  Starting Tuesday at 2:00 pm, Eastern will host University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.  The Mountaineers will travel to Fort Smith on Thursday for a 3:00 pm start.  The Mountaineers will also travel to Midwest City on Saturday to take on Rose State College in a 1:00 pm double header.