March 16, 2008

Box Score

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Lance Luetge put together the longest outing of the year for a Lumberjack pitcher and got plenty of offense on Sunday afternoon as SFA picked up its first Southland Conference win of the new season, 11-8, over Southeastern Louisiana.

Luetge used his 7.1-inning, 2-earned run performance to keep his season ERA under 2.00 through five starts and pick up his third win of the year.

SFA (9-8, 1-2) used a two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning to snatch the early lead, plating eight runs off of Lions (10-7, 2-1) starter Rene' LeBlanc and relievers Ryan Collins and Brent Varnardo.

The `Jacks pushed a pair of those runs across before Kai Kirby and Jeff Brewer exectuted a double steal that had Kirby take home plate to make the score 3-0 after LeBlanc had just been lifted for Collins. Noel Trevino then walked and Brewer stole third base to set up an RBI single from Kevin Crabtree for another run, then two batters later Jeffrey Kello came through with a 2-RBI single of his own to make it 6-0. Brian Ferguson then picked up only his second extra-base hit of the year, a triple that drove in another pair of runs for an 8-0 Lumberjack lead through two.

SE Louisiana answered with a pair of unearned runs in the third, but SFA was there to push the margin back to eight when Trevino scored on a bases loaded wild pitch, and Kello got his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Crabtree.

Luetge only allowed two more runs in the sixth before SFA scratched the scoreboard again in the bottom of the frame. Crabtee led off by taking a Chris Cappo pitch off of his left forearm, and Kevin Croft promptly backed up that good fortune with his second career triple down the left-field line to give the `Jacks a 11-4 lead.

The Lions were not done, however, and finally got to Luetge in the eighth. SE Louisiana pushed two runs across the board and drove the `Jacks starter from the game on Chris Ernest's second home run in as many days.

Jared Schrom then made his first appearance in a week and got out of the inning, but didn't have as easy of a time in the ninth. He got the first two Lions of the inning before Brandon Street took him the other way for a double down the left-field line. That was enough for Donnie Watson to make his way to the mound with the hook, bringing in Richard Folmer for the final out. However, it took him five batters to finally get the final Lion - Josh Cryer - out, and put the `Jacks in the win column.

SFA continues play on Tuesday at Dallas Baptist and stays on the road for a three-game set at conference rival Lamar beginning on Thursday.

-SFA-