SUGAR LAND, Texas – The Northwestern State baseball team kept swinging well Sunday afternoon in its final game of the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Collegiate Classic.
The Demons, however, let too many opportunities unfulfilled in the early going, leaving the door open for former Southland Conference rival Stephen F. Austin.
The Lumberjacks took advantage of that sliver of hope and rallied for a 5-4 victory at Constellation Field, handing the Demons their first loss in the three-game event.
"Coming away from this game and from the weekend, we had double-digit hits in three straight games and did not commit an erroring three straight games," seventh-year head coach
Bobby Barbier said. "We're going to win a lot of games playing like that. It's hard to be upset about that, but by the same token, there are winning plays in a game offensively – men on second and third, one out twice; man on third and one out once and we get no runs out of those. We've just got to get the big hit."
The search for the big hit did not look to be a concern early as the Demons (3-4) took a 1-0 lead two batters into the game as
Gabe Colaianni led off with a triple and
Daunte Stuart followed with a double – both on balls Lumberjack outfielders struggled to play.
In what became a trend, the Demons loaded the bases with one out in the inning but could not add to the lead.
NSU added two more runs in the second on
Caleb Castle's RBI squeeze bunt and a Stuart groundout.
Armed with an early lead, NSU starter
Drayton Brown worked four shutout innings before Stephen F. Austin (3-5) began to solve him in the fifth. Hunter Prescher's soft single to right field started a four-run inning that Peyton Parker capped with a two-out, two-run home run.
Three of the Lumberjacks' five runs came on two-out hits, something the Demons had done successfully in tournament wins against Seton Hall and New Mexico State on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
NSU had a two-out RBI of its own that came at a pivotal time as
Michael Dattalo singled home Stuart, who had worked an 0-2 count even before doubling off SFA starter Conner Woods with two outs in the sixth. Stuart finished the day 3-for-5 with three doubles, becoming the eighth Demon to record three doubles in a game – the school single-game mark.
The Lumberjacks took the lead for good with two outs in the seventh as Tom Biggs singled up the middle with two outs to score Alex Rodgers, who led off with a single against NSU reliever
Dawson Flowers (0-2).
The Demons built a ninth-inning rally by putting the first two runners on as Dattalo singled and
Gray Rowlett was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. Skyler Jaco recorded the next two outs before walking
Jeffrey Elkins to load the bases before getting a called third strike to end the game.
"Good ballgame that we didn't come out on the right end of it," Barbier said. "We'll go back to work and get ready to play Tuesday. We need to keep playing like we've been playing. We're swinging the bats well. The starting pitching was great. We had a couple of hiccups here and there, but I think we played winning baseball this weekend."
Stuart and
Broch Holmes each went 3-for-5 for NSU, which set a season high in hits for the third straight game with 13.
Gabe Colaianni and Dattalo added two hits each for the Demons.
The Demons and Lumberjacks will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field as Northwestern State faces a repeat opponent for the first time in eight games this season.
Stephen F. Austin 5, Northwestern State 4
NSU 120 001 000 -- 4 13 0
SFA 000 040 10x -- 5 10 2
W -- Colton Castilaw (1-0). L --
Dawson Flowers (0-2). S - Skyler Jaco (1). 2B -- NSU,
Daunte Stuart 3. SFA, Alex Rodgers. 3B -- NSU,
Gabe Colaianni. HR -- SFA, Peyton Parker (2). Highlights: NSU, Colaianni 2-4, 2B; Stuart 3-5, 3 2Bs, 2 RBIs;
Michael Dattalo 2-5, RBI;
Broch Holmes 3-5. SFA, Rodgers 2-4, 2B, RBI;
Cole Hill 2-4; Hunter Prescher 2-4.
Records: Northwestern State 3-4; Stephen F. Austin 3-5.
