Pilots come up short against SAU
March 02, 2011
MAGNOLIA, Ark. - The no. 13 LSU Shreveport Pilots came up one run short against the no. 29 Southern Arkansas University Muleriders in a pitcher's duel by a final score of 4-3 on Tuesday night at Mulerider Field. Tonight's game will be one that both offenses will soon like to forget as neither team got a hit after the fourth inning.
LSUS (12-7) got on the board first in the second inning after a two-strike hit-by-pitch allowed Kevin Smith to reach base to start the inning, Cody Causey followed with a two-run home run to left-center field. This was Causey's third long ball of the year and it put the Pilots on top 2-0 in the second inning. The visitors would take on another run in the third inning to increase their lead to three.
SAU (7-4) got all three runs back in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI-double from Trey Buck and Trevor Rogers' two run homer tied the game at three. The Muleriders added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly from Tyler Pickett that proved to be the game winner.
The big story of the night was that the bats went down when the sun set as both pitchers dominated the rest of the way. Neither team scored a run or got a hit after the fourth inning when SAU recorded their last hit and the Pilots' last hit and run came in the third inning.
SAU starter Ziggie Vanderwall (1-0) dominated the Pilot lineup as he struck out each batter at least once on his way to setting the SAU single game record for strikeouts with a total of 17 on the night. Vanderwall struck out the side three different times in the game and struck out two in three different innings. He tossed seven and 1/3 innings and only walked three batters, two of which came in the eighth just before SAU chose to go to the bullpen. He threw 135 pitches, 85 for strikes.
LSUS starter Jared Mata (2-2) was not as dominated strike out wise but he was equally as effective as he retired the final 14 batters that he faced to keep the Pilots in the game but the offense could never find its swing to regain the lead that it once had early on. Mata threw 118 pitches, 76 for strikes, through eight innings and did not walk a batter while striking out six batters.
LSUS scored three runs on three hits while SAU crossed the plate four times on six hits. Both teams played error free in the field.
There was only one hitter in the game with multi-hits, SAU's Trevor Rogers was two for four with two RBIs while Cody Causey drove in a pair for the Pilots and was one for three.
The Pilots had a chance to tie the game in the ninth as Causey reached on a hit-by-pitch to start the inning and stole second base but the offense was unable to bring him around to score as SAU's reliever Devin Avery (1) struck out two of the final three batters to earn the save.
The next game for the Pilots will be on Friday afternoon against the University of the Southwest Mustangs at Pilot Field in a double header beginning at 4:00 p.m. Game one on Friday will consist of seven innings to be immediately followed by a nine inning game. Game three of the series will be on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
