MOBILE, Ala. (4/9/16) – The Arkansas State baseball team entered the bottom of the seventh inning with a 7-6 edge, but No. 28 South Alabama scored six runs over its final two turns at bat to defeat the Red Wolves 12-7 Saturday night at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala.

Tanner Kirby entered the game on the mound for A-State (13-17, 4-10 SBC), but was pulled in favor of leftfielder Tony Ortiz after two walks sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt. Ortiz walked the only hitter he faced on four pitches to bring Cole Billingsley to the plate for the Jaguars (24-8, 14-0 SBC) with one out and bases full. The Red Wolves countered with Zachary Patterson and Billingsley slapped a full-count pitch up-the-middle to score two runs.

Patterson was able to get out of the seventh inning with the score 8-7 in favor of South Alabama, but A-State couldn't score in the top of the eighth. The Jaguars added a run on a balk by Patterson in the bottom of the eighth before three more runs came across in the inning, two on a single and another on a sacrifice bunt, to set the final at 12-9.

The Arkansas State pitching staff tied the school record for walks issued with 16. The other two instances were against Northern Illinois in the 1981 season and Murray State during the 1975 campaign. Starter Adam Grantham went two innings and walked seven, but didn't factor in the decision. Cody Jackson was solid out of the bullpen with four innings and only three runs allowed. Patterson took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year.

James Traylor earned the win for the Jags and improved to 5-0 on the season after tossing a scoreless inning in relief. A-State got to starter Hunter Soleymani as they tagged him for seven runs (all earned) on eight hits, but the USA bullpen combined for 4.1 innings of scoreless relief and only gave up two hits.

Joe Schrimpf began the scoring in the game with a two-out, two-run home run off Soleymani in the top of the first. However, the Jaguars responded with their own two-run homer in the bottom of the second by Jared Barnes.

USA loaded the bases in the bottom of the third with no outs against Grantham and Jackson came to the mound. Jackson induced a 6-4-3 double play that scored a run, but struck out the final batter of the frame to limit the damage to one run.

The Red Wolves, now trailing 3-2, quickly responded with tying run after a wild pitch and errant throw by the catcher allowed Garrett Rucker to score. Ortiz flew out for the second out of the inning, but Daltan Lovell drove home Neil Lambert for his first RBI of the season to give A-State the 4-3 edge. Ty White singled to put runners on first and second for Tanner Ring, who drove a double to the left-center gap to score both runs to give the Red Wolves a 6-3 advantage.

South Alabama cut into its deficit with a two-run single by Drew LaBounty in the bottom half of the fourth inning to put the score at 6-5. Both teams scored runs in the fifth inning with A-State's coming on a Jeremy Brown single to put the visitors up 7-5. The Jags responded with a two-out double by Ben Gann and RBI single from Adam Wolfe to put the tally at 7-6.

White, Rucker, and Brown each had two hits, while Schrimpf and Ring led the team with two RBIs apiece. The South Alabama offense was led by Brendan Donovan's two this, while Billingsley knocked in three runs.

The Jaguars and Red Wolves conclude the series Sunday at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala., with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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