A-State drops to 11-12 (3-6) after weekend series

Arkansas State Baseball started its season 7-4, but have gone 4-8 since opening conference play, including a 2-1 series setback this past weekend against Georgia Southern.

Before returning home this to take on the Eagles, the Red Wolves played two road series at UT Arlington and Georgia State and a single match against nationally ranked Missouri State.

A-State returned home, having picked up just three wins over their last eight games.

In the series opener, The Red Wolves fell behind quickly in allowing four runs in the second inning with two errors and three RBI hits.

They loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning, but only managed one run to cut the deficit to 4-1.

The Eagles added to their total in the following innings, putting up two more runs on the board via back-to-back RBI hits in the third, and a sac fly in the fourth that brought home another run.

A-State showed signs of life in the bottom of the fourth, as Joe Schrimpf smacked a home run into left field, adding two runs.

The Red Wolves failed to bring another runner home in the match, falling to the Eagles 8-3 in the opener.

Looking to tie the series, A-State came out swinging in Friday night’s match, putting up four runs in the first three innings alone.

Tanner Ring chipped in with his fourth home run of the season, and his first in conference play. Leading 5-1, the Red Wolves gave up four runs in the seventh inning, tying the game at five.

The teams went scoreless in the eighth, and A-State headed to the ninth inning with a chance to win.

Georgia Southern walked two batters and hit another to load the bases with no outs for Tanner Ring.

Ring stepped up to the plate and saved the day with a walkoff RBI single, giving the Red Wolves their first and only win of the series, 6-5.

A-State hoped to stay in the win column on Saturday in the series finale, as the team took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first.

Tanner Ring’s RBI double complimented Matt Burgess’ two-run homer to put the Red Wolves up by two. The Eagles answered in the second with four runs off an RBI single and a three-run homer of their own. They put up four more runs in the fifth and sixth inning to increase their lead to 9-3.

With their rally caps on, A-State cut the deficit to two runs with a four-run eighth inning, which included a bases-loaded RBI walk.

Despite getting a leadoff walk, the ninth inning ended without a score, giving the Eagles the 9-7 victory.

Tyler Zuber (2-2) took the loss in the opening game, as Coulton Lee (3-2) earned a win and a loss in the final two games of the series.

The team dropped back below .500 at 11-12, 3-6 in the Sun Belt.

The Red Wolves are back in action at Tomlinson Stadium this week, with a Wednesday night matchup vs. Mississippi Valley State, and a weekend series against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Mississippi Valley State will come into Wednesday’s contest with a record of 4-17 (2-6).

The Delta Devils schedule includes losses to to Arkansas (21-4, 20-0), UALR (20-3), and Mississippi State (16-1).

Lafayette currently sits at 15-9 (6-3) on the year. The Cajuns have wins over Sam Houston State, Rice and UALR, among other teams.

ULL has lost to LSU (8-5), TCU (7-1) and Texas Tech (53), among others.

First pitch for the Wednesday’s game is set for is set for 6 p.m.

The first pitch in the weekend series against ULL is set for Friday at 6 p.m.