Wallace College - Baseball Press Releases

Govs and Saints split conference opener	2008-02-24
In the conference opening double header for the Wallace Govs and LBW Saints Sunday afternoon, the two games mirrored each other. And both teams came away with a victory.
In the first game, it was LBW who scored a bunch of runs in the late innings and came away with an 11-6 victory. But in game two, Wallace got revenge. The Govs poured it on late for an 11-3 win. “We’ve got a lot of things we need to work on right now,” Wallace coach Mackey Sasser said. “One of the biggest things is we’ve got to quit giving teams extra outs. Routine pop-fly balls have got to be caught. Our pitchers have got to quit walking guys and hitting batters. These things will get you beat when you play good teams.” Familiar sentiments were expressed by LBW coach Steve Helms. \“We gave Wallace 13 free passes in just the second game,” he said. “How can you expect to win a ball game that way?” And it was the second game that the Saints loss. After LBW went up 2-0 in the top of the first on a two-RBI double by Chad Helms, they gave both of them back and three more in the bottom half of the inning. The big blast was a three-run homer by Daniel Torrente. The other two runs came on a two-RBI single off the bat of Anthony Kopacz. Things were so bad for the Saints in the first inning that they had to use three pitchers just to get out of the inning. Starting pitcher Grant Allbrook faced four batters and only managed to get one out. Reliever Tyler Rasberry faced three batters. He walked the first one and then hit the next two. The third pitcher of the inning, Derek Sculley gave up the hit to Kopacz before getting the final two outs. Neither team scored again until Wallace added a run in the bottom of the fifth. Jonathan Eaves led off the inning with a double, and after two more hit batters, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Harman Watkins. But the big inning for the Govs was the sixth. Once again Wallace added five more runs and did it on just three hits. Rafael Carlot hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot over the left field fence. Another run scored on an error, and a run scored on the first-and-third double steal. LBW was able to add a home run by Sam Houston in the top of the seventh. But by then it was much too late. Justin Hay picked up the win for the Govs in game two. He pitched 5 2/3 innings, and gave up only two runs. The first game was exactly the scenario Sasser was concerned about. His starting pitcher kept the Govs in the game, but relievers were unable to hold off the Saints. Andrew Hockenbury pitched well, but left in the eighth inning with his team trailing by only two runs. But over the next 1 1/3 inning, reliever Sloan Simmons gave up four runs. That gave the Saints all the cushion they needed. With the score tied 5-5 in the fifth, Hockenbury allowed the first three hitters to reach base. But the only run that scored came on an RBI single by Sam Houston. Hockenbury kept the damage to a minimum when struck out the next three batters. But that run gave the Saints the lead for good in this see-saw battle. The game remained a one-run affair until the final two innings. After reaching base on a walk in the eighth, Allan Harvin scored on an errant pick-off attempt at second base. Still the lead was only two runs, 7-5. But after coming on in relief in the eighth inning, Simmons opened the ninth and immediately ran into trouble. He gave up singles to the first three hitters, including an RBI single to Houston. He hit the fourth batter, and two batters later he gave up a two-RBI double to pinch hitter Chad Helms. Chad Mansmaan followed that with another RBI single, and when the inning finally came to an end, the Saints had built an 11-5 lead. Wallace got one of the runs back in the bottom of the ninth on a solo home run by Ryan Reece. It was his sixth home run of the season. But instead of the Govs being only one swing away from tying the game, the late inning runs proved extremely costly. “I think both Wallace and us are down right now,” Helms said. “In the Major Leagues, they have six weeks of spring training. We only have three weeks to get ready for conference play and it shows. This is still like spring training for both us. But usually we both play good in April and hopefully we both will again so we can make the (state) tournament.” The rubber game of the rain-delayed conference opener will be played Monday at noon on the Wallace campus. GAME NOTES As LBW coach Steve Helms put it, this wasn’t a pretty game. Wallace pitchers walked or hit 13 batters in the two games. The team also committed four errors, and that’s not counting pop-ups in foul territory that weren’t caught, or a pop-ups that landed in fair territory but weren’t touched. LBW one-upped the Govs. They had 18 walks or hit batters in the two games, and committed six errors. Speaking of getting hit, the Govs Jonathan Eaves was hit three times in the second game. He also had a double in that game. LBW used a total of six pitchers in the seven-inning second game just to get the Wallace hitters out. Wallace scored 11 runs, but only had six hits. In the hitting department, the Govs’ Daniel Torrente hit a solo home run in the first game and a three run homer in the second. Ryan Reece hit a solo home run in the first game, his team leading sixth of the year. Rafael Carlot hit a two-run homer in game two, his first of the year. Nathaniel Frazier is Sports Information Director for Wallace Baseball. He can be reached at NFrazier@DothanEagle.com.