AUGUSTA, Ga.
– Augusta State senior lefthander Chris Tyler didn't
allow an earned run in eight innings and pitched the Jaguars to
their first victory of the season Friday afternoon in a 4-1 win
over Coker at Cormell Field.
The contest was part of the South
Atlantic Challenge, a weekend round-robin event pitting teams from
the Peach Belt Conference and the South Atlantic Conference.
The victory was first of the season
for ASU and lifted the Jags to a 1-4 mark. Coker, which had won
three straight to begin its 2009 campaign, dropped to 3-1.
Tyler, the Jags' opening day
starter on Sunday, Feb. 1, logged 8.0 innings of scoreless work. He
didn't allow an earned run, struck out eight without a walk
and scattered 10 hits. Sophomore righthander Scott Strickland
earned his first save with a scoreless ninth, recording a strikeout
and a walk.
Senior first baseman Kevin Owens
and freshman outfielder Caleb Saggus each had three hits for ASU.
Alex Sickman added a pair of safeties and sophomore designated
hitter Tristan Toorie drove in two runs.
Coker's Kyle Walker went
3-for-4 and Karl Ankersen and Brinley Griffin added two hits each.
The Cobras' Jesse Hatchell took the loss, yielding 10 hits
and four runs in 8.0 innings, striking out five and walking
one.
The Jags jumped in front with three
runs in the second inning. Freshman Adam King reached on a leadoff
single and Owens followed with a single. After a passed ball,
Toorie delivered his biggest hit of the young season – a
two-run double to left-center – to plate both King and Owens.
After catcher Alex Sickman singled to center, Toorie scored on
junior shortstop Tony Baker's RBI-groundout.
Owens added a two-out, RBI-double
in the fourth to score sophomore Alex Walker, who reached on an
error to start the inning.
ASU's Tyler took a shutout
into the eighth before the Cobras used a pair of singles and a
passed ball to scratch across their lone run of the game. With
runners on first and second, Tyler fanned the final two batters to
escape the jam.
The Jags take on St. Andrews on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6:00 p.m., and
meet Limestone at noon on Sunday at Cormell Field.
