MOBILE, Ala. ? South Alabama slugged its way to a double-header sweep of Manhattan College, banging out a combined 25 hits en route to victories of 13-5 and 15-12, Saturday at Stanky Field. Eric Gonzalez got the win in game one while Kevin Nabors got the win in the night cap.
The Jags were led in game one by David Doss who went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a home run. In game two, USA got its offense from Bunky Kateon. Kateon went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs.
Sunday the Jags and Jaspers will conclude the four-game series with a single game slated to start at 11:50 a.m. The game time has been moved up ten minutes to accommodate travel schedules. Sunday’s game can be viewed on the internet by baseball Jaguar Nation members. For more information, please check out www.USAJAGAURS.com.
GAME ONE
South Alabama scored single runs in each of the first two innings. Ryan Bohanan got USA on the board in the first with a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Ray Kruml, who walked to open the inning. USA’s second run came in the form of the long ball, as Kateon launched his second home run of the season to give the Jags a 2-0 lead.
Bohanan accounted for the next two Jag runs in the bottom of the third inning with a mammoth home run to right field. The two-run shot scored Doss ahead of Bohanan, giving USA a 4-0 lead.
USA padded its lead in the bottom of the fourth as Jag freshman Jake Overstreet walked and stole second base. Kateon then hammered a single up the middle to score Overstreet and make the score 5-0. Clint Toomey, Ryne Jernigan and Doss each had hits in the inning, blowing the game open and making the score 9-0 at the end of four innings.
Manhattan scored a single run before Doss hit South Alabama’s third home run of the game. For the Jag catcher, it was his first home run of the season, and gave USA a 10-1 lead.
In the top of the eighth, Manhattan pushed across two more runs and it took only one swing from pitch-hitter Osmani Sanchez. Sanchez took USA reliever James Dunning deep for a two run home run, cutting the USA lead to 10-3.
The Jags put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth as they scored three more runs. USA was the recipient of three Jasper errors to make the game 13-3. MC pushed across a pair in the ninth but could get no closer as the Jags took game one.
GAME TWO
Both USA and MC exchanged single runs in the first inning and then exploded for four runs each in the third inning. The Jasper explosion was lead by Austin Sheffield’s two-run single, while USA used three RBI singles and a fielder’s choice to tie the game at five.
The scoring barrage continued in the middle innings as USA tallied a four-spot in the fifth and a five-spot in the sixth. Kateon keyed the fourth inning rally with a two-run double which scored Ryan McCroy and Jernigan. One inning later it was Jernigan again in the center of the action, this time hitting a two-run homer to left to highlight the sixth inning.
The game looked to be out of reach until Manhattan scored seven runs in the final two innings. Jags pitchers allowed three runs to score in the eight and four more in the ninth, before Greg Johnson came on to notch his second save of the season.
