Official Box Score
TROY, Ala. ? Sophomore Lance Baxter pitched eight scoreless innings and Ryne Jernigan and Bunky Kateon each drove in a pair of runs as South Alabama clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 7-0 win over Troy Thursday night at Riddle-Pace Field. The shutout was the second of the season for the Jaguars, who improve to 31-22 (15-13 Sun Belt) with the victory.
Baxter (4-4) fanned a career-high seven batters while allowing eight hits and three walks. He worked into the ninth, putting runners at first and second before giving way to Michael Logan. The eight-inning effort was just one out short of his career long -- 8.1 innings at Alabama last year. Meanwhile, Troy was shutout for the second time in the last four meetings with the Jaguars and for the first time at home since May 17, 2003 -- a 2-0 loss to Campbell.
USA scored in six of the nine innings, starting with a pair in the second. Ryan Bohanan led off with a single to center, then Sean Laird doubled him to third. Chris Davis brought in the first run with a groundout before Bunky Kateon singled to right for a 2-0 Jaguar lead.
The run in the third was unearned as the Trojans (30-24, 16-12) committed three errors in the frame. Ray Kruml reached first when a throw from shortstop Adam Bryant pulled the first baseman off the bag. He stole second and continued to third when the catcher's throw skipped into center field. David Doss hit a soft roller to third that was booted, although he was credited with an RBI as Kruml came home easily.
A double by Kateon plated the run in the fifth, while singles by Kruml and Doss set Jernigan up for an RBI in the sixth. One inning later, Jernigan again drove home Kruml, who had reached on a fielder's choice.
The final run came in the ninth when Jake Overstreet scored on a Clint Toomey single. Overstreet, Kateon and Laird each finished with two of the Jaguars' 12 hits in the contest.
"(Lance) pitched a masterful game and we certainly needed it," Head Coach Steve Kittrell said. "From midseason on, he has been coming on and this was his best effort of the year."
Troy starter Tim Wheeler took the loss to fall to 4-7. He gave up five runs, four earned, in six innings of work.
The two teams continue their series tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy. The Jaguars can still finish as high as third in the league standings with a series sweep and help from Middle Tennessee and Florida International.
