MOBILE, Ala. | Four different South Alabama pitchers combined to two-hit Northwestern State, combining for 14 strikeouts in a season-opening 3-2 victory at Eddie Stanky Field in the Jaguar Classic on Friday night.
Jeremy Lee got the start in the opener and went 5.2 innings, allowing just a pair of hits with eight strikeouts before leaving in the sixth and giving way to
Matthew DeLano (1-0). DeLano went 1.1 innings and picked up the win in hitless relief with a pair of strikeouts, while
Danny Diaz worked one inning of relief with a pair of strikeouts.
Grant Wood picked up his first save of the season by working a scoreless ninth with a pair of strikeouts.
South Alabama (1-0) trailed 2-0 after a two-run sixth by Northwestern State but answered with a single run in the bottom half of the sixth to trim the lead in half. They took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning and held over the final two frames for the win.
Mitchell Heer led a trio of Jags with a pair of hits on the night for the Jags, finishing 2-for-4 with a double. Meanwhile,
Joseph Sullivan finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored, while
Colson Lawrence finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.
How It Happened
- (T6) Northwestern State jumped ahead in the sixth inning, taking advantage of a pair of South Alabama errors. After loading the bases, they were able to push across a pair on a throwing error, 2-0 Northwestern State.
- (B6) South Alabama answered with a run of its own in the bottom half of the inning when Lawrence scored the first of two Jags' runs on wild pitches to trim the lead, 2-1 Northwestern State.
- (B7) Sullivan tied the game up for South Alabama scoring on a wild pitch before Lawrence scored his second run of the game on an RBI single by Will Turner, 3-2 South Alabama.
Up Next
South Alabama returns to the diamond in the Jaguar Classic on Saturday in a doubleheader against Eastern Kentucky beginning at 3 pm.
QUOTABLE – head coach Mark Calvi
Talk about the game in general being the season-opener.
"I am pleased we won on a cold and windy night; we pitched like crazy. Their guy did too, they threw some good arms at us, and we knew their guy was good. He was up to 89 early and had command of four pitches, and the umpire was giving a little off the edge and I like that, and it was a good college zone. The kid used it, he was either on the edge or just off, and with the wind blowing in, he stayed off the middle of the plate. He threw his fastball to the corners, and we took some off speed right down the middle because he really located his fastball.
"We didn't have a lot to show for it, but our guys worked his pitches up a little bit. We had some four, five, six pitch at-bats that I think that got him out of there an inning early. That guy is going to give people fits, if he had 100 pitches and gone into the seventh or eighth, who knows what would have happened. I thought
Jeremy Lee was outstanding too, he pitched through adversity. That inning could have gotten sideways on us, but it didn't. He is a veteran and been around the block a little bit. He just stayed calm, and we kept plugging and won it late."
Talk about your bullpen and their work.
"We threw two new guys tonight and those kids, Matt DeLano and
Danny Diaz, have given me confidence to put them in. They been nothing but outstanding since the day they stepped foot on campus, and you look at it like new guys and jitters. We got to get them in there, we are all new. We are 60-70 percent new; you have to get guys in there. I thought DeLano to Diaz to
Grant Wood worked. The split you could see it when Diaz faced those three guys, and they didn't handle lefties as well as righties. It worked out well and had those guys ready."
Jitters in the opening game of the season, but you were able to work through it and battle back.
"I thought Trey (Lewis) has been outstanding since he stepped foot on campus. We have two really good shortstops in
JG Bell and Trey, with JG being out with a forearm strain and just had his wisdom taken out. I knew him coming back throwing for just a couple of weeks, I knew he wasn't going to be at 100 percent. I knew both were going to play. JG has missed some time and we are working him back in, but I feel 100 percent confident with
Trey Lewis at shortstop. He is one of the most beloved kids on the team and nobody works harder than him. He had a rough night tonight; he will be back, and he is going to help us win this year.
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