MOBILE, Ala. -Â South Alabama (16-20, 6-10 SBC) came out swinging in the eight-inning run-rule over Texas State (18-19, 7-9 SBC), sparked by a two-home run day by
John Smith III.
The Bobcats scratched the first run of the game with a solo homer in the first inning. South took the run back with a sac fly by
Lucas Ismaili after the first three batters all reached base. Another walk reloaded the bags leading to a
Rett Johnson two-RBI single. A
Ty Brooks RBI walk came after
Mike Young filled the bases with a single for the early 4-1 lead.
Action picked up in the third inning as runners reached the corners off a wild pitch and a pass ball.
Ethan Melton scored
Rett Johnson with a sac bunt, while reaching base himself on the squeeze.
Brennan Holt then tagged an RBI with a single through the infield and was subsequently scored when
John Smith III rocked his sixth homer of the season to right-center field for three runs and the 9-1 lead, chasing out the Texas State starter.
Zeros were put on the board in the fourth and fifth frames, thanks to the 5.1 innings from ace
Jaxon Shineflew. No. 10 allowed five hits and three earned runs on the way to six strikeouts, with a career 116 pitches on the mound. Texas State claimed two runs in the top of the sixth to cut in on the lead, with another two added in the seventh. The Jags looked to their closer,
John Gillis to snuff out a comeback attempt. Gillis drew the final out of the inning with bases loaded to clamp down on the Bobcat offense.Â
A wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh moved Holt and Smith to second and third. Texas State looked to avoid slugger
Kyle Morrison with an intentional walk, but
Lucas Ismaili made them pay with a two-RBI single up the middle. Johnson located his fourth hit of the night, erasing Texas State's buildup over the last two innings.Â
Gillis retook the mound in the eighth, drawing two groundouts between his swinging strikeout to send the Bobcats back to the dugout in order. With two outs in the eighth, Holt drilled a ball into deep right-center for his fifth triple of the season, and fifth hit of the game. Smith ended the game early with a walk-off run-rule homer to left field, the first walk-off run-rule home run by a Jaguar since David Doss in 2009 against Memphis.
Win:Â
Jaxon Shineflew (3-2)
Save:Â John Gillis (2)
Loss:Â Alex Valentin (4-4)
QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
On the team's performance as a whole:Â Charlie (Harrison) asked me before the game; 'what was the key to our success in the bottom part of the order?' And I was like: when six through nine chip in, drive in some runs and are on base for the top of the order, we've won a lot of games, and that's what happened tonight. We faced a good arm. He was 90-93, little temperamental, but we knew that going into the game. He fired our guys up a little bit. He's a very talented left-handed pitcher. Had really good numbers coming in, legit Friday night guy in this league, and got a little bit chippy. Both sides got a little bit chippy. And, you know, our guys just played good baseball. I didn't think we got caught up in any nonsense. We just played good, hard baseball, and the bottom part of the order contributed with some RBIs. Rett (Johnson) was really good, you know, (
Ty Brooks) had a big knock in there. Mike (Young) had a big knock in there with an RBI. Melton with a safety (squeeze). You know, we got some bunts down. Didn't leave a whole lot of guys out there. I thought
Lucas Ismaili was really good tonight. The leadoff double. The curse of the leadoff double, sometimes we didn't get him in that inning. But then when they were chipping away, Lucas' two-out, two-RBI single was huge. Because I thought we were gonna leave some guys out there again, just proud of our effort. You know,
Brennan Holt was on base tonight like a machine. John Smith with the two big home runs. Good to see John Smith starting to heat up. You know, had a rough go of it the last week or so, got some hits, but wasn't really driving the ball, but he has worked his behind off getting his swing right. A lot of these guys have worked extremely hard, but, the game starts and stops on the mound and Shineflew on short rest. He threw 100 pitches last week, was not great tonight, he just gritted through it. He bit down on his mouthpiece, man, and just gritted through five and a third. Would have loved for him to go six innings, but his health and career matter more to me than a game, so he did not want to come out of the game at all, to his credit, but it was time to get him out.
UP NEXT
South Alabama will see Texas State again for the second game of the series on Friday, April 18, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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