GRANDE PRAIRE, TEXAS – The East Central University baseball team fell in two outings in the final day of the SAU DII Classic at the Ballpark. The Tigers (0-4) first dropped a 1-2 decision to Cameron and then suffered a 1-7 loss to No. 14 Southern Arkansas.
ECU was led by junior
Josh Reeves, who hit .500 for the day, with two hits and two RBIs. Juniors
Kaleb Matthews and
Thomas McGarry each garnered three hits and hit .429.
Sophomore
Kyle Britt started the first game on the mound for the Tigers, going six innings, allowing six hits and one run and striking out two.
Sophomore
Shae Edmonds started the second game, throwing the first three innings and earning three Ks. Sophomore
Brandon Dusenberry finished the game, allowing just one run and striking out four.
ECU will now get ready to play their first game of the season at Ken Turner Field, Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. when they welcome Arkansas-Fort Smith.
Cameron 2, East Central 1Defense was strong through the first three innings of the game with the Aggies (2-0). ECU put four runners on base in the first innings and Cameron three before a run could be scored.
The Aggies were the first to get on the scoreboard, in the bottom of the fourth, taking a 0-1 lead.
The Tigers tied the game at one in the top of the sixth. After the first out, junior
Riley Roberts and McGarry singled to put runners on first and second for Reeves to earn the RBI when he hit a double.
The teams then buckled down again and went into the bottom of the eighth inning tied at one. That is when Cameron was able to score a run to take the 1-2 advantage.
ECU got a runner on in the top of the ninth, but they already had two outs and were unable to get him around to score.
Southern Arkansas 7, East Central 1The Muleriders (1-2) came out ready to fight and scored five runs in the bottom of the first and then added two more in the bottom of the third to take a 0-7 lead.
The Tigers were held off the scoreboard until the eighth inning. Roberts started the inning by being hit by a pitch and was sent to third when McGarry hit a double to right field. That allowed Reeves to earn an RBI when he hit a sacrifice fly to right for the 1-7 final.