JONESBORO, Ark. (4-18-2007) ? Redshirt freshman Ryan Blackburn pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out eight Central Arkansas batters and leading the Arkansas State Indians to a 4-2 win over the UCA Bears Wednesday night at Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.
The Indians won their third straight game, and fourth out of their last five heading into this weekend's Sun Belt Conference series against the Trojans of Troy University. Arkansas State defeated Western Kentucky 2-1 in a league series last weekend, then handed Tennessee-Martin a 6-1 loss Tuesday night.
“I think that when you look at our last two games, the thing that jumped out was how well we pitched,” said ASU head coach Keith Kessinger. “We gave up one (run) last night, and two tonight against a good UCA offensive team. We are extremely pleased with everyone's performance tonight.”
“Ryan was tremendous,” Kessinger added. “This is two times in a row. He did it last Tuesday at Oklahoma State against a great offensive team, keeping us in it until the seventh. Tonight he obviously kept us in the game ? he shut them out, and I think you can get an appreciation for how good he was throwing, because our two guys out of the bullpen, which we think are really good, both came in and gave up a run in their inning. So for Ryan to come in and go seven was a big boost, and he continues to put himself in a position to pitch more and more.”
The Indians struck first in the game, crossing the plate twice in the second inning. The first run came courtesy of the ASU outfield as left fielder Jett Jones led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on a fly ball from center fielder Aaron Ferguson, and scored on a ground-out from right fielder Tyler Doke. An RBI single from first baseman Brandon Eller scored second baseman Jordan Kimball for the 2-0 Arkansas State advantage.
The Indians added another run in the third when shortstop Ryan Hudgins doubled to lead off the frame, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from third baseman Guy Brown, and made it 3-0 on a ground-out by catcher Drew Rogers.
With two outs in the eighth, the Bears began to close the gap. Right fielder Chris Houk got aboard with a single, advanced to second when shortstop Jonathan Ashworth drew a walk from ASU reliever Nick Lambert, and came home to cut the ASU lead to 3-1 on a base hit from second baseman Graham Martin. The Indians stopped the rally when closer Tim Egart came in to strike out pinch hitter Kent Taylor to end the inning.
ASU got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Rogers reached on an error to lead off, and eventually scored on a base hit from Kimball to push the lead back to three runs at 4-1, but the Bears didn't go quietly in the ninth.
With one out on the board, left Fielder Kevin Rawls sent an Egart pitch over the right field wall to trim the ASU lead to 4-2, but Egart struck out the final two batters to earn his fifth save of the season and end the game.
Josh Yates and Jett Jones each had two hits on the night, with Jones doubling twice, to lead ASU at the plate. The Bears were led by Kevin Rawls, who went 3-for-3, and Houk, who finished the night 2-for-4.
Blackburn (1-2) earned the win for Arkansas State, giving up just five hits in seven innings, with a pair of walks and eight strikeouts. Casey Grisham (0-1) took the loss for UCA, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks in 2.0 innings.
