JONESBORO, Ark. (2/18/14) — The Arkansas State baseball suffered its first setback of the season in a 2-0 loss to Arkansas-Monticello Tuesday night at Tomlinson Stadium.
The Red Wolves scattered seven hits across six innings but failed to produce the timely in key situations throughout the night. Meanwhile, Derek Birginske took the loss despite pitching four innings of solid baseball. He gave up a leadoff single in the top of the first that turned into a run and then gave up another run in the fourth inning for the game's only runs of the night.
Meanwhile, A-State struggled at the plate despite getting seven hits on the night. The best scoring chance came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Zach Maggio drew a 2-out walked and advanced to third on a double from Zach George to put the tying run in scoring position. However, Kevin Fitzpatrick failed to bring the runs and left both runners stranded when he grounded to second to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Burgess led off the inning with a single and was lifted for a pinch runner, but Fitzpatrick caught an unlucky break when he hit a hard ground ball that the third baseman fielded cleanly and turned into a 5-4-3 double play. Stuart Levy followed with a 2-out double and then moved to third on a wild pitch but the game ended when Joe Schrimpf struck out to end the game.
A-State's bullpen shined in the loss, as six relievers combined to give up just one hit over the final six innings. Cody Woodhouse came on in relief of Birginske and gave up a hit in the sixth inning. Following the hit, Woodhouse issued a walk and was lifted for Coulton Lee who struck out Corey Wood looking and Colton Kibler followed Lee with a strikeout of Ray Johnson to get out of the inning. Kibler tossed 1 1/3 innings of relief and did not issue a hit or walk.
Tanner Gaines, Adam Grantham and Tyler Zuber combined to pitch the final two innings of the game to Arkansas-Monticello within striking distance.
Birginske got off to a rough start in the top of the first, giving up a leadoff single to and then RBI double to put the Red Wolves behind 1-0 early on. However, the sophomore right-handed pitcher battled and struck out two to end the inning and limit the damage to just one run.
After the shaky start, Birginske got into a groove and retired the next eight he faced until Dustin Jones committed an error in the top of the fourth inning and the run later came around to score to push the advantage to 2-0. Birginske was efficient the first four innings, throwing 56 pitches, 42 of which went for strikes.
Burgess and Levy each went 2-for-4 on the night, while Zach George, Austin Baker and Fitzpatrick each had hits.
Arkansas State will return to the diamond for a for a four-game series with Illinois State Feb. 21-23. For in-game updates follow @AStateGameDay on Twitter and stay up to date with A-State baseball by following the team on Twitter (@AStateBaseball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/RedWolvesbaseball).
