Towne, Cougars stifle Saluqis

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Bobby Towne pitched a nine-inning four-hitter as Cleveland State won 6-1 at Southwest Tennessee in TCCAA baseball Saturday. The teams will play a doubleheader today.

Cameron Strickland was 3-for-6 with a double and an RBI single and Dalton Rogers was 2-for-5 with a first-inning two-run double for Cleveland State (16-15). The Cougars scored four runs in their opening at-bat and led 5-0 before the Saluqis (16-15) scored on a Sam Seaton single in the fourth. Jason Roberson and Zack Janes each had two hits and scored a run for the Cougars, and Evan Speicher was 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly.

* West Florida 11-3, Lee 0-0: At Cleveland, Dawson Brown and Jordan DeLorenzo from NCAA Division II's No. 3-ranked team held the host Flames to a total of eight hits with 17 strikeouts in the Gulf South Conference sweep, while Austin Southall drove in two runs in each game. Garrett Flynn had two sacrifice flies and another RBI in the first game for West Florida (24-5, 16-3); Lee is 21-12, 9-8.

* Covenant 7-9, LaGrange 6-3: At LaGrange, Ga., the Scots completed a three-game USA South sweep as Will Cleland went 4-for-8 with five runs scored in Saturday's two wins. He homered and drove in two runs in the finale, when K.C. Simons capped a 5-for-8 day by going 3-for-6 and scoring twice. Luke Harvey had two hits and matched Scott Gillespie's two RBIs for Covenant (16-6, 12-3), and Z Arima was 2-for-3 with an RBI while Chris Rollins tripled and singled.

David Lockwood had three RBIs and Perry Rigby was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the 7-6 win, when Simons was 2-for-2 with three walks and scored two runs.

* Reinhardt 7, Bryan 4: Friday at Dayton, Tenn., Dusty Davis was 3-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs as the Eagles won the opener of their Appalachian Athletic Conference series. Andy Pringle added two hits and two RBIs for Reinhardt (24-13, 9-4), while Grant Zawadzki was 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBIs and two runs and Kevin Roberts also homered for the Lions (22-14, 8-5).

The teams' Saturday doubleheader was postponed until Monday, starting at 1 p.m., causing Bryan to cancel its scheduled nonconference game against Cumberland.

Area Hornets shine

Southern Polytechnic pitcher Alex Ridge from Ridgeland High School and Chattanooga State made his first start of the season last Tuesday and got the win in a doubleheader split against Point University. He allowed only two hits and one run in his five innings, leaving him with a 1.38 earned run average for 13 innings.

Also against Point, Tyler Garner from Boyd-Buchanan and Chatt State was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, giving him a .354 season batting average with 25 runs and 12 RBIs.

Yet another former Tiger with the Hornets, Colton Kinnamon from Dalton, is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 32 innings. He was the Southern States Athletic Conference pitcher of the week for March 10-16.