South Arkansas College hits the halfway point of the Region 2 schedule this week, and their opponent is one that resembles last year’s team that went to the NJCAA Division II World Series in many ways.
The Stars (18-14, 6-5) hit the road for a key series against Arkansas State-Mountain Home (18-8, 9-3) that begins today with a single game at 4 p.m. followed by a doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The Trailblazers are in their second year of competition and are making waves by sitting atop the Arkansas Division in the Region 2 standings. They are also ranked No. 20 in this week’s poll after debuting in the same spot last week, and they have been terrific at home, posting a 12-1 record.
For SouthArk coach Cannon Lester, this weekend is an opportunity for his team to try and close the gap between them.
“They’re sitting atop the league standings,” Lester said. “They’re a good team. They’re an older team, kind of like we were last year, really experienced team, and he’s brought in a lot of transfers on top of that. We know they will be a talented team. They will have a little pop in the lineup and have a little velo(city). They throw a lot of strikes. I think we know what we’re going to get. I’m excited to go up there, compete a little bit and try to flip the standings after this weekend.”
The Trailblazers won seven straight in February as part of a 7-2 start, and they have yet to lose a series in Region 2 play.
Last week against Arkansas-Rich Mountain, the Trailblazers dropped the opener 5-2 on the road, but swept the doubleheader at home by scores of 7-5 and 5-3.
Sophomore outfielder Alex Harrell is enjoying a monster season for the Trailblazers.
The Georgia Gwinnett College signee is hitting a robust .516 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs. For added measure he has stolen 12 bases in 13 attempts.
Sophomore infielder Jackson Down leads the Trailblazers in home runs with 10 while hitting .367 with 26 RBIs.
The Trailblazers are hitting .364 as a team, which ranks fifth in the country. The 38 home runs they have as a team places them eighth in Division II. ASU Mountain Home is also third in the country with a slugging percentage of .581.
The Trailblazers are very dangerous on the bases, having stolen 80 bases while getting caught just five times this season.
“Alex has been there awhile,” Lester said. “He’s going to Georgia Gwinnett, one of the better NAIA teams in the nation, so he’s a good player. They’ll have some guys that can swing it. They’re probably in the mold of the Oklahoma teams with a little more power bats and power arms. They’ll run a little bit, but they’re up there trying to do damage. Hopefully, we can attack with different pitches in different parts of the zone and take advantage of that.”
The Trailblazers’ pitching staff has also delivered. Their team ERA of 3.98 ranks 11th in the country.
Thomas Jordan (6-0, 2.48 ERA), a sophomore, kept his perfect record intact with a nine-hitter to win the second game of the series against Arkansas-Rich Mountain.
Seven pitchers combined on a six-hitter to win Game 3.
Sophomore Trent Jordan (6-1, 1.86 ERA) took the loss in the opener of the series against the Bucks. He allowed eight hits and two runs with one being earned over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
“They throw strikes and their numbers do jump out at you,” Lester said. “I know we’re not going to be scared. We saw some good arms on Wednesday against LSU-Eunice, and I think that will really get us ready for this weekend.”
The Stars enter their crucial series with the Trailblazers on a two-game losing streak.
SouthArk won the first two games of their series with ASU Mid-South, but lost the third game 8-6 before falling Wednesday to No. 2 LSU-Eunice 10-4.
The Stars rolled to a 19-0 win over ASU Mid-South in Game 1 and picked up a 10-6 win in Game 2 to win the series.
In Game 2, freshman Ryan Ursery picked up his sixth win by allowing four hits and three unearned runs in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out six.
“That first Thursday, we swung it well, played good defense and pitched it well,” Lester said. “The second game, Ursery was really good. We made a big error behind him that brought them back into the game. We scored six off the bat, but we didn’t put them away like we should have.”
In Game 3, freshman Colin Reed suffered his first loss after allowing eight hits and seven runs with five being earned over 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out eight.
“That was the first team that touched up Colin Reed,” Lester said. “They got some hits against him. They weren’t exactly hard, but they hit him a little bit. That’s the way it goes sometimes. We’ve got to finish those kinds of series. That was kind of disappointing, but four of the five games last week, I thought we played pretty well.”
For Lester, Game 3 was one of missed opportunities for the Stars.
“In the last games, they saved their best two arms,” Lester said. “We scored three on him in the second, and then we had the bases loaded with nobody out in the third and we didn’t score a run. He got into a groove after that. We had a chance, we’ve just got to get a little bit tougher in those spots. I think we’re putting too much pressure on ourselves in those bigger moments with runners in scoring position. We’re trying to do a little too much. We can’t be scared to fail.
“Some of our guys’ eyes in their at-bats, just the way they’re going about the at-bat, it has that feel to it. I think we need to keep working past that, and some of that is on me for sure. I gotta calm down. I know there’s no trust issues there. We’re there. It’s just we’ve got to do it and relax and let the game flow. We’re going to fail and we’re going to succeed some. We’ve got to be able to move past that.”
The Stars revamped their bullpen some with freshmen Grey Fisher and Bryson Menard coming in behind Ursery in Game 2.
“They did fine,” Lester said. “Grey doesn’t throw as hard as some of the guys we’ve got, but he’s kind of deceptive. He’s a big guy that can throw different pitches for strikes. He came in and couldn’t quite land his stuff. They had a big hit against him, but he stayed in there and stayed strong and got us out of it. Bryson came in and made things a little exciting, but he usually gets out of it. Some of other guys came in and threw an inning.”
Lester said that Justin Szymanski and Tanner Powell will likely get more playing time this weekend.
A freshman, Szymanski had a double and two RBIs in the Game 2 win against ASU Mid-South, while Powell, also a freshman, homered in the Game 1 win and went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a stolen base in Wednesday’s game against LSU-Eunice.
“We started Justin Szymanski the last game, and he had a good game,” Lester said. “I think he’ll get at least a start or two this week at first. Tanner Powell has been pummeling the ball. He didn’t great results on Saturday, but I thought he had some really good at-bats. I think he’ll stay in the lineup. He’s a really good baserunner, solid defender. He’s really good at scoring runs, so I think we’ve got to find a way to get him in the lineup more.”
Freshman third baseman Gabe Kuttenkuler has continued to stay hot at the plate. In the series against ASU Mid-South, Kuttenkuler went 9-for-12 with one home run and five RBIs. His six-game hitting streak ended against LSU-Eunice. Overall, Kuttenkuler is hitting an even .400 with four homers and 27 RBIs.
“Gabe Kuttenkuler was unbelievable,” Lester said. “He had a bunch of extra-base hits. We’ve got to find a couple of guys to jump on the train with him and go because it’s there. We just haven’t put it all together.”
Lester said he hopes the Stars will be at full strength for this week’s series.
“I hope it’s finally getting to the point where we’re starting to come around a little bit,” Lester said. “Yadi (Canales) is moving around a little bit better. He might get to catch a game this weekend. On the pitching side, I think everybody is starting to get healthy. KJ (Battles) had a little injury last week, but he’s back.”
As far as the rotation for the series is concerned, Lester said there would likely be no changes with sophomore Brett Foss (3-5, 3.55 ERA) pitching the opener with Ursery (6-2, 3.93 ERA) to follow in Game 2 and Reed (3-1, 3.27 ERA) in Game 3.