ENID, Okla. - South Arkansas College’s historic second season of baseball has come to an end.
After scoring 21 runs in a pair of wins to open the NJCAA Division II World Series, SouthArk’s offense was held to two runs in their next two games, culminating with a 10-0 loss in seven innings to Lansing (Mich.) Community College Tuesday at David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
“It was a great run for our team and South Arkansas College,” SouthArk coach Cannon Lester said. “This group of sophomores has forever changed the trajectory of our program. We will forever be indebted to them for believing in a new program. They have set the standard high for future Stars players and their stories will forever be told to future players to come.”
Lansing (49-11), the No. 2 seed, advances to face Southeastern (Iowa), the No. 6 seed, needing two wins over the Blackhawks to reach the finals.
SouthArk (47-18), the No. 7 seed, saw a dominant start to the Series fizzle out. The Stars were upended by Southeastern 10-2 in eight innings on Monday before losing the rematch with Lansing.
In the first battle between the schools who share Stars as their moniker, SouthArk won 11-1 in five innings on Sunday.
The rematch was a different story.
Evan Mendoza hit a two-run double in the second to get Lansing on the scoreboard, and Talon Rowe scored in the fourth on Bobby Butler’s double-play grounder.
The score remained 3-0 until the fifth when Hunter Lay hit a two-run homer.
Mendoza drove in his third run of the game with a solo homer in the seventh, and Rowe ended the game later in the frame with a grand slam.
Kade Lively (1-3), who pitched the Stars to the World Series by beating Western Oklahoma State in the winner-take-all game in the Plains District Tournament, took the loss.
He went three-plus innings, allowed two hits and three runs with two being earned. He walked three and struck out four.
Trey Miller took over in the fourth and induced Butler’s aforementioned double-play grounder before retiring Mendoza on a ground out.
Gage Bellati went the next two frames, allowing three hits and three runs with one walk and one strikeout.
Jackson Regan recorded one out in the seventh.
Lukas Brewer (9-2) went the distance with a two-hit shutout for Lansing. He walked two and struck out nine.
Roc Hawthorne had a single and Trace Shoup added a double to account for SouthArk’s hits.
Ryan Riggs, who went 0-for-2 with a walk against Lansing on Tuesday, had a phenomenal World Series for SouthArk, going 7-for-12 with two home runs and six RBIs in four games.