South Arkansas College has spent plenty of time on the road in the early stages of the 2024 season.
That trend will continue this week with the first of two trips to Mississippi.
The Stars will face St. Charles (Mo.) on Thursday with a 2:30 p.m. start before taking on host East Central (Miss.) at 5:30 p.m.
SouthArk and St. Charles will meet again on Friday at 11 a.m. to wrap up play.
The Cougars, who went 33-27 last year and will be playing their first games of the season, are the second Division I school the Stars will be facing following their three-game series against Bossier Parish (La.) last week.
The Cougars also led all Division I schools last year with 241 stolen bases and 10 of their sophomores have committed to four-year schools.
The Warriors, who are off to a 3-0 start and are ranked one spot ahead of the Stars at No. 10 in the preseason Division II poll, joined SouthArk in the World Series last year.
“If you look at the polls, they had us rated 11th and they were ranked 10th,” SouthArk coach Cannon Lester said. “Two teams that I would say have very similar styles of play, hard-nosed, tough teams. We played them (East Central) in the fall and they got us, so it will be a good game.
“St. Charles is a Division I school. I don’t know a ton about them, but I know they stole a lot of bases last year, and they have got 10 commits already with seven or eight being D-I guys, so they’re obviously pretty talented.”
Lester said the three games could be a prelude to how he could use his pitching staff when conference play starts at the end of the month.
“I’m excited because I think we’re going to have our full bullpen,” Lester said. “We’ll get to use them like we want in a regular series compared to the other games.”
Lester said Brett Foss and John Demcher will start the Thursday games with Ryan Ursery slated to pitch on Friday aiming to pick up his third win of the year.
Lester added that Will Turner and Austin Hillebrandt will likely be deployed as long relievers, particularly with Foss working his way back from an illness.
A sophomore, Foss allowed three home runs in a two-inning stint at Bossier Parish in Game 1 of the series.
“Foss is still hurting pretty bad,” Lester said. “He made it through the first, but you could tell just by his pace that he was struggling. I looked at the guys afterward on the radar gun, and they said he was 84, 85 (miles an hour). During Christmas, he got up to 93. He’s lost about 15 pounds. He’s starting to get over it, but I think it’s going to take him another two, three weeks to get back to full bore. He’s a competitor, he wants to get out there. We’ll probably pitch him two innings again, probably 40 pitches max on Thursday. Obviously, we want it to be a little bit better. He said his arm felt great, I don’t think he has much strength right now.”
Turner and Hillebrandt each last worked on Jan. 30 against Southeast Arkansas College.
“I think we’ll probably piggyback him off one of those starters on Thursday,” Lester said of Turner. “We’ll probably ride him out for 40, 50, 60 pitches, just kind of see how he’s going because he can definitely handle that. I can see Austin Hillebrandt starting at some point. He had a rough first outing, but we threw live on Monday, and he threw the ball really well. I can see piggybacking him as a long reliever as well on Thursday.”
The series against Bossier Parish was one the Stars would rather forget. SouthArk was swept in the doubleheader by scores of 13-5 and 10-0, but fought back for a 13-12 win in Game 3 despite nearly coughing up a 13-5 lead.
“It was an interesting series,” Lester said. “That Thursday we played them, I think they hit 11 home runs combined. I think our pitching staff is pretty good. I think it was just one of those games. If you look at the first game, I think we walked two, hit one, made zero errors and they scored 13. I think we had a chance in the fourth or the fifth. We had our big boys up and we were down 5-4 with the bases loaded and one out.
“We didn’t have very good at-bats, and they just kept bombing it. I told the guys, ‘That’s just baseball.’ I thought we responded well on the second day. We’re up 13-5 and we gave up a big inning. We’ve got to get better on the back end, but I thought they responded well. Bossier has a very talented team and they put it on display that first day. We could’ve rolled over in that third game, but we weren’t scared. We attacked and came away with one. Obviously not ideal, but after the first day, we’ll definitely take it.”
Lester said the series reminded him of the Stars’ first-ever home series against Three Rivers (Mo.) two years ago that saw SouthArk win three of four games.
“I told our guys after the game that I’ve seen that twice in baseball,” Lester said. “We did it to Three Rivers in our first year where you just couldn’t get anybody out. Any pitch you threw, it was a laser. Bossier did it to us. It was just one of those things. I think we threw 10 or 11 different arms. I think we put up a zero in the first inning of each game, and they were the only ones. We made no errors, we walked about five and hit two combined in the two games. If you look at those numbers, usually you’re going to be OK. Thursday just wasn’t our day.”
Ursery scattered nine hits and five runs with three being earned over four innings of work to pick up his second win. He walked two and struck out three as the Stars won the finale.
“He’s thrown the ball well,” Lester said of Ursery. “I thought he threw it pretty well, especially considering what happened in the games before.”
Ty Simonelli, who transferred to SouthArk after attending Bossier Parish, homered twice and drove in six runs in the series.
Gabe Kuttenkuler continued his torrid start, going 6-for-11 in the series that included going 4-for-4 with three doubles and two walks in Game 3. A freshman from Sheridan, Kuttenkuler heads to Mississippi with a .520 average and seven RBIs.
Dawson Szymanski had three hits in the home opener and he drilled his third home run in the doubleheader against Bossier Parish. He and Simonelli share the team lead in home runs with three.
“Those three guys have been our springboards so far,” Lester said. “I’ve seen Gabe since his sophomore year, and he’s always been able to hit. He’s really starting to figure it out up there and go. Dawson has all of the potential in the world. He’s got as much power as anybody I’ve been around. He’s really starting to figure out how people are pitching him. He’s going to be a good ballplayer. Ty probably has the most upside of the three. He’s just got to really trust it. He was there at Bossier, and he had a grand slam against them and another home run, and that was awesome to see because he’s a great kid and he works a lot. I think he’s going to keep growing.”
Colin Reed has made an immediate impact since transferring in at the semester break, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless frames over three appearances that also includes one save.
Bryson Menard arrived at SouthArk as a two-way standout, but it seems that he has settled on just focusing on pitching.
The freshman has gotten out of the gates quickly, racking up six strikeouts while issuing only two walks over 4 2/3 innings. He has allowed five hits and two runs in his two appearances.
“Colin has made his mark early,” Lester said. “He works really fast and attacks the zone. He’s 86 to 89 and he has a big, overhand breaking ball. He has a lot of tempo on the mound. Bryson Menard is just a competitor. He came in as a two-way, and we saw him more an a middle infielder, but in his senior year, he took off. Halfway through the fall, he looked at us and was like, ‘Hey, I think my future is on the mound and I want to focus on that.’ I think he made the right decision. He has a really hard breaking ball. His fastball gets up there some days. He reminds me of Foss on the mound, just a lot compete and a lot of belief. He’s throwing the ball really well.”
Lester hoped that freshman Kenner Lauterbach would be able to play last week, but it appears his debut for the Stars is still a ways off.
“I think we’re still waiting,” Lester said. “He’s supposed to get another MRI this week. We had him slotted in the three-hole at Bossier. I think he was excited because he’s a Shreveport kid, but he took two swings in BP, and he just looked at me and I could tell by the swings that it didn’t feel good. We would love to have him back, but we would rather him for the back end than the front end, so we’re going to keep playing it by ear. I think he’s supposed to see more of a specialist on Wednesday, and maybe they’ll give him an answer then because we’re still not sure exactly what it is. I think that’s probably the most frustrating part and he’s doing everything he can to come back.”
Lester added that freshman Ian McCubbin, who has been nursing a shoulder injury, threw on Monday and could get an inning on the mound in Mississippi.