As March winds down, the Region 2 schedule is set to hit the halfway mark next week.
For South Arkansas College, there is a sense of urgency of needing to close the gap in the conference standings.
The Stars (16-12, 4-4) host the opener of a three-game series today at 2 p.m. against Arkansas State Mid-South (7-15, 2-9) needing some momentum heading into next week’s road trip at ASU Mountain Home.
SouthArk was swept in a doubleheader at Arkansas-Rich Mountain last week, losing by scores of 3-2 and 6-5.
“They were good games. We just came out on the wrong side of them,” SouthArk coach Cannon Lester said. “In the first game, they had a good guy on the mound, and he beat us a little bit. We had some chances with guys at third and less than two outs in the middle innings, but didn’t get them in. He threw well. They made a couple of plays, and we didn’t make a play. That’s kind of the way good ballgames go. In the second game, I thought we had a pretty good approach and scored two early. We could’ve scored a few more in there. We handed the ball to our closer, they got some hits, we didn’t make a play in the field and they walked us off. They were a little tougher than we were. It was a tough pill to swallow. You play two winnable games and just don’t get the job done.”
The Stars presently sit fourth among Arkansas schools in the Region 2 standings with Arkansas-Rich Mountain and ASU Mountain Home sitting atop the conference with 7-1 and 7-2 records respectively. They collide for a three-game series starting today, so the Stars could have an opportunity to gain some ground provided they can have success against the Greyhounds.
“We want to keep it in striking distance,” Lester said. “We would love to get on a little roll right here. I think it’s definitely doable. I think we still have got to solidify a few positions. Twenty-eight games in, you still probably shouldn’t be searching for an identity, but I think we are. I still like our pitchers. We’re still throwing good. We still have got a lot of depth, so hopefully we can get those guys out there. I told coach (Hayden) Dow, ‘I think we needed to make a pretty concerted effort to get those other guys in big games in big moments.’ Down the stretch to beat good teams, we’re going to need them. We can’t ride five or six guys. It’s going to be really hard like that. We’ve got the depth there, and we’re going to use it.”
The Stars swept a doubleheader against Champion Baptist by scores of 14-8 and 12-0 Tuesday in El Dorado.
Gabe Kuttenkuler went 5-for-10 with a home run and three RBIs in the sweep with four hits coming in the opener.
Beau Kuttenkuler homered and drove in three runs in the first game, while Kyle Tolley drove in four runs.
Chase Irby, Justin Szymanski and Gabe Kuttenkuler all homered in Game 2 for the Stars. Szymanski drove in three runs in the win.
Tanner Powell went 3-for-3, scored four runs and stole six bases in the nightcap.
On the mound, Lester wanted to evaluate some pitchers who haven’t gotten much work of late to see if they can provide a spark.
Connor Pierce, Bryce Lopez and Seth Gray collaborated on a two-hit shutout in Game 2 with Pierce walking one and striking out six while allowing one hit in four innings to pick up his first win.
Austin Hillebrandt got his first win in the opener. He allowed two hits and one run in three innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
Grey Fisher fired three scoreless innings for his first save. He allowed two hits and struck out three.
“Everybody threw a couple of innings,” Lester said. “I think those guys were chomping at the bit to get their chance. I thought it was good to get our guys out there. We haven’t had too many midweeks, so it was good for those guys to get a chance.”
Lester added that changes to the bullpen could be in the offing.
“We’re kind of re-evaluating the bullpen a little bit,” Lester said. “We’ve got some guys there that we can throw for an inning. We’ve just got to be brave enough to put them out there. Hopefully those arms can contribute in a big way on Thursday and Saturday.”
One highlight from the doubleheader sweep at Arkansas-Rich Mountain was the performance of Dawson Szymanski, who went 3-for-6 with a home run, a triple and three RBIs.
“I thought that was definitely one of the bright spots,” Lester said. “He had really good approaches. Even his outs, he lined out deep to right-center, and that’s a great thing for him. I knew it would be a good day because in his first at-bat, a 1-2 breaking ball, he hit it about 105 back through the box. In his last at-bat, he hit a hanging breaking ball on the first pitch 400 feet to left-center. Hopefully he gets going. I was proud of Dawson. He’s been working through it. He’s been struggling a little bit, but he had a good day.”
As far as the Greyhounds are concerned, Lester said Brett Foss (2-5, 4.03 ERA), Ryan Ursery (5-2, 4.60 ERA) and Colin Reed (3-0, 2.22 ERA) would be the likely starters.
“They’ve definitely given us a chance to win just about every time out,” Lester said. “They’ve been pretty consistent with pretty good stuff.”
The Greyhounds are led by freshman Devyn McEachron, who leads the team with a .354 average along with three home runs and 23 RBIs. Fellow freshmen Ethan Hirons and Eli Dale are each hitting .351 for Arkansas State Mid-South. The pitching staff has struggled, posting a team ERA of 10.13 in 22 games.
SouthArk likely won’t be at full strength again this week due to players being under the weather.
“It’s still working its way through,” Lester said. “I talked to a nurse the other day that had seen 16 of our guys in four days. It’s like the plague right now. We tried to get Yadi (Canales) back in there after his ankle injury and he lasted about two batters. He’s still hurting.”
Although the Stars have been up and down, Lester said the team is making progress, particularly at the plate.
“I like our approach at the plate,” Lester said. “I really think it’s getting better. It hasn’t shown, but I really feel like the approach is there. We’ve had some good at-bats. We’ve got to catch the ball, and when we get guys in scoring position, we’re just trying to do a little too much right now. We’ve got to slow the game down a little bit and hopefully we can get past it.”