Courtesy Arkansas State University Athletics Department
JONESBORO, Ark. (2/16/13) – The Arkansas State baseball team got a solid effort on the mound from starter Daniel Wright, and true freshman Austin Baker went 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI to lead the Red Wolves to a series-clinching 10-1 victory over Bradley Saturday afternoon at Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.
The Red Wolves ran their record to 2-0 for the first time since 2010, also collecting a 10-5 victory over Bradley on Friday in both team’s season opener. A-State recorded nine hits and took advantage of six walks and two Bradley errors, while Wright allowed just five hits and struck out seven over seven innings of work to pick up the win.
Bradley recorded two of its seven hits in the second inning to take an early 1-0 lead, but a solo homerun by Baker in his first ASU career at-bat in the third inning tied the game and started the Red Wolves’ offensive outburst. A-State added one more run in the inning and extended its lead to 5-1 through six innings of play.
The Red Wolves broke the game open in the seventh inning with five additional runs to set the final score. Four of ASU’s first five batters walked to bring home the first run, Kaleb Brown followed with a single to send another run across the plate and Baker then drew a walk for his final RBI. With the bases still loaded and only one out, Alex Potts doubled to score Brown and Ryan Roberts.
The Braves were able to get a double play to end the inning, but the damage was done. Chandler Hawkins relieved Wright in the eighth inning, giving up a couple of hits but holding Bradley scoreless, while Brandon Milhouse closed the game for the Red Wolves with a perfect ninth inning.
“I thought Daniel (Wright), once he settled in, really helped us,” said ASU head coach Tommy Raffo. “He got some big zeros after we scored in the sixth, and he really held them down to give our offense a chance later in the game to score some runs and break it open.”
Baker went 3-for-3 in his debut and Potts, who had two hits, matched his team-high RBI total with three as well. Bradley was led by Mike Tauchman with two hits and Bob Schuch was responsible for the Braves only RBI.
“We had some energy in the bottom half of the lineup today that really helped us, like Austin (Baker) really coming through with some good at-bats and it showed up today with us scoring some runs througout the lineup,” Raffo said.
A-State and Bradley will close o
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