Red Wolves Enter Sun Belt Baseball Tournament a 3-Seed

Baseball, Red Wolves | May 20, 2014 by Sporting Life Arkansas | 0 Comments

The Arkansas State baseball team will begin play in the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament with an opening round matchup against No. 6 Troy at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 21 at Stanky Field on the University of South Alabama campus. The Red Wolves enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will meet the Trojans in the first game of the tournament for the second straight year.

A-State is one of four teams that have appeared in each of the last five SBC Tournaments and is the only team to have won at least two games in each of those appearances. The Red Wolves have an all-time record of 20-34 in the SBC Tournament.

The game can be heard on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA and on AStateRedWolves.com. Live video will be provided on SunBeltSports.org

A-STATE/TROY SERIES HISTORY

• This will be the 34th meetings all-time between the two schools with Troy holding a 25-8

all-time advantage.

• A-State took two of three games from the Trojans May 10-11 after winning the nightcap of a doubleheader 10-7 and then defeated the Trojans 8-5 Sunday afternoon.

• This is the third straight season in which A-State and Troy have squared off at some point in the conference tournament. The Trojans have a 3-1 edge over the Red Wolves during that span.

• Overall this will be the seventh meeting all-time between A-State and Troy in the league to tournament, with Troy holding a 4-2 record over the Red Wolves.

• A-State also played Troy in the opening round of the tournament in 2013 and lost 3-2, but did eliminate the Trojans later in the tournament by a score of 3-2.

• A-State and Troy played each five times in 2013, including twice in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Red Wolves eliminated the Trojans from the tournament with a 3-2 victory.

A-STATE IN THE SBC TOURNEY

• Arkansas State is making its fifth consecutive trip to the SBC Tourney, joining Troy, South Alabama and Western Kentucky as the only teams to have played in five straight tournaments over the same span.

• A-State has won at least two games in the tournament in each of the last four season, the only team in this year’s field to have accomplished that feat.

•Arkansas State is 20-34 all-time in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, but the Red Wolveshave enjoyed success in the last three years.

• The Red Wolves went 2-1 in pool play in 2012 and reached the championship game against ULM.

• Arkansas State won two games to reach the semifinals following the 2010 season, and went 2-1 in 2011, but did not advance out of pool play.

• Arkansas State has advanced to the championship game of the tournament three times. The Red Wolves defeated Lamar 3-2 to win the tournament in 1994 and advance to the NCAACentral Regional in Austin, Texas. Arkansas State went 2-2 in the regional, losing to host Texas in the opening round 9-4, before defeating Nevada 4-2 and Texas-San Antonio 10-5. Arkansas State was eliminated with a 10-3 loss to eventual national champion Oklahoma.

• A-State was defeated by South Alabama 11-6 in the championship game in 1996.

• In 2012 A-State fell to ULM 4-2 in the championship game.

• Arkansas State is 2-3 in extra inning games in the tournament, defeating Lamar 3-2 in 11 innings and UNO 9-8 in 11 innings, both in 1994. The Red Wolves lost 13-10 in 10 innings to FIU in 2011, 12-8 in 11 innings to Troy in 2010 and to Lamar 4-3 in 13 innings in 1998.

HISTORY ON A-STATE’S SIDE

• The Sun Belt Conference Tournament has been kind to Arkansas State in its history in Mobile, with A-State holding a 7-11 record all-time in the tourney in Mobile.

• The last time Arkansas State won the SBC Tournament was in 1994 in Mobile. The Red Wolves also entered as the No. 3 seed that season.

CLOSING IN ON RECORDS

• Several players on this year’s squad are approaching single season records. Below is a list of where they stand:

• Doubles: Stuart Levy – 19 (Third Most in a Single Season – Record 23, Josh Yates, 2006)

• Appearances: Colton Kibler – 29 (Fourth Most in Single Season – Record 32, 2007)

• Pitching Strikeouts: 402 – Currently Ranks third in a single season (Record is 487 set in 2013)

• Team Fielding Percentage: 974 – Highest (Previous high was .973 in 2012)

A-STATE BULLPEN SHUTS DOWN UALR

• In 19 1/3 innings against the Trojans this season, the Arkansas State bullpen has given up just five runs and struck out 15.

CAN’T BE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG

• For just the fifth time (and first since 2012) in school history, Arkansas State avoided being swept (3-game series) for an entire year.

• On the flip side, the Red Wolves swept three series this season, also the most since 2012.

OWEN NAMED TO OLSON AWARD WATCH LIST

• Sophomore pitcher David Owen was named to the Gregg Olson “Breakout Player of the Year” watch list.

• Owen is the first Arkansas State player to be named to the award watch list.

• He is one of five Sun Belt players on the list and also just one of 80 players overall.

WHAT A CROWD

• A crowd of 1,143 was on hand on May 13 at Tomlinson Stadium to watch A-State take on No. 11 Ole Miss and set a new record for the largest crowd ever to watch a game at the stadium.

• The previous high was 1,019 in 2008 against Memphis.

RED WOLVES “WEARING” PITCHES

• The Red Wolves have been hit by 77 pitches for this season surpassing last year’s total of 52.

• This year, A-State had a stretch of 12 straight games with a hit by pitch and has had 18 games where it has had multiple HBP.

• The team ranks second in the Sun Belt in total HPB.

A ZUBER STAR

• Freshman Tyler Zuber recorded two saves against Troy to bring his season total to four since taking over the backend duties in the bullpen.

• Zuber has been fantastic in Sun Belt Conference play, sporting a 1.35 ERA in 13.1 innings in allowing just two runs.

With a win over the Trojans, the Red Wolves will advance to a second-round matchup against second-seeded UT-Arlington or seventh-seeded South Alabama. An opening round loss would drop Arkansas State into the elimination bracket against the loser of that same matchup.

The second-round winner’s bracket game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on May 22, while the elimination bracket is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 p.m. on the same day.

This is the second straight in which the Red Wolves and Trojans have met in the opening round of the Sun Belt baseball tournament.

A-State secured a berth in the conference tournament for the fifth straight season and finished the year with a 30-25 overall record and an 18-12 mark in league play.

The No. 3 seed is the Red Wolves highest since 2012 when it entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the tournament and advanced to the championship game. The Red Wolves also enter the tournament having won 30 or more games for third time in the last five seasons.

All of A-State’s Sun Belt Conference tournament can be heard on the 95.3 The Ticket and through the StateZone portion of AStateRedWolves.com. All games will also be available via webstream on the Sun Belt Digital Network on SunBeltSports.org and ESPN3.com.

Championship festivities get underway on Tuesday night with Championship Family Night, a celebration of this season’s accomplishments both on and off the field for the student-athletes in attendance. There will be a home run derby, autograph session and much more for those planning on being in attendance.

2014 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Seeds (Season Record)

1. UL Lafayette (49-7, 26-4 SBC)

2. UT Arlington (30-25, 19-11)

3. Arkansas State (30-25, 18-12 SBC)

4. Texas State (28-26, 16-14 SBC)

5. WKU (29-26, 15-15 SBC)

6. Troy (24-30, 11-18 SBC) *

7. South Alabama (22-31, 11-18 SBC)

8. UL Monroe (22-34, 11-19 SBC)

* – Troy went 3-2 against South Alabama in the season series; therefore earns the No. 6 seed over the Jaguars.

2014 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, May 21