Saturday’s scores from the Sun Belt

In addition to Louisiana's 17-1 thrashing of Troy last night, here are the scores from the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday:

UALR 8, LOUISIANA-MONROE 6

In Little Rock, Jason Houston hit a three run homer with two out in the eighth, as Arkansas-Little Rock rallied from behind for the second straight day and defeated Louisiana-Monroe 8-6.

The Trojans (18-27, 8-15) found themselves down 5-0 early, but rallied to tie the game in the fourth before ULM scored a fifth inning run to take a 6-5 lead.  But Houston connected off Shelby Aulds (2-2) for the game winner.  Garrett Graziano (4-8) shut down the Warhawks (22-23, 7-16) over the final 4.1 innings to earn the win.

The victory put the Trojans into sole possession of eighth place in the league and gives UALR the series win and therefore the tiebreaker over ULM, if applicable.

WESTERN KENTUCKY 6, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 2

Western Kentucky scored five times in the seventh inning to erase a 2-1 deficit as the Hilltoppers evened the series with Florida Atlantic with a 6-2 win in Bowling Green.  Outfielder Kes Carter lined a two-out, two-run single to put the Toppers (28-19, 13-10) up for good.

Freshman Justin Hageman (8-4) pitched a complete game, scattering nine hits for WKU.  Reliever Jake Meiers (3-5) was tagged with the loss.  Shortstop Nick Delguidice drove in the two runs for the Owls (27-18, 14-9), who slipped into a tie for third place with Louisiana in the Sun Belt Standings.

FIU 11, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 2

Three different players had three hits apiece to lead a 16 hit attack as FIU won its eleventh straight game, hammering Middle Tennessee 11-2.  Pablo Bermudez, Jeremy Patton and Yoandy Barroso combined for nine hits, with Bermudez and Patton hitting two of the five home runs hit by the Panthers (21-16, 15-8).  Jose Behar, Jabari Henry and Mike Martinez also went deep for FIU.  R. J. Fondon (4-4) worked eight innings, allowing just five hits for FIU.  Losing pitcher Hunter Adkins (1-8) gave up seven runs over 5.2 innings to take the loss.

MTSU (15-31, 7-16) dropped into a ninth place tie with ULM in league play with the loss.

FIU is now in sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt and moved to within one game of Troy in the standings.  The win was the tenth in a row in conference play for the Panthers, who will go for the series sweep today in Murfreesboro.

SOUTH ALABAMA 8, ARKANSAS STATE 7 (10 innings)

Plenty of drama in Mobile as first baseman Brad Hook hammered a two-out grand slam home run in the ninth for the tie and Jake Overstreet's single in the tenth was the game-winner as South Alabama took its second straight win over Arkansas State, defeating the Red Wolves 8-7 in ten innings at Eddie Stanky Field.

Hook's homer came on a 3-1 pitch from Cory Kyle.  It was Hook's fifth home run of the season.  Overstreet's game winner came off losing pitcher Daniel Wright (1-4) and followed a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Phillip Byrd (2-0) threw 1.1 scoreless innings for the Jaguars (24-23, 11-12), who will go for the sweep this afternoon.

Arkansas State (22-27, 10-13), had fourteen hits, including three from Todd Baumgartner, who clubbed his seventh homer of the season, which gave the Red Wolves a 3-2 lead in the third inning.