JONESBORO, Ark. - After being put on hold on Friday night, the
University of New Orleans and Arkansas State were able to complete
their series opening contest with the Privateers taking a 5-2 victory
on Saturday afternoon.
There were no weather problems on Saturday afternoon as
Ryan O'Shea came into a bases loaded jam in relief of starter
Justin Garcia to begin the eighth inning with one out. O'Shea, promptly induced an inning-ending double play on his second pitch to get out of the jam before allowing just one run in the ninth to close out his ninth save of the season.
Privateers improved to 27-13 on the season and 10-8 in Sun Belt play in winning their sixth straight series opener.
Nick Schwaner led UNO with a 3-for-4 performance which included three doubles, tying a school record.
The right-handed Garcia continued to be a large part of the series-opening success improving to 5-0 on the season after scattering four hits over 7 1/3 innings. Garcia struck out six while allowing just one run.
Indians starter Chase Ware dropped to 4-5 on the season for ASU (16-27, 5-14 SBC), who lost their 11th straight game. Ware pitched 7 1/3 inning allowing seven hits and five runs while striking out three.
Mark McGonigle joined in the offensive production with his third home run in two games for UNO, who won for the second straight game after defeating Southern on Wednesday night.
Schwaner led off the fourth inning with his second double of the night before T.J Baxter followed with his own double, scoring Schwaner to knot the score at one apiece. ASU scored the initial run in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a UNO error.
The scoring continued in the fifth inning for the visiting Privateers when McGonigle hit a home run over the left field wall scoring
Jeff Lanning. The home run was McGonigle's third of the week after hitting two over the wall against Southern on Wednesday.
Michael Knipper led off the eighth inning reaching base on an error by the ASU shortstop before
Ryan Eden singled to advance Knipper to second. Schwaner followed with his third double of the game, scoring the two basesrunners, giving UNO a 5-1 lead.
The two teams will play the second game of the series starting at 5:35 p.m tonight. The game will be available on WGSO 990 AM.
