By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – After hitting a brief bump in the road last week, William Carey University baseball appears to be back on trac.
The Crusaders polished off a weekend sweep of Mobile at Milton Wheeler Field Monday night, in a game postponed from Saturday because of the weather, and in the process, dislodged the Rams from the top spot in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings.
No. 16 (NAIA) Carey rode a huge effort on the mound from junior Dario Herrera and broke the game open to defeat the seventh-ranked Rams 8-1. The win put WCU into first place in the SSAC at 14-4 in league play (32-9 overall). Mobile dropped to 28-9 and 13-5.
It was a statement weekend for the Crusaders, who outscored the Rams 26-11 over the three-game series, and it came after Carey had lost three in a row following a 13-game winning streak.
“It was kind of a weird game in that we kept leaving runners on base,” said Carey coach Bobby Halford. “But Dario Herrera had a fine game. He was really good, and that was the key for us. He’s been good for us in the midweek role
The story of the game was Herrera, a left-hander from Panama. Herrera (5-0) went seven innings, allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked three.
“Today, I used a lot of two-seam (fastballs), and I was spotting the ball where I needed,” said Herrera. “I just put it in the mitt.”
Herrera has been in the midweek role for the Crusaders, a role in which he has excelled, but Halford chose to put Herrera into the weekend rotation, and move junior right-hander Preston Ratliff to the closer role.
“We made the decision to use Ratliff as our closer, (regular closer),” said Halford “John Snyder has had some arm issues, some arm fatigue, and he came in and did a great job. So that solidified a lot of things we want to do.”
Herrera had some traffic on the basepaths, but he was able to make good pitches in clutch situations, with the help of his defense.
In the top of the first, junior Tucker Musgrove led off with a single, but Herrera immediately picked Musgrove off first base.
In the second, a one-out single was erased when senior shortstop Bobby Lada snagged a liner at shoe-top level and fired to first to double up the runner. The Rams also got two baserunners in the fourth with one out, but Herrera avoided trouble.
The addition of Lada, a midseason arrival after transferring from the University of Louisiana, has solidified the Carey defense, adding yet another piece to the overall repertoire the Crusaders present opponents.
“I got here pretty quickly,” said Lada. “I knew a couple of guys over here from the summer team in Lafayette on the Canecutters. They introduced me to the guys on the team, and everything clicked pretty much right away.”
Carey needed Herrera to be great and play solid defense behind him, because the vaunted Crusader offense sputtered at times in key situations.
WCU left 12 runners on base in the first five innings of the game, leaving the bases loaded in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
The Crusaders also wasted a golden opportunity to get started on the right note after junior R.J. Stinson led off the bottom of the first inning and went to third when senior Patrick Lee smoked the first pitch he saw into leftfield for a double.
But junior right-hander Matthew Holston, the Ram starter, got two pop fouls to get out of trouble.
“I think early in the game we were pressing a little bit,” said Stinson. “This was such a big game. We left way too many runners on, but late in the game, we figured it out and finally started executing with men on base.”
Still, Carey scratched out a run playing small ball. In the bottom of the second inning, junior Brady Wilson singled with one out. A walk moved him to second and a wild pitch got him to third, and he scored when sophomore Brady Logan hit a groundball to shortstop.
Herrera returned the favor in the top of the fifth, when the Rams scored their only run. Junior Sean Mason opened the inning with a single and took second when Herrera was called for a balk.
A ground ball to second got Mason to third and he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Musgrove. But Herrera was able to minimize the damage with a groundout to shortstop.
Carey got the run right back in the bottom of the fifth, all coming after two were out off sophomore right-hander Michael Sykes, the second of five pitchers who threw for Mobile Monday night.
Lada smacked an opposite-field single to rightfield, Wilson singled up the middle, then back-to-back walks allowed Lada to trot home with the go-ahead run.
“Well, we’ve got guys who can run,” said Halford. “And we’ve got some guys who can run and swing the bat, that’s a good thing to have, especially when you’re playing in a big ballpark like ours.”
Herrera was at 103 pitches after six innings, but Halford sent him back out for the seventh. The Rams got a runner to third on a one-out single and a wild pitch on a stolen base attempt, but he got consecutive strikeouts to keep the game tied.
“I thought after six, I’m done,” said Herrera. “But my coach asked if I could go one more, and I said sure, why not?”
In the end, the offense the Crusaders have come to expect finally showed up in the bottom of the eighth, as six runs scored on four hits, three walks and a hit batter.
“We got off to a slow start tonight, but we knew the bats would start clicking,” said Stinson. “We just stayed down, kept having good at-bats and good things started to happen.”
Sophomore Rigoberto Hernandez got it started by smacking a double into the rightfield corner, then caught the Rams napping and stole third. Sophomore Ty Little drew a walk, then Stinson hit a hot shot to drive in the run and he ended up on first without a play.
Another walk – the Rams allowed 11 for the game – loaded the bases, and two more runs came in on yet another base on balls plus a hit batter. Lada drove in two more runs with a double to left-centerfield and he scored on Wilson’s gapper to right-centerfield.
Ratliff pitched the eighth and ninth innings, battling through some control problems in the ninth to record his first save of the season. Sykes (4-1) took the loss for Mobile. Wilson finished the night with a double and two singles for Carey.
Carey will travel to Blue Mountain Christian for a weekend SSAC series at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader, then the Crusaders will be home to close the regular season against Loyola-New Orleans, April 27-28.
“It feels great to be on top,” said Stinson. “Hopefully, we can stay there the rest of the year.”
Carey Baseball Linescore
Monday at Milton Wheeler Field
William Carey 8, Mobile 1
Mobile 000 010 000 – 1 6 1
Carey 010 010 06x – 8 8 1
MOBILE 28-9, 13-5 in SSAC): Tucker Musgrove 1B; Jackson Breal 1B; Trevor Wells 1B; J.T. Lastorka 1B; Sean Mason 2 1B. LP – Michael Sykes (4-1). Also pitching – Matthew Holston (starter); Jacob Davis; Landon Moore; Trevor Wells.
WILLIAM CAREY (32-9, 14-4 in SSAC): R.J. Stinson 1B; Patrick Lee 2B; Bobby Lada 2B,1B; Brady Wilson 2B, 2 1B; Rigoberto Hernandez 2B. WP – Dario Herrera (5-0) 7 Ks. Save – Preston Ratliff (1).
