April 13, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - On Sunday afternoon at Pelican Park, the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers completed a conference sweep of the Argos. The University of West Florida Argonauts were leading until the seventh inning became a nightmare, and after that, the Chargers didn't let it go, as they defeated the Argos 9-6. UWF starter Matt Collins was on pace for an outstanding outing thru six innings, but the seventh inning would never end until two other pitchers made their way to the mound. West Florida had a 6-4 lead on the strength of only three hits, but it didn't hold up.
The Chargers were the first to score, as they put up two runs in the first inning. However, the Argos answered back in the second inning with four runs of their own from only one hit. Eric Kroll got on base after being walked and then Tyler Hastings singled and moved Kroll to third. After the Chargers pitcher balked, Hastings went to second, and Kroll strolled home. Bryan Nelson grounded out to third and Hastings found himself moving on to third base. Kyle Brown was then hit by a pitch, and Kyle Andrews reached on a fielder's choice allowing Brown to move to second while batting in Hastings. After two more Argos got on base without the aid of a hit, Brown came home to score. Then, Jon Reed then was hit by a pitch, and Andrews scored. The inning ended with three Argos left on base and four runs on the board.
No runs were scored in the third by either team and Collins didn't let the Chargers score in the fourth either. The Argos added two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a double by Tyler Hastings which plated Eric Kroll and Jon Reed. Kroll had reached base by a walk and Reed singled to center.
The Argos would then fail to score any more runs, but the Chargers did some serious damage and literally won the game with their runs from the seventh inning. In that crazy seventh inning, the Chargers added five runs to their side, stretching the total to nine, to put away UWF. The Argos were able to get runners on base almost every inning, but they just couldn't get the key hit, and this problem seemed to be the biggest factor in the entire series against the Chargers.
A total of seven batters were hit by a pitch during Sundays game, proving that both teams had a rough day on the pitching mound. Matt Collins pitched six solid innings, but finally ran into trouble in the seventh, and Todd Stannard struggled and didn't make it an entire inning and struck out one batter, while Sixto Velasco pitched a little over two innings and struck out two batters. Stannard took the loss to drop to 2-2 on the year, with the Argos falling to 4-11 in conference play, and 18-29 overall.
The Chargers are now 3-9 in the GSC and 17-26 overall, and landed the Argos their sixth consecutive conference loss. The Argos next game is on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at home against Auburn University at Montgomery. UWF finishes conference play on April 26th and 27th, when Valdosta State comes to town for a three game series to finish the season. With West Georgia losing three games this week, and North Alabama dropping two games to Valdosta State, the Argos still have a mathematical chance at finishing fourth in the East and moving on to the GSC Tournament, with a strong showing against Valdosta State in the final regular season series.
