PALM BEACH, Fla. - March 19 - Southern Utah suffered a 12-11 defeat at the hands of the Chicago State Cougars on Friday night, falling in the third of four games between the two schools in Palm Beach, Florida. The loss drops the T-Birds to 3-12 on the year while CSU picked up its first victory of the year to improve to 1-6.
SUU took the first lead of the game, capitalizing on a pair of doubles off the bats of Bo Cuthbertson and Matt Sanford to score two runs in the bottom of the first inning. However, Chicago State quickly tied the game with two runs of its own in the top of the second inning and then took the lead on four runs in the top of the third.
Southern Utah tried to keep pace with three runs in the bottom of the third, making the most of three CSU miscues, including two errors and a wild pitch. Tyler Hogge picked up the easy RBI in the frame, drawing a walk with the bases loaded and was followed by Joe Goldenberg with an RBI ground ball. The final run crossed the plate on one of the two errors by the Cougar defense.
Chicago State's frustration on defense fueled Cougar batters in the top of the fourth inning as the team pulled together five runs to take an 11-5 lead before the Thunderbirds would answer with runs in the home half of the inning. Brock Westphal recorded a bases-loaded walk to bring in one run and Hogge hit a two-run single to right field to score two more as SUU put up three runs in the inning to cut the lead to 11-8.
Chicago State scored its final run in the top of the fifth and SUU would score a single run in the fifth, sixth and eighth on an RBI double by Levi Swenson and an RBI double and RBI gound ball by Goldenberg, respectively. Southern Utah had the tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth inning as Cuthbertson led off the frame with a single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. However, a ground ball to second and a strikeout ended the come back as the T-Birds suffered the 12-11 defeat.
SUU starter Kyle Hamman was given the loss, dropping to 0-4 on the year while Chicago State's Luc Faron recorded the win in three innings of relief.
The two teams will take to the field tomorrow in the final game of the four-game set.
