Smith's Gem Leads SMSU to Split
Curtis Smith tossed a three-hit shutout on Thursday
3/13/2008 3:04:00 PM
Game One Box
Game Two Box
FT. MYERS, FLA.: Freshman Curtis Smith tossed a three-hit shutout in his first career start to lead Southwest Minnesota State to an 8-0 victory in game two of a doubleheader split with Lock Haven University (Pa.) on Thursday afternoon in Ft. Myers, Fla. SMSU was held to just five hits in the opener in an 8-1 loss to LHU.
SMSU is now 7-6 overall on the season and will conclude its 10-game Ft. Myers trip with a nine-inning game versus Lock Haven tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. EDT.
Smith, who moved to 3-0 on the season with the victory, scattered three hits with three strikeouts while allowing one walk and hitting one batter. It was the first shutout by a Mustang pitcher since John Goneau on Apr. 22, 2007, versus Bemidji State.
SMSU put the game away in the third inning plating six runs to open up a 7-0 lead and never looked back. Jake Munsch gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI ground out to score Josh Nolan who lead off the inning with a double.
In the decisive third inning SMSU batted 11 men with seven innings to put the game out of reach. Nolan, Lex Reinke and Munsch all delivered RBI singles before Doug Sterns smacked a two-run single to push the Mustang lead to 6-0. Greg Laughlin capped the inning with his second hit of the inning this time an RBI single to score Stearns and push the margin to 7-0 in favor of SMSU.
SMSU closed out the scoring in the sixth inning as pinch runner Matt Paulson scored from third base on a throwing error.
Laughlin, who missed the previous three games with an injury, led the SMSU offense in game two with three hits while Stearns belted two hits and finished with two RBI. The Mustang offense finished the game with 12 hits.
In the opener, Lock Haven starter Josh Rote limited SMSU to just five hits with four coming in the last two innings. LHU scored a single run off of SMSU starter Aaron Johnson in the second inning before plating across five runs on just two hits in the fourth inning. SMSU committed two errors, hit a batter, walked one and had one wild pitch in the inning.
The Mustangs scored their lone run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Nolan.