With the game tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning and JW Stark at third, Stephan Trosclair came through with a clutch hit to give the Sulphur Cyclones their fifth win in a row with a 4-3 victory over the Iowa Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night.
Stark reached base on a bunt single and took second on a steal to start the Cyclones’ half of the eighth inning with the score tied at 3-3.
Then the speedy center fielder moved to third on a throwing error by the Iowa catcher to be 90 feet away for Trosclair.
With a 0-2 count, Trosclair punched the ball into right field to score Stark to give the Cyclones (7-2) the win.
“We finally just got that timely hit,” said Cyclones head coach Blaine Wyninger. “JW did a fantastic job of getting the bunt down, and Trosclair has been one of the best all-around hitters we’ve had all year.”
The Yellow Jackets took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI triple by Shane Deshotel that scored Chance Curlee, who reached on an error, and a sacrifice groundout by Madison Lechney.
In the bottom of the first, the Cyclones had Stephen Pennick and Logan LeJeune on base for Brennum Conway who hit a three run home run to left field to give Sulphur a 3-2 lead.
The home run was Conway’s second in two games.
The Yellow Jackets were able to tie the game in the second inning when Gene Pete reached base on an infield hit and took second on the third Cyclone error of the game. Pete stole third to be in prime position to score when Evan Watson brought him home on a sacrifice ground out to tie the game at 3-3.
“You would rather those happen early than late,” Wyninger said on the errors. “That gives your team a chance to come back and get the win.”
From the fourth inning on, Troy Scott held the Iowa bats quiet. Scott started the game and pitched all eight innings to take the win.
“That was a fun ball game,” said Wyninger. “We had a pitcher out there that did a (great) job. That’s one of the things we talked to the guys about. Troy pitched his heart out and we wanted to make sure he got credit for that win.”
Scott finished with five strikeouts with no walks and allowed six hits and three runs, two of which were earned.
“Troy is one of those guys you like to have on the mound,” said Wyninger on his pitcher.
“He wants the ball. It’s fun to have a guy that wants the ball, cause the more they want it, the more I want to give it to them.
“He did a great job today.”
Pete started the game for the Yellow Jackets and allowed three runs on four hits and two strikeouts.
Lechney took the mound in the sixth in relief and allowed one run on three hits in a losing effort.
Conway led the Sulphur batters going 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI’s with Trosclair going 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Deshotel led all batters with a 2-for-3 performance with a triple and an RBI and Evan Watson added a 1-for-3 effort.
Sulphur continued to have problems by popping up too many balls for outs. In the previous game against Welsh, the Cyclones popped out 13 times and on Tuesday they had eight pop fly outs.
“That’s two games in a row,” Wyninger said on the pop fly outs. “We are getting lucky. If they want to continue to beat good teams like Iowa, they are going to do a better job of putting them away.”
The Cyclones game against Moss Bluff on Wednesday has been cancelled, so Sulphur will return to action on Friday against Jennings at 6 p.m. on Field 37 at McMurry Park.
Sulphur, La. —
