Third time’s a charm for Tor baseball

The Sulphur Tors' Chad Miller dominated the Iowa Yellow Jackets on the mound and with the bat for a 2-1 Tors' victory on a wet Tuesday night in Iowa.

The win is the first for Sulphur in three tries against the Yellow Jackets this season.

The senior pitcher pitched five innings of scoreless baseball while allowing just two hits with six strikeouts and no walks while adding a two-run double in the fourth inning.

"He threw the ball real well," said Tors' head coach Ron Riley. "Coach (John) Thompson worked with him yesterday and made some adjustments and came out today and threw the ball as good as he has thrown the ball this year. I'm real proud of him.

"In sloppy conditions, we played decent defense but didn't have a whole lot to play with as well as he threw the ball."

Sulphur (8-6) got the leadoff batter on base the first four innings, but couldn't capitalize on the opportunity until the fourth inning.

"We are still struggling offensively," Riley said on the missed opportunities. "We get runners in scoring position and just can't get the big hits.

"Of course Chad came up with a big one and was the difference in the ball game."

Logan LeJeune led off the inning reaching base on an error by Iowa's Tyler Chatman and Josh East followed with a double to deep left-center to set runners at second and third. With one out, Miller took the first pitch he saw from Madison Lachney and drove it to right-center to plate the two runs for the Tors.

Miller finished the game going 1-for-3 with two RBI's.

Lachney took the loss with a complete game while allowing one earned run on six hits. The Iowa pitcher was the winner in the first two matchups against the Tors allowing just one hit in eight and a third innings.

The Yellow Jackets picked up their lone run of the game in the sixth inning. Daniel Hennigan led off by drawing a walk from Garrett McCain. Chatman followed with a hard hit to the left side of the infield and reached base on an overthrow by the Tors to allow Hennigan to score for the 2-1 score.

Iowa had a chance to make more of the opportunity, but Loren Saucier struck out Chance Curlee with the bases loaded to pick up the save.

Sulphur's third baseman East led all hitters with a 2-for-3 performance with a double and a run scored. Austin Shepherd added a 2-for-3 effort for the Tors.

"We are on the verge of breaking out and hitting the ball," said Riley on the Sulphur offense. "We are just struggling so bad offensively. Eventually it's going to come, I'm just anxious for it to come.."

Phillip LeBleu and Gabe Roberts each went 1-for-3 for the Yellow Jacket for the only two Iowa hits.

The Tors will return to the field on Thursday when they host the 2010 Cameron State Bank Classic. Sulphur's first game will be at 5:30 p.m. when they take on DeRidder.