Stars ready for key region series on road
After winning a key series last weekend, South Arkansas College has another big Region 2 series this weekend that offers the opportunity for the Stars to take a major step toward clinching a berth in the Plains District Tournament.
On Saturday, the Stars hit the road for a doubleheader at National Park College that gets underway at 1 p.m. The schools will finish their three-game series with a 2 p.m. contest in El Dorado on Sunday.
The series was originally scheduled to start in El Dorado on Thursday and conclude on Saturday, but rain forced the series to start on Saturday instead.
SouthArk swept National Park in their first meeting, winning a pair of one-run games to open the series before winning 6-2 in the finale.
Now the schools are in a three-way battle with SAU Tech for the last two spots in the Arkansas Division to move on to the Plains District Tournament.
The Nighthawks started league play with a 1-8 record that included a seven-game skid, but National Park responded by sweeping SAU Tech and Arkansas State Mid-South before losing two of three games last week against Arkansas Rich-Mountain.
National Park has two of the top pitchers in the conference with sophomores Eli Hutcherson and Carter Gaston both having outstanding seasons.
Hutcherson (7-3, 2.48 ERA) has gone the distance in six of his 11 starts and has two shutouts. In 61 2/3 innings, he has allowed only 46 hits with 15 walks and 55 strikeouts. He ranks second in the conference in wins, third in ERA and fifth in strikeouts.
Gaston (3-3, 4.27 ERA) has walked only 12 batters while registering 58 strikeouts in 40 innings.
The Nighthawks also have one of the top relievers in the league in freshman Arthur Perez (3-1, 3.79 ERA), who has three saves and 52 strikeouts in just 35 2/3 innings.
In their first encounter, sophomore Brett Foss outdueled Gaston in a 2-1 win in Game 1 that saw SouthArk prevail despite striking out 18 times in the game.
Foss, Bryson Menard and Luke Eaton combined for 14 strikeouts of their own as part of a four-hitter.
In Game 2, the Stars roughed up Hutcherson for eight hits and six runs in five innings in a 7-6 win. Beau Kuttenkuler homered and drove in four runs to lead the offensive charge for SouthArk.
Ryan Ursery struck out nine over 5 2/3 innings while allowing four hits and four runs with just one being