Feb. 19, 2011

Ball State Boxscore

Austin Peay Boxscore

Contact: Brian McCann

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Dara Toman hit a pair of home runs and had four RBIs and Tess Sito threw 10.2 scoreless innings as the Vikings swept a pair of games at the Austin Peay Spring Classic, edging Ball State, 1-0, before routing host Austin Peay, 7-0.

The wins improve CSU to 4-3 on the year.

"We played pretty well today, but our offense is still not where it should be," head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Our pitching continues to be effective and we came up with some timely hits at the plate.

"I am starting to see our bats come alive. We are aggressive at the plate and have had some good at bats that we did everything right but they just didn't end well. Eventually, those at bats will go in our favor."

Toman and Sito continue to be the right combination for the Vikings as the sophomore duo combined to topple the Cardinals in the opening game.

Toman provided the only offense for CSU, blasting a lead-off home run in the fourth to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

That was all Sito needed as she cruised to a six-hit shutout, scattering six hits in seven innings, striking out seven with a pair of walks. It was her second shutout of the season.

"Tess is doing everything that we are asking of her," Nicholson said. "She has been dominant in the circle because she moves the ball around and hits her spots well."

The Viking offense came alive in the second game, banging out four extra-base hits to topple the host Governors.

Amy Powell starting the offense rolling when she led off the second with a double to right field. Alicia Nichols pinch ran and promptly stole third, coming in to put CSU ahead 1-0 when the throw down to third base skipped into left field.

The Vikings added three runs in the third. With two outs, Sito single to drive in Andrea Nagy from second base and Toman followed with her a two-run homer to left to make it 4-0. It was Toman's third long ball of the season.

CSU closed out the scoring with three more runs in the sixth. Sito led off with a single, her third hit in four at bats during the day, stole second and came into score on a Toman seeing-eye double down the left field line. Two outs later, sophomore Macall Sheppard blasted her first career home run, a two-run shot to centerfield.

Sito was the winner in the circle, improving to 4-2 on the season.

Brandy Holmes got the start for CSU, allowing three hits with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings of work. Sito threw 3.2 innings in relief, allowing just two hits with five strikeouts. Megan Bashak came on to finish the game by throwing a scoreless seventh inning.

"I imagine that we are going to have a few games this year where we use two or three pitchers and if we are able to handle it as well as we did today, then it should be a good year because both Brandy and Megan threw well while Tess dominated in the middle of the contest," Nicholson said. "We gave up a lot of runners on base but didn't give them the big hit or two that they needed to stay in the game.

Austin Peay committed four errors in the game that led to three of the seven runs being unearned. The Governors did have seven hits, four walks and one hit batter but left 14 runners on base, including at least one in every inning including the bases loaded in both the second and third.

Sito and Toman were the hitting stars for the Vikings. Sito went three-for-four with a pair of runs scored, one RBI and two stolen bases while Toman was three-for-six with a double, two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI.

The Vikings conclude play in the tourney on Sunday by taking on Missouri-Kansas City at 10:00 a.m. and Belmont at 2:00 p.m.