Swaps in order aid UCA hopes
After Central Arkansas was held to one hit in a 3-0 loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last Saturday, Coach Allen Gum decided to make changes to his batting order.
Gum moved junior center fielder Jonathan Davis up one spot in the order to No. 2. Senior second baseman Blake Marchal went from the No. 2 hole down to the No. 4 spot, and senior left fielder Ethan Harris moved to the No. 3 hole.
Saturday’s one-hit performance was one of the rare slip-ups for a UCA squad that was ranked in the Baseball America poll earlier this season. But Gum’s lineup moves paid off as the Bears beat the Islanders 8-7 on Sunday to take 2 of 3 in the series.
“Offensively, we’ve been up and down,” Gum said.
“I wanted to get Jonathan another at-bat.”
Davis injured his wrist May 5, 2012, against Texas-San Antonio and missed the remainder of the regular season. He had surgery the week of the Southland Conference Tournament in which UCA lost to Southeastern Louisiana in a first-round game. Before his injury, Davis was hitting .333 with 29 RBI and 17 stolen bases.
Davis, a preseason Southland first-team outfielder, has returned to form for the Bears, as he’s started all of the team’s 39 games this season. He’s hitting .293 with 1 home run, 35 RBI and has stolen 16 bases. Also, Davis has six doubles and four triples - both team-highs.
In UCA’s 16-8 victory against Tennessee-Martin on Tuesday at Bear Stadium in Conway, Davis finished 4 for 5 with 5 RBI, 3 stolen bases and scored 2 runs. The Bears used a 10-run seventh inning to pull away from the Skyhawks, who entered Tuesday’s game 1-10 on the road.
“He’s being more consistent,” Gum said. “He’s more balanced at the plate.”
ARKANSAS STATE Still searching
Arkansas State senior outfielder Logan Uxa was named a preseason all-Sun Belt Conference selection after hitting .289 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI last season.
But heading into a three game series with Middle Tennessee (23-20, 7-11 Sun Belt Conference) that begins tonight in Jonesboro, Uxa is still trying to find his 2012 swing.
After having moved to first base nine games into the season because of a season ending knee injury to Zach George, Uxa is hitting .261 with 3 home runs and 18 RBI through 41 games for the Red Wolves (22-19, 8-10).
In last week’s three-game series at Louisiana-Monroe and a loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday, Uxa was 2 for 16 with 2 RBI.
ASU Coach Tommy Raffo said Uxa might be pressing a bit considering the loss of George and Zach Maggio, who was lost for the season before the first game was played with an injury.
“When you look at how the season has gone, it’s not the same lineup we wanted to have,” Raffo said.
“Sometimes, hitters try to do a bit more. Maybe Logan has done that.”
Uxa has hit fourth or fifth in ASU’s order for most of this year and Raffo said he’s not going to move, no matter if he warms up or not.
“When you look at our other guys, and who is hitting, there’s not a lot of options,” Raffo said. “He’s just working hard. Trying to get it done right. It’s not like it’s life or death. He’s not hitting .400, but he’s not hitting .000, either.”
UALR Missed chance
A week ago, UALR was at a season-high, having just swept Oklahoma in a midweek doubleheader.
But the Trojans will welcome Western Kentucky (22-19, 11-7 Sun Belt Conference) to Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock for a three-game series starting today after seeing their up-and-down season take another downturn.
UALR (18-22, 5-13) was swept at conference foe Troy last weekend, then lost at Texas-Arlington on Wednesday. With four conference series left, the Trojans are two games behind Louisiana-Monroe for the final spot in the conference tournament next month.
It’s a disappointing spot for Coach Scott Norwood, especially coming a week after he hoped the upsets over the Sooners could turn around their season.
“We didn’t gain some ground and take advantage of momentum,” Norwood said. “It’s just baseball.
Sometimes things don’t go your way. We’ve just got to find a way to do it. It’s very disappointing.”
Statistically, UALR ranks eighth in the Sun Belt in hitting (.261) and pitching (4.50 ERA), but most alarming to Norwood is a shaky defense has yet to get settled.
The Trojans’ .960 fielding percentage is ninth in the Sun Belt and their 62 errors this year are tied for most in the league.
They made five errors while being swept in a three game series at Troy last week and in the eighth inning of a 14-6 in the series’ second game, a throwing error by catcher Blake Johnson led to four unearned runs.
“It needs to be better,” Norwood said of his defense.
“We keep working on it.
It’s just a matter of being focused and staying focused.
But, yes, it needs to be better.”
Sports, Pages 21 on 04/26/2013