Connor Gilmore was Central Arkansas’ hidden ace this week at the Southland Conference Tournament at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
Coach Allen Gum used him when the Bears needed him the most Saturday night against Southeastern Louisiana.
Gilmore, who had not made an appearance for UCA in the Southland Tournament, delivered a complete-game, two-hit shutout in the Bears’ 4-0 victory over the Lions to win the school’s first Southland Conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth.
Gilmore, a freshman from Little Rock Catholic, struck out 2 and walked 4 while throwing 126 pitches. Gilmore (4-0) is expected to be part of UCA’s starting rotation next season with seniors Caleb McClanahan and Jeffery Enloe exhausting their eligibility.
On Saturday, Gilmore stepped up for the Bears, who have not played in a national tournament since 1959 when they were a member of the NAIA.
“He was outstanding,”Gum said. “He’s been building up to that. He went right at the hitters. He threw a lot of fastballs. His fastball was downhill. He let the defense do the work. I’m proud of him.”
UCA (39-20), which was seeded No. 7 in the tournament, lost its opening game 5-3 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before winning five consecutive. The Bears eliminated Stephen F. Austin 7-3 on Thursday and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 8-1 on Friday before beating Oral Roberts twice, 6-5 on Friday afternoon and 11-3 on Saturday morning, to advance to the championship game.
Gum said the team got together after the tournament-opening loss Wednesday and talked about why they still believed they could win the conference championship.
“It was neat to watch as a coach,” Gum said by phone after Saturday’s victory. “In their eyes, they believed they have the best leadoff hitter in the country [right fielder Forrestt Allday]. We lead the nation in walks. We hadn’t had a break in a month. It’s just incredible.”
Allday finished 2 for 4 and was named tournament MVP. Allday, Gilmore, third baseman Garrett Brown and catcher Michael Marietta were named to the Southland Tournament team.
Gum said the majority of UCA’s pitching staff volunteered to pitch if needed against Southeastern Louisiana, but Gilmore made their pleas moot, giving up a hit in the fourth and fifth innings while pitching to the minimum 27 batters.
The Bears’ defense made life easy for Gilmore. With a runner on first in the top of the third inning, left fielder Ethan Harris robbed Southeastern Louisiana’s Ladd Rhodes of an extra-base hit with a diving catch in front of center fielder Jonathan Davis.
“You always need one of those [plays] in a big game,” Gum said. “We didn’t let go of the momentum. It was a great play.”
UCA then scored three in the bottom of the third, giving Gilmore some support.
Designated hitter Chris Townsend walked and advanced to second base on a passed ball by Lions catcher Sam Roberson. Allday was hit by a pitch from reliever Mason Klotz, and Davis reached on a bunt single to load the bases.
Townsend scored on a wild pitch by Klotz to make it 1-0, with Davis and Allday moving to second and third. Harris then walked to load the bases again. Allday was thrown out at home on Blake Marchal’s ground ball to third, keeping the bases loaded with one out.
Marietta drew a bases-loaded walk to score Davis for a 2-0 lead. UCA made it 3-0 on first baseman Scott Zimmerle’s sacrifice fly, which scored Harris.
UCA made it 4-0 in the bottom of the seventh when Zimmerle hit his second sacrifice fly, scoring Marchal, who had led off the inning with a single.
UCA, which went 12-15 in the Southland Conference, had lost 8 of 11 going into the tournament, including three consecutive conference series. The Bears were ranked in Baseball America’s Top 25 poll earlier this season and earned several key non-conference victories, including two against Mississippi State and one against Oklahoma State, Kansas, Southern Miss and Wichita State.
“We got out of the gates so well,” Gum said about UCA’s 18-3 start before conference play.
But even when things went bad during Southland play, Gum said the Bears didn’t stop believing they could turn it around.
“We talked about three things all year: to fight, to finish, to have faith. We’ve seen it before. We could pull off four, five, six games in a row. We got a ball to bounce our way.”
The Bears have been on the road since May 13 when they left Conway to head to Tennessee-Martin for a non-conference game May 14. They were swept at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas, on May 16-18 before heading to Sugar Land for the tournament.
Now Gum and the Bears head back to Arkansas today with a Southland Conference championship trophy. They will find out who they will play in the NCAA Tournament at 11 a.m. Monday.
“It’s going to be a great feeling when we cross into Arkansas,” Gum said. “I’m ready to see Arkansas again.”CENTRAL ARKANSAS 11, ORAL ROBERTS 3
Ethan Harris finished 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored and Garrett Brown went 2 for 4 and scored 2 runs as Central Arkansas eliminated Oral Roberts on Saturday morning.
The Bears scored two runs in the first inning, five in the second and four in the third. Designated hitter Chris Townsend went 2 for 5 with 1 RBI and scored 1 run.
Caleb McClanahan (10-5) pitched on two days’ rest and went six innings. He scattered 9 hits and allowed 3 runs while striking out 5. Jon Rand gave up two hits in three innings of relief for his first save.
Oral Roberts (25-32), which had swept UCA in the teams’ Southland opening series in March, will not play in the NCAA Tournament for the first
Sports, Pages 25 on 05/26/2013