STATE COLLEGE CAPSULES

UALR vs. South Alabama WHEN 6 p.m. today, 4 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Gary Hogan Field, Little Rock RECORDS UALR 10-8, 0-3 Sun Belt; South Alabama 10-9, 1-1 THIS WEEK Won 11-2 at Oklahoma on Wednesday.

RADIO None INTERNET ualrtrojans.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS TODAY UALR: LHP Travis McDonald (2-1, 1.95 ERA); South Alabama: RHP Kevin Hill (1-2, 3.70) SATURDAY UALR: RHP Chad Bradford (2-0, 3.20 ERA); South Alabama: LHP Locke St. John (2-0, 1.59) SUNDAY UALR: RHP Cameron Allen (1-1, 3.80 ERA); South Alabama: TBD

THE RUNDOWN UALR could have a favorable matchup this weekend. The Trojans have a 3.20 team ERA and South Alabama is hitting just .235, which ranks ninth in the 10-team Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars split their first two games with Troy last weekend before the final game was canceled because of rain. They were held to 1 run and 13 hits in 2 games and were shut out in a midweek loss at LSU. UALR was swept last weekend at Arkansas State but is third in the Sun Belt in ERA, second in earned runs allowed (59) and third in walks allowed (64).

  • Troy Schulte

Arkansas State vs. Texas-Arlington WHEN 6:30 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Clay Gould Ballpark, Arlington, Texas RECORDS Arkansas State 11-9, 3-0 Sun Belt; Texas-Arlington 7-14, 0-3 THIS WEEK Lost 4-3 at Mississippi on Wednesday RADIO KNEA-FM, 95.3, in Jonesboro; KNEA-AM, 970, in Jonesboro INTERNET astateredwolves.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS TODAY ASU: RHP David Owen (3-0, 3.28 ERA); Texas-Arlington: RHP Jess Amedee (1-3, 6.67) SATURDAY ASU: LHP Chandler Hawkins (2-2, 4.97 ERA); Texas-Arlington: RHP Brad Vachon (1-4, 4.79) SUNDAY ASU: RHP Bradley Wallace (1-3, 4.91 ERA); Texas-Arlington: RHP Zach Thompson (1-3, 5.08)

THE RUNDOWN Arkansas State swept UALR to open conference play for the second consecutive season last weekend, but the Red Wolves will try to build off that better than they did last season when they lost five of their next six conference games. ASU faces a Mavericks team that is third in the Sun Belt with a .285 batting average, but its 91 earned runs allowed are the fourth-most. ASU has three players hitting .333 or better - led by Stuart Levy (.354) - and its team on-base percentage of .387 and 129 runs scored are third-most in the league.

  • Troy Schulte

UCA vs. Sam Houston St. WHEN 6 p.m. today, 4 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Bear Stadium, Conway RECORDS Central Arkansas 11-8, 1-2 Southland; Sam Houston State 16-5, 3-0 THIS WEEK Won 18-12 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday, won 13-1 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday RANKINGS Sam Houston State is No. 16 in Baseball America poll and No. 25 in Collegiate Baseball poll.

RADIO KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway INTERNET ucasports.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS TODAY UCA: RHP Connor Gilmore (1-0, 2.21 ERA); SHSU: RHP Tyler Eppler (4-1, 2.03 ERA) SATURDAY UCA: RHP Chris Caudle (3-2, 3.67 ERA); SHSU: RHP Sam Odom (4-0, 1.42 ERA) SUNDAY UCA: TBA; SHSU: RHP Dirk Masters (1-0, 0.64 ERA)

THE RUNDOWN Central Arkansas lost 2 of 3 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend but won two consecutive against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Bears had 25 hits and scored 31 runs in those victories. UCA faces a big test this weekend against Southland Conference leader Sam Houston State, which leads the league in batting average (.304) and ERA (2.34) and has beaten Big 12 Conference teams TCU and Texas Tech. UCA was swept by Sam Houston State last season before going on to win the conference tournament.

  • Jeremy Muck

UAPB vs. West Alabama WHEN 2:30 p.m. today, 1 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Torii Hunter Baseball Complex, Pine Bluff RECORDS Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7-13; West Alabama 16-9 THIS WEEK Lost 18-12 at Central Arkansas on Tuesday, lost 13-1 to Central Arkansas on Wednesday RADIO None INTERNET uapblionsroar.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS TODAY UAPB: RHP Kyle Schwartz (2-2, 5.23 ERA); West Alabama: TBA SATURDAY UAPB: LHP Jim Ploeger (2-1, 3.18 ERA); West Alabama: TBA SUNDAY UAPB: RHP Mikey Ramirez (2-2, 3.72 ERA); West Alabama: TBA

THE RUNDOWN Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference Western Division at 7-1, has lost two consecutive. UAPB was outscored 31-13 in two games against UCA this week. … West Alabama is 7-7 in the Gulf South Conference. UAPB Coach Carlos James coached former GSC school Arkansas-Monticello for three seasons before taking the Golden Lions’ job.

  • Jeremy Muck

Sports, Pages 26 on 03/21/2014

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