The UALR baseball team didn't manage much offense through the first eight innings Saturday against Appalachian State at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, but the Trojans did just enough in the ninth.
Jason Prevatt's bunt single scored Mitchell Scheuler to cap a four-run ninth and gave the Trojans a 4-3 victory as UALR continued its best Sun Belt Conference start.
UALR (9-13, 6-4), which beat Appalachian State 2-1 on Friday, will go for the sweep at 1 p.m. today.
UALR's late rally followed eight dominating innings by Appalachian State left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who held the Trojans to two hits. Springs started the ninth but gave up a single to Tanner Rockwell and walked Kyle Kirk.
Caleb McCan relieved Springs and got Drew Merten to ground out before walking James Gillean to load the bases. Robert Whaley came on to give up a single to Scheuler to make it 3-1 and a two-run single to Petr Sila that tied the game at 3-3. Prevatt's bunt single scored Scheuler and improved UALR to 4-0 in Sun Belt games at Gary Hogan Field.
Dyllon Brownmiller (2-2) earned the victory after striking out one and forcing two groundouts in a scoreless ninth. It came after Cory Malcolm held the Mountaineers to 3 unearned runs on 3 hits while striking out 6 in 8 innings.
Appalachian State got all of its runs in the second inning while being aided by a two-out error. Malcolm retired the first two batters before walking Grayson Atwood, and Brian Bauk reached on an error by Gillean. Matt Brill, Chandler Seagle and Brandon Burris followed with RBI singles to give Appalachian State a 3-0 lead.
Rockwell went 2 for 4 with 1 run scored, while Sila had 2 RBI in his only at-bat.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 9, ARKANSAS STATE 6
Arkansas State's bats couldn't keep up with the Sun Belt Conference's best lineup Saturday in Lafayette, La.
The Ragin' Cajuns got 11 hits off four Red Wolves pitchers and scored seven runs in the final three inning. ASU (11-13, 3-7) will try for the series victory at 1 p.m. today.
ASU, which won 10-4 on Friday took a 2-0 lead in the first when Stuart Levy hit an RBI single and Collin Massanelli hit an RBI triple. The Red Wolves took the lead in the fifth when Matt Burgess hit an RBI single to make it 3-2, and in the seventh when Austin Baker hit a sacrifice fly and Zach George scored on an error to make it 5-4. The Red Wolves tied it in the eighth when George drew a bases-loaded walk and scored Ty White to make it 6-6.
Louisiana-Lafayette (14-10, 6-4) then scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth, and ASU couldn't answer in the ninth.
George went 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored for ASU, while Burgess went 2 for 4. George and White each scored two runs. Coulton Lee took the loss after pitching the ninth inning.
SOUTHLAND
SAM HOUSTON STATE 6, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 3 (13)
Sam Houston State (14-15, 7-4) scored three runs in the top of the 13th inning to beat Central Arkansas (13-8, 7-4) on Saturday at Bear Stadium in Conway. The Bears scored a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to force extra innings. Sam Houston State’s Jake MacWilliam doubled to left-center to lead off the 13th, while Colt Atwood singled and Bo Stitch walked Bryce Johnson intentionally. Wyatt Powell reached on a fielder’s choice to bring in MacWilliam and give Sam Houston State a 4-3 lead. Then Ryan Brinley hit a two-run double to make it 6-3. Tyler Langley went 4 for 6 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored for the Bears, and Brandon Montalvo drove in a run.
SWAC
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 8, NEW ORLEANS 3
Rashawn Tillman went 4 for 5 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored and Blake Estep pitched a complete game as Arkansas-Pine Bluff evened a nonconference series Saturday in New Orleans.
Tillman gave UAPB a lead in the first when he singled, moved to second on a bunt, to third on a single and stole home to make it 1-0. Tillman's two-run single in the fourth then gave UAPB a 6-2 lead.
Andre Davis, Jerimiah Figueroa and Chris Burns had 2 hits each for the Golden Lions (11-11). Davis had two RBI and Vladimir Gomez scored two runs.
Estep held New Orleans (9-17) to 3 runs -- 1 earned -- on 7 hits while striking out 7 over 9 innings.
Sports on 03/29/2015