State sports briefs

TENNIS Top seeds advance in Bolo Bash

Top seed Yannick Mertens advanced to today’s quarterfinal match in the Bolo Bash at Rebsamen Tennis Center in Little Rock when he defeated Yibng Wu of China, 6-3, 6-1.

Other top seeds to win second-round matches Thursday were No. 2 seed Calvin Hemery, who defeated Kevin King, 6-4, 6-3; No. 4 seed Brayden Schnur, who defeated Alexandre Rotsaert, 6-1, 6-0; No. 5 seed Philip Bester, who defeated Ryan Shane, 6-3, 6-3; and No. 6 seed Eric Quigley, who defeated Gavin Van 6-3, 6-1.

Action continues today with the quarterfinals. Semifinal matches are Saturday, and the championship is Sunday.

BOWLING ASU picks up two victories at NCAA meet

Arkansas State University’s women’s team went 2-3 in the qualifying round on the first day of the NCAA Women’s Tournament at Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge.

The Red Wolves lost to Farleigh Dickinson 976-959, with Jadee ScottJones leading the way with a 213. The Red Wolves also lost 1,022-975 to McKendree, with Jordan Richard bowling a 256. They defeated Vanderbilt 1,042-976 and Nebraska 1,033-1,018 before losing to Stephen F. Austin 974-928.

Arkansas State has two more matches in the qualifying round before all teams will be seeded in the double-elimination bracket.

BASEBALL OBU tops NW Oklahoma State

Ouachita Baptist University (12-27, 9-16 Great American Conference) defeated Northwestern Oklahoma State (11-27, 6-19) 12-2 in eight innings Thursday in Arkadelphia.

Jakahari Howell hit a triple and batted in three runs for the Tigers, while Ty Owens and Kyle Alexander picked up two RBI each. John Franklin Matros (4-3) picked up the victory for the Tigers and struck out six batters in six innings.

GOLF Arkansas men finished tied for second

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville finished tied for second with Southeastern Louisiana at the Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge.

The Razorbacks shot a 597 (299-298), which left them 15 shots back of LSU’s 582 (295-287).

Individually, Luis Garza finished fourth with a 141 (70-71). Alvaro Ortiz finished tied for eighth at 148 (74-74), and Dylan Naido was tied for 12th at 151 (76-75).

SOFTBALL Lyon loses on the road

Lyon College (20-23, 8-12 American Midwest Conference) lost 4-2 and 12-3 to Freed-Hardeman (18-7, 16-2) in Henderson, Tenn., on Thursday night.

In the first game, Nicole Sanders (9-13) took the loss for Lyon, allowing 4 runs — 2 earned — on 6 hits in 6 innings with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. Makenzie Prince (8-2) picked up the victory for Freed-Hardeman by allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk.

Kaylyn Graham led Freed-Hardeman by going 2 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBI.

In the second game, Kaitlyn Guevara (9-10) took the loss, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits in 1 1/3 innings. Mallory Spurlock 97-2) picked up the victory, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings.

Sabrina Garcia led Lyon by going 2 for 2 with a double. Annaka Baxter led Freed-Hardeman by going 3 for 4 with a home run and 3 RBI.