STATE DIVISION I ROUNDUPS

SUN BELT SOUTH ALABAMA 10, UALR 7

A four-run eighth inning rally wasn’t enough Saturday as the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (24-20, 13-9) lost to South Alabama (26-18, 14-8) at Gary Hogan Field and, with Louisiana-Lafayette’s 5-1 victory over Coastal Carolina, fell one-half game behind the Ragin’ Cajuns for first place in the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division standings.

A single by Ragan and walks to Christian Reyes and Chase Coker loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth before Matt Merino hit an RBI single to left field to trim the lead to 10-4. Kale Emshoff was hit by a pitch to score Marcus Ragan and Riley Pittman added a two-run single to right field.

UALR managed just 6 hits and stranded 13 runners, while South Alabama had 11 hits and stranded 18. Ethan Daily (0-2) took the loss after allowing 4 earned runs on 2 hits with 6 walks and 3 strikeouts in his 2 innings of work.

TEXAS STATE 10, ARKANSAS STATE 3

After Arkansas State University took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first inning Saturday, Texas State (23-23-1, 11-12) scored eight unanswered runs at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro to force a series rubber match today.

The Red Wolves (16-26, 7-16) scored all three runs with two outs in the first inning. Jeremy Brown drew a four-pitch walk and advanced to third on Kyle MacDonald’s single to right-center field. Casey Vaughan followed with an RBI single to give ASU an early 1-0 lead. A wild pitch allowed Vaughan and MacDonald to advance to second and third before Winston Welch hit a two-run single to right field for a 3-0 lead.

SOUTHLAND CENTRAL ARKANSAS 9, ABILENE CHRISTIAN 8

Hunter Strong was 3 for 4 and William Hancock was 3 for 5 as the University of Central Arkansas (27-18, 15-8 Southland Conference) had 15 hits on Saturday to claim a series victory over Abilene Christian (19-25, 5-18) at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene, Texas.

Tyler Smith, TJ Black and Keaton Presley all added two hits each for UCA, which stranded 12 base runners. Conner Williams earned the victory after allowing 1 earned run on 3 hits with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts over 21/3 innings.

SWAC ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 6-3, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 5-12

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (19-21, 11-10 Southwestern Athletic Conference) used a three-run ninth inning to beat Prairie View A&M (13-32, 8-15) in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday in Prairie View, Texas. Prairie View then scored 10 unanswered runs in the first five innings of the second game to split the doubleheader.