STATE DIVISION I BASEBALL ROUNDUPS
OHIO VALLEY VALPARAISO 7-9, UALR 6-3
An overwhelming ninth inning powered Valparaiso to a win in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader before an explosive seventh in the second game secured the sweep at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.
UALR (4-4) jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the day’s opener, getting solo home runs from Nico Baumach, Luke Pectol and Jake Wright before Baumbach homered again in the bottom of the sixth.
The Beacons and Trojans both scored in the seventh as UALR stretched its advantage to 6-2, but Valparaiso (6-2) struck for one in the eighth inning and four runs in the ninth — first baseman Brady Renfro tied the game with a tworun single and designated hitter Jake Skrine followed with a double to score Renfro as the go-ahead run.
The second game was a back-andforth affair, with neither team leading by more than a run at any point in the first six innings. Baumbach homered yet again, his sixth of the season, to make it 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth.
But the Beacons answered with another big inning. Ryan Maka’s three-run homer highlighted Valparaiso’s five-run seventh-inning outburst, which saddled Chance Vaught with the loss for the Trojans.
SUN BELT MISSOURI STATE 5-6, ARKANSAS STATE 3-4
Arkansas State (6-5) had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of both games Saturday at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro, but the Red Wolves dropped both to Missouri State (7-3).
Tyler Jeans, who started the first game for ASU, matched his career high of seven strikeouts for the third consecutive game. Blake Burris went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, including the game-tying run in the sixth inning on Brandon Hager’s single to tie the game at 3-3. Taeg Gollert hit a solo home run in the eighth inning for Missouri State to take the lead for good.
Kody Darcy hit a two-run double in the third inning of the second game to cut the Missouri State lead to 3-2, but Gollert hit a two-run home run to push the lead to 5-2. After an RBI single in the sixth inning made it 6-2, the Red Wolves rallied in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Cross Jumper, who later scored on Brayden Caskey’s groundout to cut the lead to 6-4.
ASUN CENTRAL ARKANSAS 4-6, ILLINOIS STATE 3-8
Kolby Johnson had two hits in both games Saturday at Bear Stadium in Conway, including the game-winning home run in the ninth inning of the first game as the University of Central Arkansas (4-6) split a doubleheader with Illinois State (5-5).
A.J. Mendola and Dylan Cyr also had two hits each in the first game. Mendola scored on Cyr’s single to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Bears rallied from a Blake Stenger two-run home run in the top of the inning to cut the Redbirds’ lead to 3-2. Mason King added a solo home run in the seventh to tie the game before Johnson’s game winner.
Mendola keyed the UCA offense in the second game, although he officially went 0 for 1. His groundout in the fourth inning scored Johnson to give the Bears a 4-3 lead. Mendola then reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth, which allowed Johnson to score and tied the game at 4-4. He added a sacrifice bunt in the eighth that scored Johnson, tying the game at 6-6, before Illinois State shortstop Greg Nichols hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning.
SWAC UAPB 19-15, ARKANSAS BAPTIST 0-3
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (3-7) had no trouble with Arkansas Baptist (0-9) on Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader at the Torii Hunter Complex in Pine Bluff.
JaKobi Jackson went 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored for the Golden Lions in the first game, which went only 7 innings, while Ben VanMaanen was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Edwin DeLaCruz, Isaiah Cohens and Jelani Willis added two hits each for UAPB.
VanMaanen went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI to key UAPB in the second game. Brad Mican was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI in a game that went only 6 innings.