SUNDAY’S STATE DIVISION I BASEBALL ROUNDUPS

ASUN BASEBALL CENTRAL ARKANSAS 17, NORTH ALABAMA 8

The University of Central Arkansas didn’t need the heroics of Saturday’s win to complete the series sweep over ASUN foe North Alabama on Sunday at Bear Stadium.

The Bears (11-8, 3-0 ASUN), which won 7-6 on Saturday on Connor Flagg’s game-winning home run, scored in six of eight innings at the plate. Through three innings, UCA held a 6-0 lead thanks to Noah Argenta’s five RBI — including a grand slam in the third inning — and Reid Bowman’s fielder’s choice RBI.

North Alabama (5-13, 0-3) tried to get back into the game, scoring five runs in the fifth inning and three in the sixth, but UCA responded both times with multirun innings of its own.

The Bears scored three run in the fifth inning thanks to a solo home run from Dylan Cyr and a two-run double from Mason King.

In the sixth, UCA scored four runs thanks to RBI singles from Bowman and King and an RBI walk from Kade Seldomridge.

The Bears tacked on four more runs over the next two innings, capped by AJ Mendiola’s solo home run in the eighth inning to make the score 17-8.

SUN BELT LOUSIANA-LAFAYETTE 3, ARKANSAS STATE 1

Arkansas State brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the ninth, but Louisiana-Lafayette induced a double play and a pop-out to secure the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Russo Park in Lafayette, La.

Brandon Nezuh pitched six perfect innings for the Ragin’ Cajuns and Louisiana-Lafayette (14-6, 3-0 Sun Belt Conference) staked him to a 2-0 lead with RBI base hits in the first and sixth from Heath Hood and John Taylor, respectively.

Back-to-back walks to start the top of the seventh kickstarted things for the Red Wolves before Wil French scored on an error to bring ASU (7-11, 0-3) to within 2-1. The Cajuns added an insurance run in the eighth, but a French double and Blake Burris walk to start the ninth put two men on with no outs for the Red Wolves, only for the hosts to shut the door.

OHIO VALLEY UALR 8, NORTHWESTERN STATE 6

Down to its final out, Northwestern (La.) State threatened to come from behind and sweep the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, but the Trojans held on at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches, La.

UALR (10-7) handed Preston Davis an 8-2 lead by the time he headed to the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Trojans scored three runs in the third — first via Luke Pectol’s two-run home run and then on a Nico Baumbach RBI single — before tacking on five more in the fifth. Tyler Williams singled with two outs to score Pectol before Baumbach and Skyler Trevino each hit two-run home runs.

And while the Demons answered with one run in the bottom of the fifth, it wasn’t until the ninth that Northwestern State (12-7) started to get to the UALR bullpen. A trio of walks combined with a double and a single put runners on the corners with Gabe Colaianni representing the winning run at the plate, but Jacob Weatherley struck out the Demons’ right fielder on three pitches to end the game.

SWAC BASEBALL

UAPB 5, TEXAS SOUTHERN 0

Brandon Little tossed five effective innings while three players had multiple hits for the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in its shutout victory over Texas Southern on Sunday at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex in Pine Bluff.

Isaiah Cohens, JaKobi Jackson and Ben VanMannen each had two hits for UAPB (8-11, 1-2 Southwestern Athletic Conference), which scored four runs in the second inning to open up a lead. Micah Brown provided the big blow in the inning for the Golden Lions with a two-run single. UAPB later pushed across an insurance run in the seventh on an RBI-single from Jackson.

Little, too, was strong for the Golden Lions, who stopped a four-game losing streak. The senior gave up 4 hits and struck out 6 while while 4 in the win. C.J. Castillo had two hits to lead Texas Southern (16-7, 2-1).