UALR leads early, cruises over UAPB

COLLEGE BASEBALL UALR 8, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 3

For six weeks last spring, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff Coach Carlos James was laid up in a Little Rock hospital bed.

Complications from covid-19 nearly killed James. His heart, lungs, kidneys, liver — in his own words, “everything” — started to shut down.

Considering his circumstances from a little less than a year ago, James was far less bothered by his Golden Lions’ 8-3 loss to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field — just a few miles from that very hospital bed where he nearly lost his life.

“You don’t take everything to heart,” James explained. “I used to live and die with every pitch. Now, I have to kind of just manage it, and you understand that this is a game and you govern yourself accordingly.”

Not even three innings into the midweek matchup, the Trojans jumped on UAPB starter Andre Greene. Up 1-0, UALR (3-1) worked the bases loaded with a triple, hit-bypitch and a walk before Noah Brewer earned a six- pitch walk to as the Trojans led 2-0.

Houston transfer Skyler Trevino then continued his scorching start for the Trojans one batter later, launching a grand slam 392 feet over the wall in deep left-center to make it 6-0.

The Golden Lions sliced their deficit in half in the top of the fourth, getting two of their three runs on Aidan Martinez’s home run off the scoreboard in right.

But Trojans answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth as Nico Baumbaugh lined a two-run home run to straightaway center field. That pushed the UALR lead to 8-3, setting the final margin.

“To me, the game was decided there in the fourth when we went and answered with two,” said UALR Coach Chris Curry. “Four [scoreless innings] at the end of the game — that’s their bullpen holding us down, so we need to do a better job offensively, adjusting from starter to reliever.”

Although Curry and James never worked or played together, they’ve now shared several years together as Division I head coaches in the same state.

It’s grown into a friendship where the two stay in touch away from the diamond. Curry called several times to check on James last spring — the two play annually, but James was not in the dugout for last season’s lone matchup in Little Rock.

“You feel disconnected from everybody during that time,” James said. “When you get people that actually care, that just helped me keep going.”

The Trojans were slated to visit the Golden Lions (04) today at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex for the second half of the teams’ home-and-home series, but the coaches agreed to postpone the contest until later in the season due to impending inclement weather.

James hopes that by that time he’ll have a better sense of how his club stacks up against teams of their level.

Curry seemed to see enough Tuesday to know already.

“I have the utmost respect for [James]. I know that his teams are always going to play hard,” Curry said. “These guys can hit … and I thought they played really hard, played clean.”