Jacksonville jumps on UCA early in rout
CONWAY — University of Central Arkansas baseball Coach Nick Harlan is hoping for a complete reset after Friday’s game against Jacksonville.
The ASUN leader came to Bear Stadium and scored three runs in the first inning, eight in the first three and capped off a 15-1 run-rule win in seven innings with a grand slam to take the second game of its series with UCA.
It wasn’t the Bears’ day from the first pitch as 12 of the first 13 from starting pitcher Payton Windham were outside the strike zone to load the bases.
“We just didn’t get off to a good start on the mound,” Harlan said. “Sometimes, you know, that’s baseball. You miss a couple calls early and you can’t find the zone, and it kind of gets magnified and then, you know, and it just gets a little bit overwhelming.”
Windham (0-2) allowed one hit in his inning, but with 26 of his 44 pitches falling outside the strike zone, he walked five batters as Jacksonville (15-13, 7 -1 ASUN) jumped out to a 3-0 lead before UCA (11-15, 3-5) took an at-bat.
AJ Mendolia led off the bottom of the first with a single and Jake Trabbie reached on an error two batters later to put a runner in scoring position. But the threat ended without a run for the Bears .
Jacksonville scored a run in the second inning and four in the third, all against Charlie Christensen, who also struggled for command.
“For us, it was just not worried about putting up zeroes, it was worried about throwing strikes,” Harlan said. “It does make it hard on the guy coming in when he has to rush and speed up and get ready, but that’s part of it. We have to overcome that.
“We weren’t throwing competitive strikes today as a staff.”
Between Windham, Christensen, Perry Titlow, Gavin Alveti and Bryce Parlin, the Bears walked 10. Only Alveti, who held the Dolphins scoreless for 1 2/3 innings in relief, did not have a base on balls.
On the flip side, UCA did not have baserunner after the first inning until the fourth inning, when Drew Sturgeon recorded an infield single.
The Bears were held to 3 hits and 1 run, which came in the fifth inning on a Mendolia sacrifice fly, and totaling 6 baserunners. Starter Richard Long (3-2) recorded Jacksonville’s first complete game this season.
“When you’re playing from behind, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do more than you really should,” Harlan said. “[We] just couldn’t get anything stringed together, couldn’t get anything going.”
In the seventh inning, the Dolphins sealed the run-rule victory with a grand slam by No. 9 hitter Jackson Westmoreland.
“We’ll just go back to work on, ‘Hey, these are the things that we need to do,’ ” Harlan said. “And it’s pretty simple. If you’re aggressively throwing strikes, if you’re playing catch well, if you’re swinging at the right pitches, you’re going to have a chance to win, and we just didn’t do those things today.”
SWAC BASEBALL
UAPB 29, ALCORN STATE 3 (7)
A 23-hit attack allowed the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to emphatically put a stop to its nine-game losing streak Friday at the Torii Hunter Complex in Pine Bluff.
UAPB (10-17, 1-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference) scored 6 runs in the second inning, 8 in the fifth and 10 in the sixth. The 26-run victory was the Golden Lions’ largest winning margin since they beat Arkansas Baptist 30-2 on Feb. 25.
Gavin Terry and Darrius Brown each had four hits for UAPB, which also used a noteworthy outing from pitcher Jacob Ehling to dispatch Alcorn State (2-17, 1-6) less than 24 hours after dropping an 8-7, 10-inning decision to the Braves. Edwin DeLaCruz finished with three hits while Jalyn Williams, Brandon Simon, Trinidad DeLaGarza and Jose Rubalcava all notched two hits. Rubalcave and Terry also drove in three runs apiece, and Williams scored on four separate occasions.
Ehling (3-3) gave up 8 hits and struck out 4 in 7 innings for the Golden Lions.
Ben Martin and Garrett Palladino both had two hits for Alcorn State, which was within 7-3 at the midway point of the third until UAPB scored 21 unanswered runs.
SUN BELT BASEBALL
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 11, ARKANSAS STATE 0 (7)
The Georgia Southern pitching staff gave up two hits in a seven-inning shutout Saturday night at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro.
Georgia Southern starter Thomas Higgins (3-2) pitched five innings, giving up one hit on 75 total to earn the win. Mitchell Gross pitched the final two innings for the Eagles, striking out four and also surrendering just one hit.
Jarrett Brown and Cade Parker each homered to lead Georgia Southern hitters. The Eagles recorded 15 total hits.
Blake Burris and Nyan Hayes picked up the only hits for Arkansas State. Starting pitcher Jelle van der Lelie (23) was charged with the loss after giving up 10 hits and 6 earned runs, while throwing 106 pitches in 6 1/3 innings for the Red Wolves.
OHIO VALLEY BASEBALL
LINDENWOOD 7, ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 1
In the second matchup of a threegame set, Lindenwood avenged its loss from Thursday as it cruised to a victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday afternoon at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
Lindenwood pitcher Eil Brown struck out three and didn’t give up an earned run as he picked up the win. The Lions (7-18, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference) scored two runs in the fourth inning and three in the sixth on their way to building a 7-0 advantage after eight innings. Colin Shea led Lindenwood at the plate with three RBI.
UALR (14-13, 3-2) ended the shutout bid in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI single from Jake Wright that scored Tyler Williams.
Trojans pitcher Jackson Wells took the loss after giving up 7 hits and 4 earned runs in 5 innings.