LITTLE ROCK — SUN BELT ARKANSAS STATE 6, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 4
LAFAYETTE, La. - Claude Johnson went 4 for 5 and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning to lead Arkansas State to a victory Saturday, a day after losing its Sun Belt Conference series opener at “Tigue” Moore Field.
Tied at 2-2 to start the sixth, Johnson led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Emery and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dustin Jones. Michael Faulkner later hit a tworun triple in the sixth to give the Red Wolves (12-10, 4-1) a 5-2 lead.
ASU, which lost 9-2 to Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday night, added a run in the seventh on Stuart Levy’s RBI single to make it 6-2. The Ragin’ Cajuns (13-9, 3-2) scored a run in each of the eighth and ninth innings, but Bradley Wallace struck out Brian Bowman to end the game and record his first save of the season.
Daniel Wright improved to 1-2 for ASU after giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and striking out a career-high 9 batters over 6 2/3 innings.
TROY 8, UALR 7
Troy (11-10, 3-1) scored runs in four consecutive innings to turn a 5-1 UALR lead into its own 8-5 advantage and held on for a victory Saturday at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.
Trailing 5-1 to start the fourth, Troy’s Chase Mathis hit a two-run single and Boone Shear scored on a throwing error by UALR catcher Blake Johnson to get within 5-4. Tyler Hannah’s fifth-inning home run tied the game at 5-5 and a run in the sixth made it 6-5 before Logan Pierce and Shear each hit RBI doubles to give Troy an 8-5 lead.
Blake Johnson’s single in the bottom of the seventh scored Sean Bignall and Chris Burk to get UALR (14-9, 1-4) within 8-7, but UALR managed only one base runner in the eighth and ninth innings.
UALR’s 5-1 lead came by way of a five-run third, during which Burk and Bignall each hit home runs and Myles Parma hit an RBI triple.
Austin Pfeiffer fell to 1-2 after giving up 3 runs on 4 hits in 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Blake Huffman, who gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Thomas Austin (1-1) earned the victory for Troy, after giving up no runs on 3 hits and striking out 2 in 3 1/3 innings in relief of starter Jimmy Hodgskin.
SOUTHLAND CENTRAL ARKANSAS 9, TEXAS A&M-CORP. CHRISTI 3
CONWAY - Central Arkansas starter Caleb McClanahan struck out 11 batters and allowed 6 hits in Saturday’s complete-game victory over the Islanders at Bear Stadium.
McClanahan, who improved to 2-1, was aided by Travis Snider’s 3 for 5 day and Bryan Willson, who had 2 hits, including his first home run of the season, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
The Bears (9-10, 4-4), who lost to the Islanders 13-2 on Friday, had 11 hits and stole five bases, two coming from Jonathan Davis, on Saturday. The Bears took a 2-0 lead when Snider hit his first of three doubles that drove in two runs in the third.
The Islanders (11-13, 4-4) got their only runs of the game in the fifth, when Jonathan Gonzelez hit a leadoff home run, a UCA error and an RBI ground-out by Santiago Ruiz.
Sports, Pages 26 on 03/25/2012