State college report

— Bentley advances to leadoff

The only thing keeping Cameron Bentley from the top of UALR’s batting order was in his own mind.

The Trojans’ senior center fielder went 3 for 5 in a loss Tuesday at Oklahoma State, and could become UALR’s leadoff hitter. Heading into a Sun Belt Conference series at Western Kentucky (10-15, 2-4) that starts today, Bentley is hitting .371, fourth-best in the Sun Belt and 90 points better than his average last season.

The difference? If you ask UALR Coach Scott Norwood it’s patience at the plate and an ability to easily dispatch any small failures.

“You have to learn to be a next-pitch guy. You’re going to have some failures,” Norwood said. “He’s been fantastic with that. That’s the reason we slid him to the top of the order.”

Bentley wasn’t moved to the leadoff spot until the series finale against Troy on Sunday, and he went 1 for 5. In Tuesday’s loss at Oklahoma State, he again led off and singled and stole second base in his first atbat. He added an RBI single in the sixth inning, then hit a double before scoring the tying run in the eighth.

That’s shown Norwood a glimpse of what he thought Bentley could do when he arrived from Neosho County (Mo.) Community College last season.

“Last year, we tried it, but he probably struck out a little bit too much,” Norwood said. “And he’ll probably tell you the same thing.”

Bentley’s 97 at-bats lead the team, but his 15 strikeouts is the secondlowest among UALR’s regular starters. He also fronts a lineup for UALR (15-10, 2-4) that leads the Sun Belt in 11 hitting categories, including batting average (.309), slugging percentage(.511), runs scored (216), RBI (191) and home runs (30).

ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF Unique task

Carlos James figures pitching is where he will be challenged most.

With seven available pitchers to get through four, sometimes five, games per week, the second-year Arkansas-Pine Bluff coach has to get creative when mapping out his weekend rotations.

“Once we get somebody to donate some scholarship money, then my job becomes easy,” James said.

“It’s do as much as you can until then.”

Take this weekend for example. With a Southwestern Athletic Conference series against Southern University of Baton Rouge (12-12, 4-5) that starts Saturday at the Torii Hunter Complex in Pine Bluff, James has his pitchersscheduled down to the inning.

He said he’ll tell each pitcher today what day and in what inning they’ll take the mound. Each starter will pitch five innings, no matter their results, followed by two relievers who will pitch two innings each. Some pitchers will have to make more than one appearance in the series.

Last year, UAPB went 11-34. This year, the Golden Lions have 17 new players.

On top of that they have just 5.4 scholarships to offer, James said.

UAPB (3-22-1, 2-7) was swept in a SWAC series last week at Prairie View A&M.

SOUTHERN ARKANSAS Sudden turnaround

Steve Browning is hesitant to put much weight on an impromptu speech.

But his Southern Arkansas baseball team seems to have responded pretty well.

“When you’re 11-10 you don’t know where you’re going to go,” Browning said.

That’s where the Muleriders, picked to win the Great American Conference in the preseason, found themselves March 13, hours after a 7-5 loss at LSUShreveport. Browning said the Muleriders returned to Magnolia after that game, one in which SAU committed two errors that led to three unearned runs, parked the bus and had an hour-long chat in a campus parking lot.

Browning said he went to each player and asked them to list their credentials as a player. Some had been junior-college All-Americans, others had been named to all-state teams in high school. The intent was to show each of them had more talent than what they had exhibited to that point.

Since then, SAU has won eight consecutive games, including GAC sweeps at Arkansas-Monticello and against Harding and Wednesday’s 4-3 nonconference victory over Delta State in 12 innings.

Heading into a GAC series at East Central (Okla.) (21-12, 5-3) that starts Saturday, SAU is 19-10 overall and 8-4 in the GAC.

“I’m not saying that speech turned it around,” Browning said. “But I think it hit home for some guys and some guys took that mentality and went out and started playing.”STATE CAPSULES

UALR AT WESTERN KENTUCKY WHEN 6 p.m. today, 3 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Nick Denes Field, Bowling Green, Ky.

RECORDS UALR 15-10, 2-4 Sun Belt Conference; Western Kentucky 10-15, 2-4 LAST WEEK Tuesday, 9-7, L, at Oklahoma State INTERNET ualrtrojans.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS FRIDAY UALR: Chance Cleveland (5-1, 3.20 ERA); Western Kentucky: Justin Hageman (1-2, 6.75) SATURDAY Blake Huffman (3-1, 4.46); Tim Bado (1-3, 3.60) SUNDAY Ethan Schlechte (2-0, 2.49); TBA THE RUNDOWN UALR will try to raise its Sun Belt record above .500 against the second-worst pitching staff in the league. Western Kentucky has a team ERA of 5.13. Only team that is worse is UALR, which has a 5.51 ERA. UALR junior catcher Myles Parma has reached base safely in 46 consecutive games dating back to last season.

ARKANSAS STATE AT TROY WHEN 6 p.m. today, 7 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Riddle-Pace Field, Troy, Ala.

RECORDS Arkansas State 15-10, 5-1 Sun Belt Conference; Troy 12-12, 2-4 LAST WEEK Tuesday, 10-5, W, Southeast Missouri; Wednesday, 4-2, W, UAPB RADIO KNEA-AM, 970, Jonesboro INTERNET astateredwolves.com; troytrojans.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS FRIDAY ASU: Jacob Lee (3-1, 3.47 ERA), Troy: Tyler Ray (2-2, 3.27) SATURDAY Daniel Wright (1-2, 3.41); Ryan Brady (0-2, 3.52) SUNDAY Cory Kyle (2-2, 4.72); Ryan Brady (0-2. 3.52 ERA ) THE RUNDOWN If Troy is looking for Arkansas State fielding errors to provide opportunities, the Trojans shouldn’t harbor many hopes. The Red Wolves’ .971 fielding percentage is second in the Sun Belt Conference, and ASU’s 28 errors are the fewest in the conference.

CENTRAL ARKANSAS AT TEXAS-ARLINGTON WHEN 6:30 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Clay Gould Ballpark, Arlington, Texas RECORDS Central Arkansas 11-11, 5-4 Southland Conference; Texas-Arlington 14-11, 3-6 THIS WEEK Tuesday, 12-7, L, at Missouri; Wednesday, 8-2, W at Missouri RADIO KUCA-FM, 91.3, in Conway INTERNET ucasports.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS FRIDAY UCA: Jeffery Enloe (2-3, 4.25 ERA); Texas-Arlington: Collin Reynolds (3-0, 3.69) SATURDAY Caleb McClanahan (2-1, 2.60); Lance Day (6-1, 2.89) SUNDAY Ryan Angus (2-2, 4.76); TBA THE RUNDOWN Central Arkansas has won three of its past five games, including a split against Missouri. The Bears, who are just 2-5 on the road this season, look to keep pace in the Southland Conference race this weekend at Texas-Arlington.

ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF

VS. SOUTHERN UNIVVERSITY OF BATON ROUGE WHEN Noon Saturday (DH), 1 p.m. Sunday WHERE Torii Hunter Complex, Pine Bluff RECORDS UAPB 3-22-1, 2-7 SWAC; Southern 12-12, 4-5 THIS WEEK Tuesday, 4-2, L, at Arkansas State

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS SATURDAY UAPB: Michael Newby (1-5, 7.07 ERA); Southern: Jesse Holliday (3-1, 1.95) SATURDAY Elliot Jackson (1-5, 3.38); Jose De Leon (1-3, 2.12) SUNDAY Stanten Jones (0-3, 11.00); Brian Foster (4-1, 2.12) THE RUNDOWN UAPB will see one of the SWAC’s best pitching staffs this weekend. Southern, which has the second-best ERA in the SWAC at 4.01, is coming off a nonconference sweep of NCAA Division II Selma, but has lost five of its last six SWAC games. UAPB lost at Arkansas State and was swept by Prairie View A&M last weekend.

Sports, Pages 21 on 03/30/2012

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