LITTLE ROCK — SUN BELT EVANSVILLE 2, UALR 1
Evansville scored two runs in the top of the first inning off UALR’s Chance Cleveland and UALR was held to two hits in losing its season opener at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock on Friday.
Cleveland, the Sun Belt Conference’s preseason pitcher of the year, gave up a lead-off double to Kevin Kaczmarski and a single to Jake Mahon. Kyle Pollock then drove both in with a single.
Cleveland gave up only 3 hits the rest of the game and struck out 8 over 71/3 innings.
Kyle Freeland struck out eight in seven innings for Evansville and didn’t allow a run until the sixth inning.
UALR’s Austin Pfeiffer, who went 2 for 3, led off the sixth with a single, moved to second on Sam Vogel’s bunt single and scored on Myles Parma’s ground out.
ARKANSAS STATE 10, BRADLEY 5
Arkansas State took advantage of a four-run seventh inning as it defeated Bradley in the season opener at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro.
Arkansas State’s four runs in the seventh erased a 5-3 deficit, and the Red Wolves tacked on three runs in the eighth to complete the comeback victory.
Bradley outhit ASU 12-10, but five of the Red Wolves’ hits came in the seventh and eighth innings and ASU did not allow a Bradley hitter to reach base over the final three innings.
Pitchers John Koch, Bradley Wallace and Levi Shordon combined for 19 strikeouts, which broke ASU’s singlegame strikeout record of 18 set against Memphis in 1995 and Kansas State in 1960. Koch had a career-high 11 while Wallace, who earned the victory, accounted for seven.
Kaleb Brown led ASU hitters with three hits and Stuart Levy had a team best three RBI. Six ASU batters had at least one hit, including Ryan Emery with two doubles.
SOUTHLAND CENTRAL ARKANSAS 10, MURRAY STATE 1
Senior right-hander Caleb McClanahan gave pitched five-hit ball over seven innings and the Bears scored in six of the final eight innings as UCA opened the season with a victory over Murray State at Bear Stadium in Conway.
Lead off hitter Forrestt Allday was 3 for 5 and scored 3 runs for UCA, which pounded out 12 hits. Center fielder Jonathan Davis and catcher Michael Marietta had two hits each, with Davis scoring twice and Marietta and third baseman Garrett Brown driving in two runs apiece.
McClanahan allowed 1 earned run while striking out 3 and walking 1. All five hits were singles.
UCA broke open the game by scoring nine consecutive runs.
Davis and Marietta had back-to-back doubles in the third inning to drive in a run, and the Bears added two more in the fifth on a single by Allday, a sacrifice bunt by Blake Marchal and consecutive hit batters (Davis, Marietta).
Allday eventually scored on a wild pitch and Garrett Brown walked to make it 4-1. UCA scored twice in the sixth on two hits as a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Marietta upped the lead to 6-1. Logan Moon led off the seventh inning with a walk and stole second base before scoring on Brown’s single to left field, and Marchal’s double to left-center later in the inning brought in Brown.
The Bears scored their final two runs in the eighth when Marietta doubled, Doug Votolato walked and both advanced on another wild pitch. Kraig Kelley singled in one run, and Justin Treece’s fielder’s choice brought in the 10th run.
SWAC NORTH DAKOTA STATE 4, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 0
PINE BLUFF - John Straka struck out six batters and limited Arkansas-Pine Bluff to two hits in the Golden Lions’ season opener at the Torii Hunter Complex on Friday.
Isias Alcanter singled in the first and Dwayne Hysmith singled in the fifth for UAPB.
North Dakota State (1-0) got three runs in the second inning and added a run in the fifth against UAPB pitchers Stanten Jones and Humberto Zavala.
Jones gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and walked 4 over 4 1/3 innings, while Zavala gave up 1 run on 2 hits and walked 3 over 4 1/3. Both pitchers struck out five.
Sports, Pages 21 on 02/16/2013