As UALR’s Sunday starter, Cameron Allen approaches each outing wanting to go as far into the game as possible to save what could be a taxed bullpen heading into the final game of a series.
On Sunday, Allen never put any pressure on the Trojans’ bullpen, holding Georgia State to five hits and striking out a season-high nine batters in a 9-2 victory at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock for his second complete-game victory of the season.
“I feel like I need to try to extend myself out as long as I can, give our team a chance to win and stay in the ballgame,” Allen said. “If our bullpen is depleted from the weekend, it’s a real plus if I’m able to extend out and go further into the game.”
Allen’s only real mistake came when he gave up a fourth-inning home run to Matt Rose on a 1-1 fastball that cut UALR’s lead to 2-1.
UALR’s Justin Steelmon, who went 4 for 4 with 5 RBI, then hit a single that scored three in a five-run bottom of the fourth, and the Trojans had 13 hits.
It was UALR’s first conference series victory of the season and it comes before a stretch that includes a Tuesday game at Oklahoma State and a series starting Friday at No. 4 Louisiana-Lafayette as UALR (13-16, 3-9 Sun Belt Conference) tries to climb out of the bottom of the league standings.
“We had to have this one,” UALR Coach Scott Norwood said. “We’ve got to start fighting our way back up the ladder. We can do it. I’m happy with this group, I like this team.”
In the first, Tanner Rockwell’s line drive skipped under the glove of Ryan Blanton and ended up as a triple. Rockwell then scored on the first of four RBI singles from Steelmon to put UALR up 1-0.
Steelmon drove in Austin Pfeiffer with a single in the second inning to make it 2-0, and then he came to the plate in the fourth with UALR already having scored two runs and the bases loaded. His single up the middle scored Hayden Martin and Petr Sila easily, then Pfeiffer scored when Steelmon got caught in a rundown between first and second to make it 8-1.
Steelmon walked and scored on Bryson Thionnet’s single in the seventh, then drove in Sila with his fourth single in the eighth.
“Steelmon was huge for us and he gave us a big lift,” Norwood said. “I thought that run in the first kind of gave us some confidence, a little bit of a breather and he had a bigtime day today.” ARKANSAS STATE 7, WESTERN KENTUCKY 5
Zach Maggio went 4 for 4 and scored 4 runs, and Matt Burgess had 4 RBI to help Arkansas State avoid a series sweep with a victory Sunday in Bowling Green, Ky.
Maggio singled and scored on a Burgess sacrifice fly in the first, singled and scored on a Burgess groundout in the third, was hit by pitch and scored on another Burgess sacrifice fly in the fourth and singled and scored on a Burgess double in the ninth.
Austin Baker went 2 for 4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored, while Stuart Levy also had two hits for the Red Wolves (17-15, 8-4), who lost Friday and Saturday to drop their first conference series of the season.
Bradley Wallace (3-3) held Western Kentucky (18-15, 6-6) to 1 unearned run on 5 hits and struck out 3 over 7 innings, and Morgan Croft held off a ninth-inning rally.
Croft pitched around two hits in the eighth, then gave up a three-run double to Scott Wilcox with two outs to cut the lead to 7-4, then an RBI single to Ryan Church and a walk to Anderson Miller before getting Philip Diedrick to groundout to end the game.
SOUTHLAND SE LOUISIANA 7, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 4
Southeastern Louisiana broke open a tie game in the eighth inning with a run on Doug Votolato’s throwing error, then added two more runs in winning the series finale Sunday at Bear Stadium in Conway.
UCA took a 2-0 lead in the first on RBI singles from Chris Townsend and Joey Pinney, and took a 4-3 lead in the third when Scott Zimmerle and Matt Anderson each hit RBI singles. The Bears (17-12, 6-6) were then held to three hits the rest of the game.
Southeastern Louisiana (20-12, 7-5) tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth when Anderson dropped a ball at third base that scored Kyle Cedotal.
Connor McClain (4-2) took the loss after giving up 7 runs, 5 earned, on 10 hits while striking out 8 in 7 innings.
Sports, Pages 19 on 04/07/2014