Rockwell clutch in UALR victory

Tanner Rockwell delivered the clutch hit and the big final pitches for UALR on Wednesday night.

Rockwell’s two-run single in the eighth inning scored Petr Sila and Hayden Martin, and he pitched around two walks in the ninth to help UALR come back from a late deficit for a 7-6 victory over Central Arkansas at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.

“Kind of a two-for-one special,” said Rockwell, a junior from Heber Springs who went 3 for 5 with a double and two singles and then struck out the first and last batters he faced in the ninth to earn his third save.

Trailing 6-5, UALR’s comeback was set up when Sila and Martin drew walks to lead off the eighth. After Ben Crumpton bunted them over, Bo Stitch (2-1) intentionally walked Ausitn Pfeiffer, who had doubled and hit a home run earlier in the game, to load the bases for Rockwell.

The junior then hit the first pitch he saw into left field to drive in two for a 7-6 lead.

Rockwell struck out Nate Ferrell to start the ninth and retired Tyler Langley on a fly-out to left field before walking Matt Anderson and Justin Treece. Rockwell then struck out Charles Deckard looking to end the game.

“Pretty happy for [Rockwell],” UALR Coach Scott Norwood said. “It’s a pretty special moment when an Arkansas kid playing an in-state game gets that chance.”

The game-winning hit came after Central Arkansas (22-16) scored two runs in the eighth for its first lead since the second inning.

Anderson led off the eighth with a single off reliever Dyllon Brownmiller (1-0), then scored to tie the game at 5-5 on Deckard’s triple down the right-field line. Deckard scored on Brad Dillenberger’s slow chopper down the third-base line that stayed fair in front of UALR catcher Drew Merten.

Stitch issued UCA’s fifth and sixth walks to start the eighth. The Bears also hit four batters.

“That’s baseball,” UCA Coach Allen Gum said. “You walk people, you hit people and give free bases, that puts you in a hole.”

The Bears were led by Langley, who doubled three times and scored two runs. Doug Votolato went 3 for 5with a run scored.

It was the first game between the teams since their meeting April 2 in Conway that included a bench-clearing brawl in the 10th inning. UCA won the game 5-4 in the 11th, but the fight led to suspensions for a combined seven players and a UCA assistant coach. Both head coaches also sat out one game voluntarily.

There were no such incidences Wednesday in a game that was played in front of a season-high crowd of 471 with heightened security and the athletic directors of both schools in attendance.

Gum said he wasn’t concerned another incident might flare up between the teams.

“Zero,” Gum said. “I had no thought. Not one time. I never go into a game thinking anything like that. This was no different.”