Postseason shot at stake for rivals

There is plenty on the line for Arkansas State's and UALR's baseball teams going into their final regular-season series, even if what is attainable for each has changed over the two months since the teams last faced each other in a three-game series at Jonesboro.

ASU enters the 6 p.m. series opener tonight at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock with a chance to advance to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament seeded as high as No. 2 and has an outside shot of extending its season beyond the conference tournament that begins May 21 in Mobile, Ala.

TODAY’S GAME

ARKANSAS STATE AT UALR

WHEN 6 p.m.

WHERE Gary Hogan Field, Little Rock

RECORDS UALR 23-28, 9-18 Sun Belt; Arkansas State 29-23, 17-10

RADIO KNEA-AM, 970, in Jonesboro; KNEA-FM, 970, in Jonesboro

INTERNET ualrtrojans.com and astateredwolves.com

The Red Wolves (29-23, 17-10) have a one-game lead over Texas State for second place heading into the final weekend. If ASU sweeps UALR (23-28, 9-18), it will be the No. 2 seed and wouldn't have to face regular-season champion Louisiana-Lafayette until the tournament final.

What's more, ASU's ratings percentage index ranking is No. 59 according to warrennolan.com. Last year, Oklahoma State, New Mexico and San Francisco all earned at-large berths into the NCAA Tournament with RPI rankings of 52, 51 and 50, respectively. Troy, a member of the Sun Belt, received an at-large bid at 41, although it was boosted by winning the regular-season title.

So it appears that ASU has a chance of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994 as an at-large selection despite Tuesday's 16-9 loss to No. 11 Ole Miss, even if it doesn't win the conference tournament..

"It's out of our control," ASU Coach Tommy Raffo said. "We've got three games left, then we have an opportunity to earn our way into the [NCAA] Tournament. We're excited about the opportunities that lay ahead. There's still so much to keep playing for."

UALR is fighting to extend its season, too, but the Trojans' sights are on simply reaching the conference tournament.

UALR won 2 of 3 games at Texas State last weekend but is still sitting last in the 10-team Sun Belt, a game behind Georgia State for the eighth and final spot in the tournament. Five of the eight tournament spots have been secured, meaning five teams -- Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Georgia State, Troy and UALR -- are fighting for the final three spots.

"I thought we played some of our best baseball of the year last weekend, played with a lot of confidence against someone that's in the top two or three in the league," UALR Coach Scott Norwood said. "Hopefully, it will carry over."

Recent history suggests ASU has an advantage this weekend. The Red Wolves swept the first series between the teams in March and have won six in a row at Gary Hogan Field.

Not that Raffo thinks those games matter too much, either.

" Everything is predicated at that moment," he said. "We just went through 14 weeks, and we played them in the fifth week. A lot has happened."

Sports on 05/15/2014

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