UALR Coach Scott Norwood didn’t waste any time sharing his concern with pitching coach Chris Marx after watching starting pitcher Sam Thoele struggle through the first inning Friday night against Arkansas State.
The Trojans’ starter gave up a run on one hit, a walk and two hit batters in the inning, and that was all Norwood needed to see.
“I just told him, ‘We don’t have long to wait,’ ” Norwood said.
Thoele made sure his coaches didn’t have to worry too much. He settled down over the next six innings to lead the Trojans to a 4-2 victory at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock that moved UALR to within a victory of clinching a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The Trojans (25-28, 11-18) can clinch that spot in the tournament, which begins Wednesday in Mobile, Ala., with a victory today over the Red Wolves (29-25, 17-12) in their 1 p.m. regular-series finale. If UALR loses, it can still get into the tournament if Troy beats South Alabama.
A spot in the conference tournament would be a nice turnaround for UALR, which has been stuck at or near the bottom of the league standings for most of the season.
“We just have to play, and play to the best of our ability,” Norwood said. “We’re playing some of our best baseball lately, and we just need to keep doing that.”
The Trojans beat ASU for the second consecutive day despite Thoele’s early troubles, which he attributed to an inability to control his fastball. He hit Zach Maggio with a fastball, gave up a single to Austin Baker, hit Stuart Levy with another fastball and walked Lucas Feddersen to bring home Maggio as ASU took a 1-0 lead.
Even worse, he was questioning his own effectiveness.
“It’s just tough,” Thoele said. “You dig yourself a hole right away. They know you can’t throw a fastball for a strike. They know you can’t throw anything else for a strike.”
While Thoele worried about his fastball, ASU Coach Tommy Raffo saw a missed opportunity. The Red Wolves may have led 1-0, but they left the bases loaded when Ty Michelotti popped out to shortstop Austin Pfeiffer.
“A lot of times two-out hits can dictate ballgames, and we didn’t get a two-out hit,” Raffo said. “Yeah, it was a big moment.”
Thoele (1-3) managed to slow his delivery after the first inning, and ASU didn’t threaten again. Michelotti’s pop-up to end the first inning started a string of seven consecutive batters retired by Thoele, and he didn’t give up another hit while pitching into the eighth inning. Tanner Rockwell pitched the final two innings for his eighth save.
Thoele struck out 2 and walked 4 over 7 innings while throwing a season-high 113 pitches, one week after giving up 4 runs in 1 2/3 innings in a loss at Texas State.
“We know he’s got the great arm and great performance ability and potential,” Norwood said. “Give him some credit. Once he settled down, he gave us a big-time chance.”
UALR put together a big third inning against ASU starter Bradley Wallace (3-5) to make sure Thoele earned his first victory.
Five of the Trojans’ eight hits came in the inning, all singles. Ryan Scott and Sam Vogel had one-out singles and Austin Pfeiffer added another to drive in Scott to make it 1-1. Petr Sila bunted Vogel and Pfeiffer up a base, and Ben Crumpton beat out an infield single to shortstop that scored Vogel and Pfeiffer for a 3-1 lead.
Rockwell, who went 2 for 4 and is 5 for 7 in the series, followed with another single to score Crumpton and make it 4-1.
“The ball wasn’t really traveling well,” Norwood said. “So, once again, we did a good job of manufacturing some runs when we needed to.”
SOUTHLAND
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 11, NEW ORLEANS 8
Central Arkansas (28-21, 16-13 Southland) won its fifth consecutive game and earned its third consecutive postseason berth with Friday’s victory at First NBC Ballpark in New Orleans.
Chris Townsend had 3 hits and 3 RBI to lead the Bears, while Doug Votolato and Tyler Langley had 3 hits each. New Orleans (11-37, 2-27) out-hit UCA 15-12, but two Privateers pitchers combined to allow 11 earned runs.
UCA took an early 1-0 lead when Votolato led off the game with a triple and scored on Nate Ferrell’s sacrifice fly. New Orleans responded with four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-1 lead.
The Bears tied the game 4-4 with a three-run third inning, including a two run single by Townsend, and took the lead for good with five more runs in the fifth. Ferrell had an RBI double down the left-field line, Townsend and Langley had RBI base hits and Scott Zimmerle added a sacrifice fly. Catcher Charles Deckard finished the inning with an RBI single to center field that scored Langley.
The Privateers scored one run in the eighth inning, but the Bears added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth when Wesley Hoover walked and Townsend doubled. They would both score on wild pitches to set the final margin.
UCA’s 16 conference victories are the most since joining the Southland Conference in 2007. The Bears will be either the seventh or eighth seed in next week’s conference tournament, which will be played at Bear Stadium in Conway.
Sports on 05/17/2014