The UALR baseball team needed to complete a sweep of its season-ending series with Arkansas State on Saturday to earn a trip to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The Trojans didn't didn't sweep, and they're not going to the postseason, either.
Sun Belt Tournament
At Stanky Field, Mobile, Ala.
All times Central
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
No. 4 Texas State vs. No. 5 W. Kentucky, 9 a.m.
No. 1 La.-Lafayette vs. No. 8 La.-Monroe, 12:30 p.m.
No. 3 Arkansas State vs. No. 6 Troy, 4 p.m.
No. 2 Texas-Arlington vs. No. 7 South Alabama, 7:30 p.m.
ASU defeated UALR 7-2 in front of a announced crowd of 459 at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, and UALR (25-29, 11-19) needed Troy to defeat South Alabama Saturday evening in Troy, Ala., to let UALR finish in eighth place in the 10-team league.
"Going in and winning four of our last six gives us a chance and it's better than no shot at all," UALR Coach Scott Norwood said after the game.
The UALR-Arkansas State game ended at 4 p.m., leaving Norwood and the Trojans playing the waiting game .
"All I can tell you right now is that, for tonight, I'm the biggest Troy Trojans fan in the world," Norwood said.
The cheering wasn't enough, however, as South Alabama beat Troy, 7-3, to finish with a 11-18 conference mark -- due to a cancelled game with Troy not being made up -- and finish percentage points ahead of UALR in the loss column.
ASU (30-25, 18-12 Sun Belt) had no such worries, waiting only to find out if it would be the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in next week's tournament.
Texas-Arlington beat Texas State 1-0, and Arkansas State finished with the third-best record and the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
"Coming out here and playing well against UALR on the road to finish the season is good for us," Arkansas State Coach Tommy Raffo said. "They are a tough team to play at their place and they showed it this weekend."
Chandler Hawkins (4-5) got the victory for ASU, pitching three scoreless innings to start the game despite allowing five hits.
Arkansas State scored 2 in the fourth and 3 in the eighth, with catcher Stuart Levy knocking in 3 of the runs, to take a 5-0 lead.
UALR scored one in the bottom of the eighth on Justin Steelmon's RBI single to make it 5-1, but the Red Wolves score two more runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run double by Austin Baker -- scoring Zach Maggio and Kevin Fitzpatrick.
UALR made some noise in the bottom of the ninth, scoring one run to cut the Arkansas State lead to 7-2 and loading the bases. But team-RBI leader Tanner Rockwell hit into a game-ending double play to shortstop to end the rally, the game, and the season.
UALR starter Cameron Allen (5-6) retired 10 consecutive batters before running into trouble in the ASU fourth.
Designated hitter Tanner Ring singled and first baseman Matt Burgess walked before Levy's single scored Ring. Joe Schrimpf followed Burgess' single to left with one of his own to load the bases. Dustin Jones hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Burgess, to put the Red Wolves up 2-0.
The Red Wolves tacked on three runs in the top of the eighth.
Maggio doubled and moved to third on a single by Baker. Ring brought in Maggio from third with a single to center to put Arkansas State up 3-0.
Burgess walked to load the bases before Levy broke the game open with a two-run double to center with Burgess being thrown out at home.
UALR had 12 hits, but left seven runners in scoring position.
Sports on 05/18/2014