The UALR baseball team already had control Thursday night when an opportunity it had used to beat teams all season presented itself.
The Trojans had already scored one run when they put runners on first and third with two outs in the eighth to bring Ryan Scott to the plate, forcing Arkansas State to make a decision. ASU chose to walk the Sun Belt Conference's leading hitter to load the bases
The Red Wolves then paid for doing so.
Dalton Thomas ripped a slider from Tyler Zuber off the wall in center field for a three-run triple, putting the final touch on the Trojans' 9-4 victory over the Red Wolves at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.
ASU Coach Tommy Raffo said he didn't regret walking Scott, who is second nationally with a .434 batting average, because the danger was equal facing either pitcher.
"They're just so good," ASU Coach Tommy Raffo. "So, it's pick your poison. What do you do?"
It's a problem that has caused opposing coaches fits all season. The duo combined for three hits and five RBI on Thursday as the Trojans (26-24, 17-11) set a school record for Sun Belt victories in a season.
"Been watching it all year," UALR Coach Chris Curry said. "That tandem right there in the middle has been awesome all year. If one doesn't get you, the other one does."
Scott, who broke UALR's career doubles record in the first and tied its single-season hit record with a two-run single in the second, and Thomas also kept UALR's third-place spot in the Sun Belt standings. With two games remaining in the regular season, UALR can enter next week's tournament as the No. 2 seed, and the only way it will enter lower than third is if it loses today and Saturday and Texas-Arlington sweeps Texas State.
It's what made the final innings so pleasing for Curry, who preached earlier this week for an increased intensity that showed UALR wasn't just pleased with reaching next week's tournament in San Marcos.
Thomas, who was 0-for-3 before his first triple of the season, said the message was received.
"We want a sweep and that's what we're here to do," he said. "We don't want to just go into the tournament, we want to [go in] winning games."
Matt McDowell wasn't perfect in earning his fourth victory, but Curry said he gave UALR what it needed. The junior right-hander allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, on 6 hits and struck out 2 over 7 innings. Jarrid Garcia and Cody Daylor combined to hold ASU without a run over the final two innings.
UALR's Ty Gunter, who spent the first part of the year struggling to get in the lineup, singled, doubled and hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning. His double later led to the first of four runs in the eighth inning. In all, six Trojans scored runs and combined for 11 hits.
"They took advantage of some pitches that they should have taken advantage of," Raffo said.
Cody Jackson took the loss after giving up 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Red Wolves (25-27, 11-17), whose lead over ninth-place Louisiana-Monroe for the final spot to qualify for the Sun Belt tournament was cut to a half game. Louisiana-Monroe's game at Louisiana-Lafayette was suspended due to lightning Thursday. The teams will finish that game and play the regularly scheduled game today.
"We've got to earn our way," Raffo said. "We've got to find a way to score runs, we've got to pitch it good, we've got to play good defense."
The Trojans can clinch at least the No. 3 seed with a victory today, which along with setting the single-season conference victories record wasn't lost on Curry.
"You can't ignore where we're headed," he said. "These milestones are passing and pointing us to where we want to be."
Today’s game
Arkansas State at UALR
WHEN 6 p.m. WHERE Gary Hogan Field, Little Rock RECORDS Arkansas State 25-27, 11-17 Sun Belt Conference; UALR 26-24, 17-11
Sports on 05/20/2016