COLLEGE BASEBALL

Trojans manage Bears for 3rd time

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock got the best of the University of Central Arkansas for the third time this season.

The Trojans defeated the Bears 5-1 on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 749 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

UALR (25-26) won all three games against UCA (27-24) this season, including victories of 5-1 on March 12 in Conway and 4-2 on April 16 in Little Rock.

Trojans Coach Chris Curry was proud of his team's third victory against the Bears. But with a three-game series beginning Thursday at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro to close out the Sun Belt Conference regular-season schedule, playing UCA at the home of the Arkansas Travelers was beneficial for the Trojans.

"What a great test for us to prepare for our series on the road [at Arkansas State]," Curry said. "This is a warm-up for a tournament atmosphere."

Catcher Ramon Padilla led the Trojans offensively, going 2 for 4 with a two-run double. First baseman James Gann went 2 for 5 and scored a run.

Four UALR pitchers combined on a four-hitter.

Jose Torres started for the Trojans, allowing two hits in two innings. Aaron Funk allowed the Bears' only run in 2 1/3 innings, but he struck out four.

Mason Leeming (1-0) went 1 2/3 innings for the victory while Dillon Delgadillo earned the save by going the final three innings.

"I was very, very pleased with it," Curry said of his pitching staff. "Our pitching and defense were really tight."

UCA committed three errors, which Coach Allen Gum lamented.

"Losing, that's one thing. But how we lost is what's disappointing," said Gum, whose team finishes its Southland Conference regular-season schedule with a three-game series at Lamar beginning Thursday. "We didn't do the little things. We can talk about the physical errors. But from our perspective, we had 10-15 mental mistakes, too.

"We felt like we were a click behind. They're talented. We gave them breaks. You give a talented team breaks, they'll take advantage of it."

Designated hitter Tanner Wiley hit an RBI single in the fourth inning for the Bears. Josh Ragan was the only Bear with more than one hit, going 2 for 4 with a run scored.

Logan Gilbertson (1-2) took the loss for the Bears, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits in 4 innings.

The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

Center fielder Eldrige Figueroa walked with one out. Shortstop Christian Reyes reached on an error by UCA first baseman Tyler Smith. Right fielder Ryan Benavidez singled to load the bases. Designated hitter Riley Pittman's sacrifice fly to center field scored Figueroa for a 1-0 advantage.

UALR made it 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, Padilla hit his first triple of the season, then scored on second baseman Nathan Lyons' base hit to right field.

UCA pulled within 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. Ragan hit a leadoff double. Three batters later, Wiley lined an RBI single to right field to bring home Ragan.

UALR broke the game open in the top of the eighth inning for a 5-1 lead. Gann doubled to right-center field with one out. Left fielder Troy Alexander hit an RBI double to right field to score Gann to extend the lead to 3-1.

Third baseman Nick Perez walked to put runners on first and second. With Wiley coming on in relief, Padilla lined a 2-1 pitch to right field for a two-run double, stretching the Trojans' advantage to 5-1.

ARKANSAS STATE 6, NO. 16 MISSISSIPPI 5

Arkansas State University scored all six runs in the final two innings Tuesday to give the Red Wolves a victory over No. 16 Mississippi at Tomlinson Stadium in Jonesboro.

The Rebels used two home runs -- a three-run shot by Kevin Graham to right field in the fourth inning and a solo shot by Tyler Keenan in the fifth -- to build a 4-0 lead. Keenan then reached on a fielding error in the eighth that allowed Graham to score and pushed the lead to 5-0.

But the Red Wolves countered with a two-run home run by Justin Felix down the left-field line in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 5-2. Eli Davis singled in the bottom of the ninth to score Jake Jablonski, then scored himself on Sky-Lar Culver's single to make it 5-4. Kyle MacDonald then singled to center field, with Culver and Drew Tipton scoring on a fielding error by Ole Miss center fielder Ryan Olenek to take the victory.

Felix was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI, while MacDonald finished 3 for 5 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored to lead ASU, which finished with 10 hits. Noah Stone (2-1) earned the victory after allowing 1 unearned run on 3 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in 4 innings. Starter Zachary Patterson went 5 innings, allowing 4 earned runs on 5 hits with 5 walks and a strikeout.

Sports on 05/15/2019

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