Box Score LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The Arkansas-Little Rock baseball team suffered a 6-5 loss to Stephen F. Austin at Gary Hogan Field on Friday. The Trojans (4-5) left 12 runners on base, as the Lumberjacks (3-9) snapped an eight-game skid.
UALR plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead, but SFA manufactured four runs of its own in the top of the sixth, then added an insurance run in the seventh. Sammy Hardwick closed out the game with two scoreless innings to pick up his second save.
SFA took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Steven Hill scored from third on a passed ball. After going scoreless over the first three frames, the Trojans broke in to the scoring column in the fourth after seniors Jacob Stover (walk) and Derek Eilers (single) reached base to open the inning.
Stover came around to score off a RBI groundout from junior Matt King. Junior Brian Asbill, who went 3-for-5 on the day, followed with an RBI single to put UALR on top 2-1. King made it a 3-1 contest when, with runners on the corners, he stole home on a busted run-down play. Junior Tyler Mason capped off the Trojans' rally with a run-scoring single through the left side.
Starter Matt Bates left the game in the top of the sixth after surrendering a leadoff single to Zachary Gardner. Bates allowed five hits, four walks and two runs (one earned) over 5.0 innings of work, and left the game with UALR ahead 4-1.
Sophomore Shane Landry (0-1) came on in relief of Bates and ran in to some trouble, as the ?Jacks pushed across four runs to take a 5-4 lead. Hill delivered the biggest blow with a two-run single. Landry's final line included three hits, three runs and three walks in 0.2 innings.
Junior Adam Miller got the Trojans out of the sixth by forcing Gardner to pop up, but the damage had been done. SFA extended its lead to 6-4 in the seventh, when David Jeans scored from third on a wild pitch.
UALR cut its deficit to a run, 6-5, in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a RBI base knock by senior Matt Garlington. The Searcy, Ark.-native had been 0-for-9 on the year, before driving in sophomore Mitchell Webb with his single to center. Holding on to a slim one-run lead, Hardwick managed to retire the next two Trojan batters to escape the jam and preserve the lead. King tried to spark the Trojans with a two-out double in the ninth, but UALR could not capitalize.
Asbill paced UALR with three hits, followed by a 2-for-3 effort from Eilers. Hill and Chase Sadler led the ?Jacks with two hits a piece. Jake Leonhardt (1-2) got the win for SFA with a solid 3.0 innings of work, allowing just four hits and a run. Miller went the final 3.1 frame for the Trojans, recording four strikeouts (including three in the eighth) with three hits, no walks and one run allowed.
The two teams return to action tomorrow at 2 p.m. The final game of the series will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.
