Box Score LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The Arkansas-Little Rock baseball team (22-23) got back in to the win column on Wednesday night with a 6-3 non-conference win over Central Arkansas (28-16) at Gary Hogan Field. Junior Matt Bates (3-2) fanned seven and scattered five hits with one run allowed over 5.1 innings to help the Trojans snap an 11-game losing streak.
UCA took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, as Roger Lenderman delivered a two-run double off UALR starter Rob Harmon, who plunked three Bears in the frame. Harmon went 2.0 innings for the Trojans, allowing two hits and two runs (one earned), while hitting four batters.
Junior Tyler Mason cut the Trojans deficit to a run, 2-1, in the bottom of the second with a two-out RBI single to left. Bates took the mound in relief of Harmon at the start of the third, and promptly hit the first batter he faced. The hit batsmen would prove costly, as the runner came around to score on a two-out double by Jeff Mack.
Bates cruised from there on out, combining with junior reliever Adam Miller to shutout the Bears over the final six innings. Miller worked the final 1.2 innings without allowing a hit to pick up his second save of the year.
Down 3-1, the Trojans evened the game at 3-all in the bottom of the fourth compliments of a two-run single by junior Brian Asbill, who went 2-for-5 in the win. UALR took the lead in the fifth off a two-out RBI single by junior Matt King. Leading 4-3, senior Tim Lawrence ripped a triple to the right field corner to plate King, then scored on the play off a UCA throwing error.
Bates and Miller kept the Bears from rallying down the stretch. Bates worked 5.1 innings with five hits and one run allowed, with seven strikeouts against no walks. Miller fanned four and did not allow a hit over the final 1.2 frames.
UALR returns to action this weekend when it welcomes Louisiana-Lafayette to Gary Hogan Field (April 28-30). Game one is slated for 6 p.m. on Friday.
