Box Score LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? Arkansas State (22-32, 12-17) kept alive its hopes for a spot in next week's Sun Belt Tournament by downing UALR 10-3 Friday night at Gary Hogan Field. ASU received a complete-game effort from Nathan Gates and used three RBI from Tyler Doke and Jett Jones to even the conference series at one game a piece.
The Trojans (21-30, 9-19) rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game at 3-all, but watched ASU plate four runs in the fifth and three runs in the eighth. Gates improved to 4-7 on the year by holding the Trojans to three runs and eight hits over 9.0 innings of work.
Junior David Klumpp fell to 4-6 in his final start after allowing nine hits and seven runs (six earned) over 4.1 innings. Klumpp fanned four batters in the loss to bring his season total to 92 strikeouts, good enough for third place on UALR's all-time list for single-season for strikeouts.
Arkansas State atoned for Thursday's offensive shortcomings immediately on Friday, using four hits in the top of the first to a take a 3-0 lead. Brandon Eller got ASU going with a leadoff single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt moved Eller up to second, the Trojans chose to intentionally walk Josh Yates ? as they did in the first inning of Thursday's game.
The move didn't work this time around, as the Indians used three-consecutive RBI singles to go ahead 3-0. Drew Rogers put ASU on the board with a RBI base knock through the left side, followed by run-scoring singles from Tyler Doke and Jett Jones.
UALR responded in the bottom half, cutting its deficit to one run, 3-2, thanks to a two-out, two-run homer by senior Ryan Gotcher. The homer was the sixth of the year for Gotcher, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored in the loss. The Trojans tied the game at 3-all in the bottom of the third when senior Brett Lawler plated senior Brian Smiley with a double to left center.
The Trojans would manage just three more hits the rest of the night against Gates, as the senior hurler closed out the game with six scoreless innings.
Klumpp followed up the first inning by blanking the Indians over the next three frames, but ran into trouble in the fifth as two fielding errors helped the Indians score four runs. With the bases loaded and one out, a fielding error at third allowed ASU's first run to score. Jones followed with a two-run single through the right side to make it a 6-3 contest. Junior Joe Campbell took the mound for Klumpp after another fielding error allowed ASU to extend its lead to four runs, 7-3. Campbell managed to induce a inning-ending 6-4-3 double play from the first batter he faced to escape the jam.
The Indians tacked on three more runs in the eighth compliments of a two-run double by Ryan Hudgins and a two-out, run-scoring single by Doke.
Five Indians enjoyed multi-hit performances in the win, led by Doke and Jones. Doke went 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI, while Jones went 2-for-4 with three RBI.
The two teams conclude the three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m.
