Box Score LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? Three Trojan pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout to lead the UALR baseball team (6-19) to a 9-0 win over Mississippi Valley State (12-11) on Tuesday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.
Senior Nathan Parker (1-4) picked up his first win of the season by holding MVSU to two hits over the first 5.0 innings. Sophomore Ashur Tolliver and senior Steve Gilgenbach followed with 2.0 shutout innings a piece, with Gilgenbach striking out four batters over the final two frames.
Senior Robert Taylor and junior Eric Hanlon accounted for six of the team's 12 hits in the win, with Hanlon going 3-for-4 at the plate with a team-high four RBI.
UALR struck for three runs in the bottom of the first, after loading the bases with no outs off a leadoff single up the middle from junior Daniel Guffey and consecutive bunt singles by senior Nick DeSanctis and junior Matt Apfel. MVSU turned a double play in UALR's next at-bat, but Taylor made it a 2-0 game with a double to right and Hanlon followed with a run-scoring single to center.
Hanlon struck again in the bottom of the third, extending UALR's lead to 5-0 by plating Apfel and junior Greg McCarthy with a two-run double to right center. The Trojans tacked on another run in the frame to take a 6-0 lead.
UALR manufactured a run in the fifth off a sacrifice fly by freshman Zach Rowles, and pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to bring the game to its 9-0 finale. The Trojans had a chance to do more damage in both innings, but stranded three runners in both frames.
MVSU had managed just four hits in the game, two of which came compliments of Hogan Barnes. The Delta Devils put the leadoff runner on base in three of five innings against Parker, but the UALR defense responded by turning two double plays for its starting pitcher.
Mark Johnston (0-1) took the loss for MVSU after allowing five hits and three runs to UALR over the first 2.0 innings. The shutout was UALR's first since a 2-0 win over Troy on May 4, 2007.
The Trojans return to action this weekend (April 4-6) when they travel to Monroe, La. for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with ULM.
