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Box Score 2 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The UALR baseball team (8-23, 4-11 Sun Belt) split a doubleheader with South Alabama (19-16, 7-7) on Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The Trojans earned an 11-10 victory in game one behind a combined eight RBI from juniors Greg McCarthy and Matt Apfel, but the Jaguars rebounded with a 10-1 win in the second game.
The two teams return to action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. for the final game of the three-game series.
UALR 11, South Alabama 10 (game one)
McCarthy and Apfel combined to drive in eight runs, as UALR pulled out an 11-10 victory in game one. McCarthy hit a grand slam in the first inning to help the Trojans take an early 6-0 lead. South Alabama rallied to go ahead 9-7 in the top of the sixth, but Apfel delivered a two-run single in the bottom half as UALR manufactured four runs to reclaim the lead for good.
Junior Mike Rogers (1-2) picked up his first win of the season by throwing 2.0 innings in relief of starter David Klumpp. Rogers allowed four hits and three runs (two earned) after taking the mound in the sixth, and left the game after retiring the first batter of the eighth with the Trojans leading 11-10.
Senior Steve Gilgenbach came on to close out the game, and got through the eighth without incident by retiring both hitters he faced. Down to their last three outs, the Jaguars got a spark from Derek Reilly, who opened the ninth with a single to center.
Gilgenbach got the first out of the inning by getting Chris Davis to hit into a fielder's choice, but Davis quickly worked his way over to third off a stolen base and a groundout by Jake Overstreet. With the tying run on third and two outs, Gilgenbach struck out South Alabama leadoff hitter Ray Kruml looking to end the game. Kruml was 3-for-5 entering the final at-bat.
The save was the first of the year for Gilgenbach, who allowed just one hit while fanning two over the final 1.2 innings.
UALR jumped all over South Alabama starter Eric Gonzalez (5-3) in the top of the first, as the Trojans opened the game with five-consecutive hits, including a grand slam to right by McCarthy. McCarthy's grand slam came one pitch after he hit a pop-up in foul territory, which Overstreet lost in the sun. UALR tacked on two more runs after McCarthy's blast to take an early 6-0 lead.
Klumpp opened the game with two scoreless innings, but ran into trouble in the third as South Alabama used six hits as part of a six-run inning to tie the game at 6-all. The Trojans broke the 6-6 tie in the bottom of the fifth, reclaiming the lead on a solo homer by senior Robert Taylor ? his team-leading fifth of the year.
Down 7-6, the Jaguars manufactured three runs in the top of the sixth to take their first (and only) lead of the game. With a runner on second and two outs, Ryne Jernigan lifted a lazy fly ball to center field which would have ended the inning, but junior Eric Hanlon lost it in the sun.
Instead of escaping the inning with their 7-6 lead intact, the ball fell to the ground and Clint Toomey scored to tie the game at 7-all. Rogers intentionally walked Ryan Bohanan to put two men on with two outs, but pinch-hitter Ryan McCrory made the Trojans pay with a two-run double off the wall in center to give USA a 9-7 lead.
Trailing for the first time, junior Daniel Guffey got the Trojans going with a leadoff walk in the bottom half. Singles by freshman Zach Rowles and senior Nick DeSanctis loaded the bases with one out, and Apfel followed with a two-run single through the right side to even the score at 9-all. A run-scoring single by Taylor and a sacrifice fly by McCarthy put the Trojans ahead 11-9.
South Alabama cut its deficit to a run in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of three UALR errors to make it an 11-10 contest. But the Trojans held on for the win as Rogers forced the Jaguars to strand a runner at third in the seventh, and Gilgenbach did the same in the ninth.
Gonzalez took the loss for USA after allowing 13 hits and 11 runs (10 earned) over 5.1 innings pitched. Reliever Lance Baxter closed out the game by holding UALR hitless over the final 2.2 innings.
Taylor and Rowles were two of five Trojans to enjoy a multi-hit effort in the win, leading the team with three hits a piece. Kruml and O'Reilly each tallied a team-high three hits for South Alabama, which left nine men on base in the one-run loss.
South Alabama 10, UALR 1 (game two)
South Alabama's David Doss hit a pair of home runs and drove in four runs, as the Jaguars rebounded with a 10-1 win in game two. USA's Kevin Nabors carried a shutout into the eighth inning, and evened his record at 3-3 by holding UALR to seven hits and one run, with six strikeouts over 8.0 innings.
USA took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first as Doss and Bohanan each homered off UALR starter Levi Laughlin (4-2). Doss put the Jaguars on the board with a two-run shot to left center, and Bohanan added a solo homer to right, to give Nabors all the run support he would need.
Doss hit another two-run bomb in the third to extend the Jaguars' lead to 5-0, and increase his season total to nine home runs. Toomey took advantage of hitting in front of Doss by going 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored.
The Trojans were held scoreless over the first seven innings, before finally pushing across a run in the eighth. Apfel led the Trojans with a 2-for-3 effort to raise his batting average to .403. Laughlin took the loss after surrendering 10 hits and seven runs (all earned) over 4.2 innings of work.
