Box Score MOBILE, Ala. – UALR baseball (4-6, 1-1) fell short in a low-scoring game with South Alabama (10-5, 1-1) by a final score of 1-0 on Saturday night.
Junior Jarrid Garcia was the Trojans' top performer as he pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing only six hits and two walks in his first Division I start. He threw 99 pitches with 63 of those going for strikes. Prior to tonight, Garcia had only thrown one inning this season.
“I thought Jarrid did an outstanding job of giving us a chance to win the game,” head coach Chris Curry said. “He had command of four pitches and that was really encouraging to see.”
Junior Ryan Scott got the Trojans' only extra-base hit of the night with a liner down the right field line in the first inning, extending his hitting and reached base streaks to seven games each. Tanner Rockwell grounded out to the shortstop, but moved Scott to third in the process. Scott was left on base after a Kyle Kirk lined out to the third baseman.
In the bottom half of the first, Garcia allowed a walk and a single, but kept the Jaguars in check with three strikeouts.
In the top of the second, Sam Vogel reached on an error by the shortstop and advanced to second. Hayden Martin was then hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Nothing came out of this as three straight outs ended the Trojans' chances as Drew Merten was called out on runner's interference and Joseph Paulino lined into a double play to right field.
“The game came down to one play in my opinion,” Curry said. “We laid down a good bunt, but Drew was called out on runner's interference. Paulino hit a laser to right and we got doubled off. To me, that's the game, and that's what we told our players. If you want to win at a championship level and not just one game per weekend, it's all about details and focus from the first inning to the ninth on every small play. The play of the game could happen early and tonight it did.”
Garcia led off the bottom of the second with his fourth strikeout. Afterwards, he gave up two singles, but left both runners on base with a ground out to short.
The Trojans' best chance of scoring came in the top of the fourth as Rockwell hit a leadoff single to short and was followed up by single through the right side from Kirk. Vogel laid down a sacrifice bunt to move runners to third and second with one out. Martin was then hit by a pitch for the second time to load the bases. Merten reached on a fielder's choice, but the Jags got the force out at home. UALR left three runners on after Paulino grounded out to the pitcher.
After allowing his second walk of the night with nobody out in the seventh inning, Garcia was replaced with reliever Dyllon Brownmiller. Brownmiller was able to keep the runner from scoring with three straight South Alabama groundouts.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning when Brownmiller had loaded the bases with two outs. Sophomore Reed Willenborg came on in relief, but issued a walk against the first batter he faced, scoring the runner from third. South Alabama would leave the remaining three runners on base after a fly ball to center ended the inning.
The Trojans tried to get a rally going in the ninth after Martin was hit by a pitch for the third time. This was the first time since 2012 that a UALR batter had been hit by a pitch three times in a game. The Jags changed pitchers after Martin was hit and never looked back as they sealed the game with a fly out and a strikeout.
“South Alabama had a great bullpen, and you have to give them credit,” Curry said. “I can't say anything negative about our pitching. They've been doing a great job in these two games. The team is playing hard and the attitude and effort are there. The next step is the execution.”
UALR will try to win tomorrow's rubber game and clinch the season series against South Alabama at 1 p.m.
