Box Score LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (14-20, 10-8) took the loss in the series opener with Georgia Southern (22-16, 12-7) by a score of 10-8 on Friday night at Gary Hogan Field.
Ryan Scott was once again the Trojans' top offensive threat as he went 2 for 3 with his 17th double of the season, two RBIs and a walk, while also extending his hitting streak to 13 games.
"It was a tough loss," head coach Chris Curry said. "You can see why they're a good team and beating people. I think they have the best offensive approach we've seen in our league this year. They were tough to pitch to, especially with two strikes. I knew with a 6-1 lead in the third inning that it wouldn't be enough."
Starter
Jarrid Garcia picked up his second loss of the season in 7.1 innings on the mound, but he threw a career-high 11 strikeouts on 124 pitches, the most strikeouts for a Trojan pitcher this season. Garcia is the first Trojan pitcher to throw 11 strikeouts in a game since Chance Cleveland did at Middle Tennessee in 2013.
"Garcia battled his tail off," Curry said. "If you told me he was going to give us five runs over 7.1 innings, I'd take it."
An RBI double by Thomas in the top of the first allowed Georgia Southern to build a quick 1-0 lead. UALR came up empty in its first set of at-bats, but exploded for five runs on four hits and two Georgia Southern errors in the bottom of the second.
Drew Merten singled to start the inning, and
Sam Vogel reached on a fielding error that allowed Merten to advance all the way to third. Merten scored when the Eagles mishandled
Justin Steelmon's sacrifice bunt, which tied the score at 1-all and gave the Trojans runners at second and third.
Vogel scored on a sacrifice by
James Gillean to give UALR its first lead of the game.
Petr Sila then doubled to center field to plate Steelmon and make it a 3-1 lead for the Trojans.
Tanner Rockwell and
Kyle Kirk contributed RBI singles later in the inning to help UALR build a 5-1 lead through two innings of play.
The Trojans increased their lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the third when a sacrifice fly by Gillean scored
Mitchell Scheuler, who ripped a one-out double earlier in the inning.
Georgia Southern began to chip away at UALR's advantage in the top of the fourth. Chase Griffin opened the inning with a solo homer to center field. With two outs, Cody Lanford singled and Kent Rollins reached on a fielder's choice to put two men on for C.J. Brazil, who doubled to left to plate both runners and trim the margin to 6-4. Aaron Mizell made it a one-run deficit in the top of the fifth with the Eagles' second solo shot of the night.
After both teams went scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings, Georgia Southern regained the lead with a four-run eighth. Lanford plated Griffin with a sacrifice fly before a three-run homer by pinch hitter Ryan Cleveland put the Eagles up 9-6. UALR pulled within a run on a two-RBI double by Scott that scored Gillean and Steelmon to make it a 9-8 game.
The Eagles pushed their lead to two in the top of the ninth. With the bases loaded, Busby drew a walk that brought Adams home to give Georgia Southern a 10-8 lead.
Vogel walked to lead off the bottom of the bottom of the ninth, but two strikeouts and a fly out closed the door on the Trojans.
With 12 hits on Friday, UALR has acquired double digit hit totals in each of its last five games.
"I like the way we're swinging the bats," Curry said. "We continue to gets hits, and that's a positive thing."
The Trojans will try to even the series against the Eagles at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Gary Hogan Field.
