LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (15-31) took a narrow 2-1 loss to in-state rival Central Arkansas (25-21) in the final home game of the season at Gary Hogan Field on Tuesday night.
UALR got out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. With one out, Justin Steelmon singled through the left side before advancing to second on a single by Hayden Martin. With two outs, Petr Sila came through with an RBI single to right field that scored Steelmon from second.
Central Arkansas tied the game in the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run to left field by Logan Preston. The Bears would get a single before a force out at second ended the inning.
In the top of the eighth inning, Wesley Hoover got on with a leadoff walk before being forced out at second on a fielder's choice with Chris Townsend at the plate. With two outs and a runner on first, Brad Dillenberger singled through the right side as Townsend advanced to second. Ty Tice was hit by a pitch to load the bases with Bears. With Preston up to bat, a wild pitch scored Townsend for the eventual game-winning run.
Martin was UALR's only batter with multiple hits as he picked up two. Ryan Scott tied a career-high with three walks as he only recorded one official at-bat.
The Trojans' pitching staff was effective for the vast majority of the game as UALR struck out eight UCA batters. Senior Stephen Chandler delivered a great start for the Trojans with four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work and only giving up a run on seven hits. Reliever Brent Mason set career-highs of three strikeouts and 2.2 innings on the mound in his sixth appearance of the year. Tanner Rockwell was asked to take the ball in the top of the ninth inning after starting at third. Rockwell struck out one and gave up no hits or walks.
"I thought Chandler and Mason threw very well, and they gave us an opportunity to win," head coach Chris Curry said. "I was very encouraged."
UALR will now look to its final Sun Belt Conference series of the season at rival Arkansas State beginning on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Jonesboro.
"I'm excited for the weekend," Curry said. "It's fun to go to your rivals' yard with everything on the line. We'll tee it up and see what happens.
Major post-season implications will play a factor this weekend as the Trojans try to make it into the eight-team Sun Belt Conference Tournament field. UALR is currently in ninth-place and a half-game behind ULM.
The Trojans can automatically make the tournament with a sweep of Arkansas State. With two wins, UALR would also need ULM to lose two games to Louisiana or need Texas State to lose two games to UT Arlington or a Texas State sweep of the Mavericks. With one win, the Trojans would need sweeps of ULM and Texas State.
