LITTLE ROCK – UALR baseball (14-29, 10-14) dropped the first game of its three-game series with Sun Belt opponent ULM (24-25, 11-14) by a score of 10-7 at Gary Hogan Field on Friday night.
The Trojans lit up the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third inning. Jason Prevatt earned the first hit of the game with a bunt single to the pitcher. Prevatt advanced to second on passed ball before Hayden Martin walked on five pitches. James Gillean laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving up Prevatt and Martin 90 feet to put both runners in scoring position. Ryan Scott was hit by a pitch with one out to load the bases. Tanner Rockwell delivered with a two-RBI single to center field as Prevatt and Martin came around to score. Kyle Kirk the scoring run going with a single up the middle, allowing Scott to score from second to give UALR a 3-0 lead over ULM.
The Warhawks' Justin Stawychny doubled to left to lead off the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, Nathan Pugh singled through the left side to score Stawychny and cut the deficit to 3-1.
UALR plated two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead. With two outs, Martin doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Gillean walked. ULM's Alex Hermeling threw a wild pitch, allowing Martin to score and Gillean to take second base. Petr Sila singled through the right side and advanced to second as the throw from right field to the plate was too late to catch Gillean scoring the Trojans' second run of the inning.
ULM matched UALR's two runs with a couple of their own in the top of the fifth inning. After ULM grounded into a double play, Kodie Tidwell walked on four pitches before the big bat of Keelin Rasch homered to left center to cut UALR's lead to 5-3.
The Warhawks' Danny Springer sent a solo shot over the left center field wall to bring ULM within a run in the top of the sixth inning.
UALR matched ULM's run in the bottom of the inning after an RBI single up the middle by Sila brought Prevatt around to score. Prevatt led the inning off with a walk before moving up on a sacrifice bunt by Martin.
After UALR went to the bullpen to begin the top of the seventh inning, ULM went on a scoring spree. With one out, Anthony Herrera singled to left and scored as Kodie Tidwell knocked him in with an RBI double to left center field. Rasch reached and advanced to second on a throwing error to first, allowing Tidwell to score the second run of the inning. The Trojans went to the bullpen again as Sam Thoele came on in relief. Thoele earned a strikeout against the first ULM batter he faced before an RBI single to left center by Spencer Hemphill gave the Warhawks a 7-6 lead. Springer singled up the middle before Nathan Pugh doubled to bring Hemphill and Springer around for ULM's eighth and ninth runs of the game.
After the five-run inning by ULM, Rockwell brought the Trojans to within two runs with a solo blast to left field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.
Down 9-7 to begin the ninth inning, UALR walked ULM's Stawychny to lead off the frame. Stawychny stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Pugh earned his fourth RBI of the night with a double to right center as the Warhawks took a 10-7 lead.
With one out in the ninth inning, Herrera moved from second base to the pitcher's mound as he came on to close. Drew Merten singled to left off the new pitcher before going all the way to third on a single to left by pinch hitter Joseph Paulino. That would be all the Trojans wrote as a fly out to center ended the game.
"We can't seem to get out of our own way right now," head coach Chris Curry said. "There's plenty of blame to go around, and it starts with me and the coaching staff. We have to execute out there. We all want to win, but wanting to win just isn't enough. You have to execute, and we were executing when we were winning games."
Four Trojans ended the game with two hits, including Sila, Rockwell, Kirk and Merten. Rockwell had the best night overall with three RBIs and a home run while Sila ended the game with two RBIs.
"I thought the offense gave us enough to win, and they never quit," Curry said. "We didn't quit on defense, but we lost our focus and concentration."
UALR will try to even up the series with ULM at Gary Hogan Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.
