It wasn't easy, but Little Rock avenged a loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff with a 7-5 victory Wednesday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The Golden Lions (1-15) took a 7-4 win on Tuesday in Pine Bluff.
UAPB was trying to beat the Trojans twice in the same season for the first time since 1978, but instead some late-inning heroics moved Little Rock's home record in the series to 23-1.
"Obviously, coming off of yesterday, there was some pretty intense discussion," Little Rock head coach
Chris Curry said. "About how we are playing just isn't good enough. We talked in the locker room about our offensive approach. We've been putting our pitchers in impossible, air-tight, have-to-be-perfect situations. And, offensively, we aren't helping them out at all. It would have been real easy playing the same team we had yesterday and having expectations of winning to feel sorry for ourselves, and we just aren't going to do that. We aren't allowed to do that in our program."
After the Golden Lions tied the game at 5 in the top of the 8th, Little Rock (7-10) took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame when
Zach Henry delivered an RBI single scoring
Reed Willbanks.
Ty Rhoades added an insurance run with a double scoring pitcher
Blake Van Cleve, who was pinch running.
Rhoades' final hit made him 3-for-3 with 4 RBI on the day.
Sammy Harris was 1-for-2 with 2 RBI.
Jack Cline (3-1), normally a weekend starter, came out of the bullpen to get the win pitching two innings and giving up two hits while walking one and striking out one.
Malcolm Brown started the game. He gave up two hits and struck out four while holding the Golden Lions scoreless for four frames.
Rhoades put the Trojans on the board in the third inning with a two-run homer his second in as many days. The 2-0 lead held up until the fifth when UAPB tied the game, but Rhoades responded in the bottom half of the frame with a double that scored
Kade Goeke.
The Golden Lions knotted the score again in the top of the sixth, but the Trojans took a 5-3 lead in the bottom half of the frame when
Sammy Harris doubled.
The Golden Lions added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game again.
Little Rock banged out 10 hits but stranded 12 runners.
The Trojans travel to Arlington, Texas Friday to take on UT Arlington in a three-game series. The Mavericks (4-9) lost 7-4 Tuesday night at No. 11 Texas.
