After spending the past six weekends in four different states, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team is set to finally host a weekend series.
The UAPB baseball team will face Alabama State at the Torii Hunter Complex at 3 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All games will be streamed on the UAPB Golden Lion Athletics channel on YouTube.
UAPB Coach Logan Stout said the Golden Lions are excited to play at home.
“It’s nice to be home, to sleep in your own bed, to eat the food that you’re used to eating,” Stout said. “Not having to eat out at night, not having to eat catered food is going to be a blessing, but then getting to play in our hometown at our home stadium is going to be awesome.”
Out of 307 Division I baseball teams, UAPB (5-20, 3-3 SWAC) is one of 24 teams which hasn’t yet played a weekend game in its home park, though the Golden Lions have played four midweek home games.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Most of those schools are in northern states, where it is common for baseball teams to travel to warmer locations in February and early March.
Other than North Alabama, which has played home series at other stadiums in Alabama due to ongoing construction to its home stadium, UAPB joins Texas Southern as the only teams south of Louisville, Ky., to have not yet played a weekend home game.
Senior infielder Ben VanMaanen said travel is part of the game, even if not many teams do it this many weekends in a row.
“It’s just something that you have to adapt to over time,” VanMaanen said. “I feel like once your body starts to adapt to it, it becomes easier and easier. At the same time, you know you’re going to have your struggles. It’s just finding a way to work through it.”
Texas Southern opened the season playing in the Cactus Jack HBCU Classic at Daikin Park in Houston, the home of the Houston Astros. The Tigers haven’t yet played any home games this season, but they at least played three weekend games in their home city.
Instead, UAPB has spent five of the past six weekends out of state. The Golden Lions played a three-game series in Oklahoma and two four-game series in Texas before playing three games at Arkansas State during non-conference play.
UAPB then joined Texas Southern in being the only SWAC teams to play their first two conference series on the road. The Golden Lions traveled to Florida A&M two weeks ago and Alcorn State last week.
Stout said UAPB flew to Tallahassee, Fla., to play the Rattlers, which was the first time in an airplane for many of his players.
“I learned a valuable lesson that I need to teach them that you can’t bring a whole thing of whatever on the plane,” Stout said. “They’re going to confiscate it. It needs to be travel sized. … We had to fly into Atlanta, Hartsfield International. Well, that’s a gigantic airport, so I’m escorting all of our players through this airport, getting on the underground tram, getting to the next gate, making sure we’re not losing anybody.”
This is the furthest into a season UAPB has gone without hosting a weekend series since 2019, when the Golden Lions didn’t play at home until March 29-31 against Texas Southern.
The Golden Lions opened the season 0-18 in road games before sweeping Alcorn last weekend. UAPB went 2-2 in its midweek home games against Central Arkansas, Little Rock and Eastern Illinois.
Traveling every week can wear on the players, and not just athletically. VanMaanen said keeping up with classes and homework on the road can be tricky, but they do their best.
“We really utilize our time on the bus and with study hall hours and getting our work done,” VanMaanen said. “They give us time in the hotels, in the conference meeting rooms to get our work done. They also do a great job of making sure we’re on top of our schoolwork to make sure we’re eligible and ready to play ball.”
After the long wait, UAPB will be at home often over the coming weeks. Starting with this series against Bama State (10-16, 3-3), four of the Golden Lions’ next five weekend series will be played in Pine Bluff.
UAPB will host Prairie View A&M next weekend before traveling to Texas Southern. From there, UAPB will host Southern and Bethune-Cookman to close out April.