A first-inning home run Friday afternoon gave the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff early momentum to start its second weekend series, but it didn’t last.
Stephen F. Austin defeated the UAPB baseball team 13-3 in eight innings in the Lumberjacks’ home opener in Nacogdoches, Texas, the first of four games between the teams this weekend.
UAPB (0-4) left fielder Gavin Terry led off the game with a single, then center fielder Eli Gries-Smith homered to right center field, putting the Golden Lions ahead 2-0 before an out was recorded.
SFA (1-4) tied the game in the bottom of the first inning, but Gries-Smith hit an RBI double in the second to restore UAPB’s lead, 3-2. In two innings, the Golden Lions scored more runs than in their entire three-game series at Oral Roberts last week.
The early runs stunned SFA starter Cody Templeton (1-0), who had pitched six shutout innings against Purdue last week, but UAPB didn’t score again. The junior left-hander settled in and pitched five straight scoreless innings. He finished his second start of the season having allowed three runs on seven hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
With Templeton keeping the Golden Lions at bay, the Lumberjacks took the lead in the third inning. Junior catcher Ethan Adkisson tied the game on an RBI fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, then third baseman Julian Swift put SFA in front 4-3 on an RBI single.
UAPB starter Kenney Fabian (0-2) lasted 4.1 innings. He allowed five runs, three of them earned, on seven hits with two strikeouts and four walks.
Junior righthander Emerson Lott relieved Fabian in the fifth inning and kept the SFA lead at 5-3, but the Lumberjacks jumped on the bullpen in the following innings. SFA scored two runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and five in the eighth.
SFA ended the game with center fielder Ben Hoshizaki walking with the bases loaded and left fielder Dalton Mullins being hit by a pitch to trigger the run rule. UAPB reliever Harish Balachandran gave up five runs, two of them earned, on two hits and a walk in the eighth while recording one out.
Swift led the Lumberjacks in RBI with 3 after hitting 1 for 4 with a walk and a run. First baseman Mark Henning hit 2 for 4 with three runs and two RBIs with one walk.
Gries-Smith led UAPB with three RBIs on 2 of 4 hitting with one run. Six other Golden Lions had one hit each.
UAPB committed four errors in the game after not committing any in its three games against Oral Roberts.
The Golden Lions and Lumberjacks will play two games Saturday starting at 1:05 p.m.