With the long homestand finished, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team heads east in search of its first road win.
The Golden Lions will meet Alabama State for a three-game SWAC series at the Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex in Montgomery, Alabama. The games are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday on SWAC TV.
The series will be played Thursday through Saturday to avoid playing on Easter Sunday.
UAPB (14-17, 7-2 SWAC) has played 13 of its past 14 games at home. The Golden Lions will now play their next eight games on the road, where they are 0-9 so far this season. These will be their first conference road games after playing their first three SWAC series in Pine Bluff.
The team began preparing to leave town immediately following Tuesday’s 13-3 home win against Central Arkansas. With such a quick turnaround and a long trip to Alabama ahead of the Golden Lions, head coach Logan Stout said the fact UAPB won its past three games all via run-rule and only had to use one relief pitcher in each of its past four is huge ahead of this series.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Playing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we were not going to use any of our arms,” Stout said Tuesday. “When you can have (Jordan Medellin), this was his first start of his career was this year for us, and then Nate Lee, again, his first time in Division I college baseball, to do what he did for the second outing in a row to save all of our arms was huge.”
Medellin and Lee combined to hold UCA to three runs on three hits in seven innings, allowing UAPB to win while preserving its bullpen for the Hornets.
Alabama State (12-15, 3-6) has had an underwhelming start to SWAC play for a program that finished third in the conference last season and is on a four-game losing streak, but the Hornets have shown flashes of their talent.
Alabama State’s last win was a 7-4 road victory at Georgia State, and the Hornets led the SEC’s University of Alabama early before losing 2-1 on Feb. 18. They also swept three nonconference games against SWAC teams in the Andre Dawson Classic in Florida.
Graduate infielder Miguel Oropeza leads the Hornets with a .383 batting average, the sixth-best average in the SWAC. Redshirt freshman Jackson Williams leads the team with 24 RBI, and he is tied with sophomore Trey Callaway for the team lead in home runs with six.
“Alabama State can play,” Stout said. “They’re well coached. It’s going to be some really good baseball, and we’re looking forward to it.”
All three of UAPB’s typical weekend starting pitchers – Jalen Porter, Kenney Fabian and Ryland Morin – rank in the SWAC’s top 10 for ERA. Only one Alabama State pitcher does: senior left-hander Jorhan LaBoy (3-4). The Hornets’ Friday starter ranks eighth with an ERA of 4.33. Saturday starter Esaid Pena’s 5.06 ERA puts him just outside the top 10 at 11th.
UAPB enters this series tied with Texas Southern and Florida A&M for second in the SWAC, one game behind Bethune-Cookman. Texas Southern and FAMU are each playing teams in the bottom three of the SWAC standings this week, so UAPB will need a strong road performance against a team which swept the Golden Lions last season to keep pace.