It isn’t often a team wins a game with a walk-off strikeout, but the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff found a unique way to clinch its second straight series win on Friday.
The UAPB baseball team defeated Southern University 13-3 in seven innings for its second run-rule victory of the three-game series at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex in Pine Bluff
UAPB (10-27, 8-6 SWAC) led 10-3 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. The bottom third of the lineup loaded the bases with one out thanks to two walks and an error.
After Southern (15-22, 7-10) relief pitcher Genesis Prosper got a strike three call for the second out, UAPB centerfielder Eli Gries-Smith hit an RBI single, which designated hitter Carlos Rodriguez-Velez followed with a bases-loaded walk to make it 12-3.
With the bases still loaded, Prosper got a swing and a miss from UAPB catcher Brant Voth for what should have been the third out, but the ball skipped away from Southern catcher Rashard Grace as UAPB second baseman Collin McLemore scored easily from third to trigger the run rule and end the game.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB coach Logan Stout said that was an interesting way to end it.
“I’m not going to tell you what we were actually going to do, because we may do it tomorrow,” Stout said. “But we were going to score that run one way or another that last play.”
This was UAPB’s fourth straight SWAC game scoring 11 or more runs. Rodriguez-Velez hit 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and a run, while Gries-Smith hit 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs. Seven UAPB batters had at least one hit, with all nine reaching base at least once. Six hitters drove in runs.
Southern starting pitcher Kenneth Jackson (1-1), a UAPB transfer, allowed 6 runs on nine hits with a strikeout and a walk in 5.1 innings.
UAPB starter Brendan Hamlin (2-5), who pitched 6.0 innings, allowed 2 runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
Stout said Hamlin wasn’t planned as the starter until Thursday night.
“We have been ransacked with injuries this year, and yet, we had another one,” Stout said. “Brendan, he got the call last night. I called him last night. I said, ‘Hey man, you’re starting if you’re still up for it.’ He said, ‘Let’s do it, Coach.’ So, I was very, very proud of him.”
Southern took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by first baseman Jalon Lucky, the Jaguars’ first lead of the series. UAPB answered quickly, scoring 3 runs in the bottom half on four extra-base hits.
The 3-run first inning came after UAPB scored 8 in the first inning on Thursday. Rodriguez-Velez, who hit an RBI double in the first inning Friday, said the Golden Lions want to quickly put pressure on their opponents.
“We just want to punch them first,” Rodriguez-Velez said. “And then, we just don’t want them to get back in the game. So, we keep putting on runs in every inning. Obviously, today wasn’t that case, but we were able to pick it up and score some more.”
UAPB clung to a narrow lead until breaking the game open in the bottom of the sixth. The Golden Lions took a 4-2 lead into the inning before adding 6 runs on three hits and two errors.
Southern pulled Jackson with one out and two runners on base and called upon its top reliever, right-hander Peyton Huff. The first four batters he faced reached on two walks, a single and an error, with Gries-Smith hitting a 2-RBI single. Voth later added a two-out RBI double.
The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday. UAPB will be going for its second straight sweep and third overall.