Four scoreless innings came at a perfect time for University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball on opening day.
UAPB split a season-opening doubleheader on Friday, losing 6-1 to Lindenwood before bouncing back to win 8-6 at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex.
Junior right-handed pitcher Reagan James (1-0) pitched the final five innings of the victory and kept Lindenwood scoreless for the final four. He said after getting into some trouble in the fifth inning when he first entered the game, he settled in and got comfortable in the sixth.
“I’m a competitor through and through, and just being able to fight for my team for five innings, I just wanted to put the team in a great place to win,” James said. “Everything felt good (in the sixth). Body felt synced up, and I was just able to compete in the zone.”
UAPB (1-1) led 4-2 with no outs in the fifth when James relieved starter Joe King, who had walked the leadoff hitter of the inning.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The junior college transfer struggled to start his first career appearance in a Division I baseball game. After giving up a single and an RBI sacrifice fly, he threw a wild pitch which allowed Lindenwood (1-1) to tie the game.
Lindenwood first baseman Tyler Ellis added a two-RBI single later in the inning to give the visiting Lions a 6-4 lead before James got a fly out to end the inning.
James recovered quickly. He struck out the first hitter he saw in the sixth before giving up a single. He responded by getting two fly outs to end the inning with no harm done. He went on to allow two more hits but didn’t allow any further runs to score the rest of the day.
The Arlington, Texas, native struck out eight hitters with one walk and five hits and pitched a clean ninth inning. He stuck out the final hitter he faced to clinch UAPB’s first win of the season.
UAPB Coach Logan Stout said that after the sixth inning, James came to him and asked to finish the game.
“I said, ‘All right, it’s yours,’” Stout said. “It’s funny, Coach (Brad) Powell, our pitching coach, goes, ‘Who do you want hot? Who do you want hot?’ I go, ‘Nobody. He’s got it,’ and he did. He just did a great job changing speeds. I’m just proud of him, very proud of him.”
With James keeping the visitors in check, the UAPB offense clawed its way back. Second baseman Konner Giddley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, and shortstop Zach Wieder hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6-6 moments later.
Left fielder Zyon Hamilton hit a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning, and designated hitter Joe Adams gave the Golden Lions some insurance with an RBI single in the eighth.
Adams and right fielder Blake Coleman finished the game with two RBI apiece. Adams hit an RBI triple in the fourth inning two batters before Coleman hit a two-run home run to left field.
UAPB’s 12-hit performance in game two was a major improvement on a four-hit showing in game one. Stout said he thinks his hitters, many of whom had not played in a Division I game before Friday, tried too hard in the first game and needed time to adjust to facing Division I pitching.
“When you’re not used to that, when you’re not used to a 2-0 breaking ball, a 2-0 changeup, it kind of can rock your world a little bit your first real game,” Stout said. “It just took a while for them to understand what we’ve been telling them. They’re not just going to rear back and try to throw fast balls by you. They’re going to pitch.”
Lindenwood got to UAPB ace Jalen Porter (0-1) early in Game 1. After two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs, designated hitter Jake Radosevich singled to drive in the first run of the season, with catcher William Zareh hitting a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 2-0.
Porter got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts and held the visiting Lions scoreless the next three innings. He finished his four-inning start with seven strikeouts, two walks and four hits before turning pitching duties over to the bullpen.
Three left-handed relievers allowed a combined six hits, but it was a series of infield errors which cost the Golden Lions. First baseman Lorenzo Alvarado mishandled a ball hit toward him by Lindenwood left fielder Sam Driscoll, who scored later in the inning on an RBI single by second baseman Will Geary.
UAPB’s middle infielders, Wieder and Giddley, made three combined errors in the eighth, allowing Lindenwood to plate three runs and put the game away. Lindenwood shortstop Charlie Isom-McCall hit a two-RBI double in the inning. The Golden Lions finished the game with six errors.
Lindenwood starter Josh Newell (1-0) went five innings, holding UAPB to four hits with no walks and a strikeout. Newell, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference pitcher of the year, gave up the lone UAPB run in the fifth after Coleman scored on a dropped fly ball with two outs by Driscoll.
Left-handed reliever Aaron Jungers pitched the final four innings for Lindenwood, striking out six and walking one without allowing a hit. His walk came after he hit two batters in the eighth to load the bases with one out, but he struck out the next hitter and got a great catch from Isom-McCall to escape the jam.
UAPB and Lindenwood will finish their four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.