Two double-digit scoring days gave the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff its first series win of the season.
The UAPB baseball team defeated Alcorn State 18-5 in eight innings on Friday, then won 12-9 on Saturday at Willie E. “Rat” McGowan Stadium in Lorman, Miss.
UAPB (4-20, 2-3 SWAC) hadn’t won a conference game or a road game entering the weekend but did both twice, and will have an opportunity to do so again in the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m.
In the first inning of the series on Friday, UAPB first baseman Ben VanMaanen opened the scoring with a bases-clearing double to give UAPB a 3-0 lead. Shortstop Jesus Riera then drove him in with a double of his own.
The Golden Lions added 7 runs in the third inning thanks to two walks and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded, an RBI groundout by left fielder Gavin Terry, and a 2-RBI single by centerfielder Eli Gries-Smith, who later scored on a balk.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Alcorn scored 3 runs in the sixth before UAPB added another 7 runs in the top of the eighth. The A 2-RBI triple by Braves designated hitter Jermel Ford in the bottom of the eighth wasn’t enough to avoid the run rule.
VanMaanen joined catcher Vinny Saumell in driving in 3 runs. The first six hitters in the UAPB lineup scored at least twice, with the rest of the starters scoring once.
UAPB starting pitcher Kenney Fabian (1-4) went 5.2 innings, allowing 3 runs on seven hits with five walks and five strikeouts. Two relievers, Emerson Lott and Harish Balachandran, held Alcorn to 2 unearned runs in the final 2.1 innings.
Ford (0-6) started at pitcher for Alcorn. He allowed 10 runs, 9 earned, on five hits and five walks with two strikeouts in a 2-inning appearance.
UAPB’s 18 runs were a new season high for the Golden Lions. That game and Saturday’s 12 runs marked the third and fourth times this season UAPB has scored 11 or more in a game.
Alcorn did not release the box score of Saturday’s game in time for this story.
These games were the first weekend wins of the season for UAPB, which had been swept in its first five weekend series.
Dating back to last season, this series win broke a streak of nine consecutive series losses. UAPB’s last weekend series victory prior to this weekend came April 5-7 of last year, when the Golden Lions won two of three games against Southern in Baton Rouge.