A Gatorade bath greeted first-year University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball coach Logan Stout moments after his team earned its first win of the season Tuesday afternoon.
UAPB defeated UA Little Rock 7-4 at Bill Jones Field at Torii Hunter Complex in the first of two games between the teams this week.
Stout said the Golden Lions have played well enough to win several of their previous games, and he gives his players credit for breaking through on Tuesday.
“What I’m proud of these players about is they’ve never wavered once from our mission, our preparation, our core values as a team,” Stout said. “Not once have they wavered, and that says a lot, because it’s easy to have faith when things are going well. But when you’re being really, really tested, that’s when it shows if you really believe.”
UAPB (1-15) finished with 10 hits, with every hitter from four through nine in the lineup recording at least one RBI. Third baseman Jaylon Nauden led with 2 RBI on 1 for 4 hitting. Three other players recorded two hits, while left fielder Carlos Rodriguez-Velez scored 2 runs.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Nauden, who said the Golden Lions were composed in clutch moments Tuesday, gave UAPB a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning with a single which scored catcher Vinny Saumell and right fielder Dane Small.
“I was really just trying to do my best just to put the ball in play,” Nauden said. “Had two strikes, I was really just trying to see the ball deep. He threw me a breaking ball, and I was able to just catch it out in front and find the gap.”
UAPB went on to lead 7-1 before Trojan reliever Gage Haley settled things down for Little Rock afterward, holding UAPB to one base runner across the final four innings.
With Haley keeping the Golden Lions at bay, Little Rock (6-10) cut into the lead with a 2-run homer by left fielder Ty Rhoades before adding an unearned run in the eighth. UAPB reliever Emerson Lott shut things down by allowing one Trojan baserunner across the final 2 2/3 innings.
The Golden Lions had been haunted by errors in some of their previous games. Though they committed two on Tuesday, they also had some great defensive plays.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning, Rodriguez-Velez made an impressive diving catch in left field to rob Little Rock leadoff hitter Reed Willbanks of a hit and multiple RBI, keeping the score at the time to a 4-1 UAPB lead.
One inning prior, Little Rock got its first two hitters aboard before UAPB starter Chris Bedgood picked off Willbanks at first. Later in the inning, the Trojans attempted a double steal, but shortstop Jesus Riera cut off the throw to second and threw home to Saumell, who made the easy play to save a run.
Little Rock coach Chris Curry said UAPB’s defensive plays were one of the main things which kept his team from keeping up with the Golden Lions.
“They played a clean baseball game,” Curry said. “The two pickoffs really hurt. … They’ve been competing, and a lot of their games have been close with good opponents and a good schedule. Logan does a great job with those guys, and they beat us today.”
Bedgood lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 4 walks with 2 strikeouts before Steffan Fak (1-0) relieved him for the middle 2 2/3 innings.
Trojan starter Blake VanCleve (0-1) didn’t make it out of the third inning, finishing a 2 2/3-inning start having allowed 4 runs, 3 of them earned, on 4 hits with a strikeout. The Trojans used three other pitchers before Haley took over.
UAPB and Little Rock will swap fields Wednesday as they wrap up their two-game midweek series at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.