Three days after earning its first road win of the season, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team will look for another.
UAPB will play Central Arkansas at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bear Stadium in Conway on ESPN-Plus. It will be the second of three midweek matchups between the teams this season and the first of two in Conway.
The Golden Lions (15-19) are coming off a dominant 26-1 win at Alabama State on Saturday. The series-ending victory was UAPB’s first road win of the season after the Golden Lions began the year 0-11 away from Pine Bluff.
That game was the third of eight straight road games for UAPB, a stretch which continues Tuesday at UCA (15-17). The Bears are 10-6 at home this season and won their only prior midweek home game, an 8-7 victory against Oral Roberts on March 10.
Tuesday’s game comes a week after their first matchup this season. UAPB snapped a 13-game losing streak to UCA by defeating the Bears 13-3 in seven innings in Pine Bluff.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB left fielder Jose Vasquez hit 3 for 3 with two RBI and two runs in that game. Every UAPB batter tallied one of the Golden Lions’ 15 hits while two Lion pitchers held the Bears to three hits, one more than UCA’s season low.
Right-handed pitcher Jordan Medellin started for UAPB against the Bears last week and hasn’t pitched since. If UAPB wants to show UCA a different look this time around, left-hander Jack Hasten could be another option. He has been UAPB’s most-used midweek starter, though he started last Thursday’s series opener against Alabama State.
Other than Nate Lee, who relieved Medellin in last week’s game, the only other pitcher with at least one start this season who isn’t in the current weekend rotation is Joe King, who pitched one inning in relief on Saturday.
UCA’s leading hitter is junior outfielder Zeb Allen. He is hitting .315 this season but went 0 for 3 in Pine Bluff.
Since these teams last met, both went to Alabama and lost two out of three games in conference action. UAPB lost on Thursday and Friday at Alabama State before Saturday’s run-rule win. UCA split its first two games at North Alabama before dropping the rubber match 16-9 on Saturday.
UCA has lost six of its past eight games entering Tuesday, while UAPB has won six of eight.