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| Junior Michael Rockett hit his third homer of the year in the first inning. |
CONWAY, Ark. ? The first night game in Central Arkansas baseball history was a thriller, as the Bears held on for a 4-3 victory against UTSA on Thursday night at UCA Field.
Playing in front of the second-largest crowd in school history (358), Central Arkansas fought several Roadrunners rallies in the middle and late innings and made a three-spot in the third stand up to improve to 9-11 overall and 1-3 in Southland Conference play.
UTSA ? which stranded 10 runners on the night, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth an sixth innings ? saw its five-game winning streak in conference regular season play come to an end and dropped to 14-7 (3-1 SLC).
Junior center fielder Michael Rockett gave the Rodrunners an early 1-0 lead in the first when he launched his third home run of the year, a solo shot to left field with two down.
The Bears responded with a run in their half of the frame when Kent Taylor brought home Kevin Rawls, who singled up the middle to lead off the inning, with a groundout to first base.
UTSA went back in front in the second. Sophomore third baseman Ryan Rummel led off with a double, moved to third on a fly out to right by junior right fielder Aaron Powell and came home on freshman shortstop Ryan Hutson’s grounder to short.
UCA struck again one inning later, as they roughed up senior right-hander Steven Vasquez (3-2) for a three runs on a pair of doubles and two walks.
Rawls led off the frame with a walk and Chris Davis was issued a free pass two hitters later. Taylor then laced a two-bagger to the right center field gap to bring home Rawls. Chris Houck followed with a sacrifice play to center and Scott Cline’s double one batter later completed the three-run inning and gave the Bears what ended up being an insurmountable 4-2 advantage.
UTSA began to rally in the fourth, as Rummel and Hutson drew walks from Bears right-handed starter Brandon Dunn with one and two outs, respectively. However, senior Phillip Allen, playing second base for the first time in his career, flew out to left to end the threat.
The Roadrunners sent Dunn to the showers the next inning, as freshman catcher Tyler Carpenter drew a one-out walk and Rockett and junior Jose Hernandez were issued two-out free passes. Central Arkansas head coach Doug Clark then called in righty Matt Whitaker for his first relief appearance of the year.
Whitaker, who had walked 19 in 27.1 innings entering the game, got Rummel to chase his first offering for a grounder to third base and Jonathan Yerby stepped on the bag to end the rally.
After Vasquez tossed a scoreless fifth, the offense came out firing in the top of the sixth.
Hutson drew a one-out walk and Allen followed with a run-scoring double down the right-field line. A base on balls to freshman Brett Aguliar put runners on first and second and Carpenter followed with a liner up the middle that appeared to bring Allen across the plate with the tying run. However, the Sugar Land native slipped rounding third and was gunned down trying to get back to the bag.
Another walk by Whitaker, this time to sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar, loaded the bases for the second frame in a row, but Rockett flew out to center to end the threat.
Whitaker retired six of the next seven Roadrunners over the next two innings and UTSA’s last hope rested on its two, three and clean up hitters in the ninth.
Palincsar led off with yet another free pass, Whitaker’s fifth of the game, but the 2007 SLC Freshman of the Year was gunned down trying to steal for the first time in 16 career attempts. Rockett and Hernandez popped out to first and grounded out to third, respectively, to send the squad to its third loss in four games away from the Alamo City this season.
Whitaker improved to 2-1 following his 4.1-inning, 74-pitch stint. He surrendered just two hits and fanned a pair. Dunn, meanwhile, just missed the victory after giving up two runs on three hits and five walks in 4.2 frames of work. He struck out a career-high seven.
Vasquez, who struggled to find the strike zone most of the night, gutted out five innings in his fifth start of the season. The Beeville native threw just 52 of his 102 pitches for strikes and gave up four runs on four hits, walked three and hit a batter. Junior right-hander J.P. Holton whiffed five in holding UCA scoreless over the final three innings to give UTSA a chance to rally.
The series continues at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Senior righty Bradley Chovanec (4-1, 3.21 ERA) will square off against UCA right-hander Bobby Pritchett (2-2, 3.24).
Playing in front of the second-largest crowd in school history (358), Central Arkansas fought several Roadrunners rallies in the middle and late innings and made a three-spot in the third stand up to improve to 9-11 overall and 1-3 in Southland Conference play.
UTSA ? which stranded 10 runners on the night, including leaving the bases loaded in the fifth an sixth innings ? saw its five-game winning streak in conference regular season play come to an end and dropped to 14-7 (3-1 SLC).
Junior center fielder Michael Rockett gave the Rodrunners an early 1-0 lead in the first when he launched his third home run of the year, a solo shot to left field with two down.
The Bears responded with a run in their half of the frame when Kent Taylor brought home Kevin Rawls, who singled up the middle to lead off the inning, with a groundout to first base.
UTSA went back in front in the second. Sophomore third baseman Ryan Rummel led off with a double, moved to third on a fly out to right by junior right fielder Aaron Powell and came home on freshman shortstop Ryan Hutson’s grounder to short.
UCA struck again one inning later, as they roughed up senior right-hander Steven Vasquez (3-2) for a three runs on a pair of doubles and two walks.
Rawls led off the frame with a walk and Chris Davis was issued a free pass two hitters later. Taylor then laced a two-bagger to the right center field gap to bring home Rawls. Chris Houck followed with a sacrifice play to center and Scott Cline’s double one batter later completed the three-run inning and gave the Bears what ended up being an insurmountable 4-2 advantage.
UTSA began to rally in the fourth, as Rummel and Hutson drew walks from Bears right-handed starter Brandon Dunn with one and two outs, respectively. However, senior Phillip Allen, playing second base for the first time in his career, flew out to left to end the threat.
The Roadrunners sent Dunn to the showers the next inning, as freshman catcher Tyler Carpenter drew a one-out walk and Rockett and junior Jose Hernandez were issued two-out free passes. Central Arkansas head coach Doug Clark then called in righty Matt Whitaker for his first relief appearance of the year.
Whitaker, who had walked 19 in 27.1 innings entering the game, got Rummel to chase his first offering for a grounder to third base and Jonathan Yerby stepped on the bag to end the rally.
After Vasquez tossed a scoreless fifth, the offense came out firing in the top of the sixth.
Hutson drew a one-out walk and Allen followed with a run-scoring double down the right-field line. A base on balls to freshman Brett Aguliar put runners on first and second and Carpenter followed with a liner up the middle that appeared to bring Allen across the plate with the tying run. However, the Sugar Land native slipped rounding third and was gunned down trying to get back to the bag.
Another walk by Whitaker, this time to sophomore designated hitter Tim Palincsar, loaded the bases for the second frame in a row, but Rockett flew out to center to end the threat.
Whitaker retired six of the next seven Roadrunners over the next two innings and UTSA’s last hope rested on its two, three and clean up hitters in the ninth.
Palincsar led off with yet another free pass, Whitaker’s fifth of the game, but the 2007 SLC Freshman of the Year was gunned down trying to steal for the first time in 16 career attempts. Rockett and Hernandez popped out to first and grounded out to third, respectively, to send the squad to its third loss in four games away from the Alamo City this season.
Whitaker improved to 2-1 following his 4.1-inning, 74-pitch stint. He surrendered just two hits and fanned a pair. Dunn, meanwhile, just missed the victory after giving up two runs on three hits and five walks in 4.2 frames of work. He struck out a career-high seven.
Vasquez, who struggled to find the strike zone most of the night, gutted out five innings in his fifth start of the season. The Beeville native threw just 52 of his 102 pitches for strikes and gave up four runs on four hits, walked three and hit a batter. Junior right-hander J.P. Holton whiffed five in holding UCA scoreless over the final three innings to give UTSA a chance to rally.
The series continues at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Senior righty Bradley Chovanec (4-1, 3.21 ERA) will square off against UCA right-hander Bobby Pritchett (2-2, 3.24).