JONESBORO (5/19/11) - The Arkansas State baseball team (23-30-1, 11-16-1) secured a spot in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 5-4 victory over UALR (20-30, 10-18) Thursday night at Tomlinson Stadium and Kell Field.
The Red Wolves took a 1-0 lead in the three-game Sun Belt series, which is the last of the season for both teams before heading to the conference tournament set for May 25-29 in Monroe, La.
ASU matched UALR's run total in both the fourth and fifth innings before taking its first lead, 5-4, with a run in the sixth. The Red Wolves got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and Bradley Wallace shut down the Trojans in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season.
Andy Ferguson picked up the victory for A-State to improve to 6-4, while Travis Henke absorbed the loss for the Trojans. Ferguson gave up four runs on four hits while striking out six over six innings.
ASU recorded 11 hits, five more than UALR, but left nine men on base to the Trojans two that kept the game close. Offensively, A-State was led by three players with two hits, including Michael Faulkner, Zach Maggio and Dustin Jones. Zach George also recorded a hit and team-high two RBI for the Red Wolves.
"I thought our guys worked hard the last couple of days, and we've been talking about earning our way into the (Sun Belt Conference) tournament," said ASU head coach Tommy Raffo. "We've talked about competing and fighting to get in and that's what we did, but we've still got two big games against UALR. They were able to take a lead a couple of times, but we struck right back and our pitchers did a nice job on the mound."
Ferguson kept UALR off the base paths the first three innings, but the Trojans found their offense in the fourth inning with three runs on two hits. However, A-State responded with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, getting bases-loaded singles from Logan Uxa and George.
The Trojans and Red Wolves both plated a run in the fifth inning as well to leave the score tied 4-4. The Trojans got their first extra-base hit of the game, a double by Cameron Bentley that was followed by an RBI-single from Greg Garcia. The Red Wolves loaded the bases with no outs for the second straight inning, but this time was only able to answer with one run after hitting into a double play.
A-State struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning, recording one run on one hit to take its first lead of the game at 5-4. Uxa walked to start the inning and worked his way around to third on a sacrifice bunt and fielders choice before Jones drove him home with a timely single.
A-State plated its final run in the eighth, loading the bases before Maggio drew a walk that brought home Uxa.
The series will resume Friday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
