Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game 1 | Game 2
MONTICELLO, Ark. – The UAM baseball team won both of a series-opening doubleheader today at Weevils Field, 1-0 and 13-9.
Game one was a pitching duel with neither team able to post a run through the first seven-and-a-half innings. UAM’s (9-2) Kenny Marshall got the complete-game shutout in nine innings of work against the Prairie Stars, but it looked like UIS (0-2) was equal to the challenge until the bottom of the eighth inning.
Taylor Eaves led off the inning with a single to left and moved to second after a Danny Loya infield grounder. The Prairie Stars brought in lefty David Frank to face Wayne Hawkins, but his first offering got by the UIS catcher allowing Eaves to move up to third. Frank eventually settled in and got Hawkins to strike out swinging with the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Seth Warren came in in relief for Frank, but found control a problem as well, sending another past the catcher and allowing Eaves to score the game’s only run.
Marshall clamped down in the top of the ninth, getting two grounders and a strikeout to retire the Stars. He allowed four hits in the win, walking six and striking out seven.
The Weevils and Stars saved all their offense for the second, seven-inning, game. The Boll Weevils never trailed, tacking up one run in the first off a Danny Loya double. They then took control in the second inning with six runs on three hits and two Stars errors. T.J. Cox drove in three of the six with a double that cleared the bases at the end of the inning.
UIS made an attempt at a comeback in the fifth inning with five runs on four hits and one error, but left three stranded after a strikeout and fielder’s choice to get the Weevils out of the jam. They answered right back in the bottom half of the inning to keep the win in hand. Cox added his fourth RBI of the game with a shot down the left field line and Christian Gallegos tacked on two more with a single to left center to put the Weevils back up 13-8 going into the top of the ninth. UIS scored one in the ninth before Eddie Smith retired the Stars with two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice.
The three-game series will conclude tomorrow afternoon with a single, nine-inning, game. First pitch is slated for noon at Weevil Field.
