UAPB Baseball Wins In Dramatic Fashion To Clinch Series Over Texas Southern

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team closed a three-game series at home to Texas Southern with a dramatic victory in 11 innings Sunday evening at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex.

Texas Southern jumped out to a (4-0) lead before junior Humberto Maldonado singled up the middle scoring senior Nick Kreutzer and junior Kacy Higgins, who reached earlier with a single to right field and a double to left field to cut the deficit to two, (4-2).

UAPB added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning (4-3), before pinch hitter Braelin Hence came up big in the bottom of the ninth, hitting a single to left-center, scoring two runs to tie the game at (5-5) to force the game into extra innings.

In the top of the 11th inning, freshman Lawrence Noble singled up the middle and advanced to second on a throwing error by the second baseman with no outs.  Junior DeClaudio Irvin would reach first with a walk, bringing up Higgins.

Higgins came through big in clutch moments with a single to left field, scoring Noble to win the game.

“I’m happy that way we fought and never gave up throughout the game,” said UAPB head coach Carlos James. “The other thing is about being as young as we are; you hope a win like this will help them get better as the season goes on.  This is a complete team win because if you look at the scorecard we played a lot of people and move some players around. But a win like this, we’re hoping that this will bond the team even more and create a winning streak down the stretch.”

Junior Joel Barker picked up the win on the mound going 6.0 IP with six strikeouts.

Higgins led the Golden Lions at the plate, going 3-for-6 with the game-winning RBI, followed by Maldonado going 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Hence going 1-for-2 with two RBIs, and Kreutzer going 2-for-4.

UAPB will be back in action as they head to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and take on Oklahoma St. in a midweek two-game series beginning Tuesday, April 20-21.