UAPB Baseball Rallies From Late Tie For Victory Over Alcorn State
LORMAN, Miss. —The UAPB Golden Lions broke through after an 8-8 tie in the sixth inning to defeat the Alcorn State Braves 11-10 Thursday evening in SWAC Conference play.
Sophomore Rocky King picked up the victory out of the bullpen for UAPB. The left-hander went five innings, giving up three runs, two earned, on four hits, allowing three walks and striking out three. Sophomore Mickyren Bentley also made an impact on the mound for the Golden Lions, throwing one scoreless inning while allowing one hit, with no walks and two strikeouts.
At the plate, the Golden Lions were paced Junior Karsten Vasquez, who went 2-for-3 on the day with a double, a triple, a walk and three RBI. Senior Kacy Higgins furnished a standout performance at the plate as well, going 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Junior Brandon Simon also helped out for UAPB, putting together two hits in three trips to the plate while adding a double and an RBI.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Golden Lions were trailing 1-0 in the first inning when they first put runs on the board. UAPB’s offense started clicking and put up four runs, including a one-run walk off the bat of sophomore Lawrence “Q” Noble.
The Golden Lions lost the lead they built in the first, but got back on the board in the second trailing 6-4. UAPB pushed across a run on Simon’s one-out RBI double, which brought the score to 6-5 in favor of the Braves.
Alcorn State built their lead to 7-5 before the UAPB offense got going, reducing that lead to 7-6 in the third.
UAPB held the Braves off the board before taking the lead in the fourth. Junior Declaudio Irvin’s run-scoring single brought home one run in a two-run output for the Golden Lions, bringing the advantage to 8-7.
Alcorn State fired back to tie the contest at eight before the Golden Lions reclaimed an 11-8 advantage in the seventh inning. UAPB put three runs on the board in the inning, highlighted by a run-scoring triple from Vasquez. Alcorn State put two runs on the scoreboard before the game was over, but the Golden Lions still held on for the 11-10 win.
GAME NOTES
» The Golden Lions power output was led by Vasquez, who compiled two extra base hits in the ballgame.
» Every UAPB starter reached base safely in the win.
» UAPB’s highest scoring inning was the first, when it pushed four runs across.
» Freshman Carlos Velez stole three bases and Noble swiped two in Thursday’s game.
» The Golden Lions swiped eight bases as a team.
» Vasquez led the Golden Lions at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and three RBI.
