Update at 10:07 a.m. April 3: UCA Channel 6 video from last night’s brawl
After a frustrating start and a bench-clearing brawl in the 10th inning, the Bears came back and pulled out a win against Arkansas-Little Rock 5-4 in the 11th inning Wednesday night.
The brawl started with an argument between UCA (16-10, 5-4) coach Allen Gumand UALR (11-15) coach Scott Norwood, and both teams came to the middle of the field in anticipation, as you can see from the video above. Umpires stopped the game for approximately 20 minutes before play resumed. Norwood and UALR sophomore pitcher Chad Bradford were ejected from the game. There were no injuries reported.
Tensions were running high in the 11th inning, following the fight. UALR junior pitcher Tanner Rockwall walked two batters and a routine fly ball was dropped, which allowed sophomore Tyler Langley to score from second base and end the game.
Junior Connor McClain was the winning pitcher, getting four strikeouts in 29 pitches, and not allowing a single hit. Five UCA players had a hit, but none of them had more than two.
The game started slow for the Bears, who scored zero runs in the first five innings, and only two hits in seven innings. Seven UCA players were left on base in the first seven innings.
One of the biggest hits in the game came in the 8th inning from freshman Carson Dowdle who drove in the tying run. It was Dowdle’s only at bat of the game.
There were eight different Trojan pitchers used, none of them pitching for more than three innings. The losing pitcher, Rockwall, didn’t allow a hit and had two strikeouts on 54 pitches, but had four walks, two of them costing the Trojans the game.
The Bears start a three-game Southland Conference series against Southeastern Louisiana tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at Bears stadium.
