Sun Belt

UALR scores twice in ninth to survive

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock broke up a no-hitter in the eighth inning then scored twice in the ninth to beat Georgia State 2-1 Tuesday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Lafayette, La.

UALR (28-26) avoided elimination and advanced to the double-elimination portion of the Sun Belt bracket. The No. 7-seeded Trojans will play No. 2 Louisiana-Lafayette (33-23) today at 7:30 p.m at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

UALR's victory over Georgia State was its first conference tournament victory since 2011, when the Trojans won the championship as a No. 8 seed and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

"I tell you what, it's awesome," UALR Coach Chris Curry said. "I'm just happy for the players. They worked so hard down the stretch."

Georgia State senior right-handed starter Hunter Gaddis carried a no-hitter and a 1-0 Panthers lead into the eighth inning. He struck out two batters to start the inning before junior center fielder Marcus Ragan singled to center field.

Georgia State made two pitching changes in the eighth, without surrendering a run.

UALR senior right-hander Justin Garcia stranded two Panther baserunners in the top of the ninth by striking out three hitters.

Trojans junior designated hitter Riley Pittman hit an RBI single to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, then junior shortstop Christian Reyes drew a one-out, game-winning, bases-loaded walk.

Garcia (4-4, 2.91 ERA) earned the victory, and Georgia State senior reliever Jansen Acton (0-2, 3.92) earned the loss.

Curry said the original plan was for Reyes to bunt against Acton.

"If that guy threw a strike, we were going to try a safety squeeze to win the game," Curry said. "But then they went 2-0, then 3-0, then we took all the way to the walk."

Curry said senior lefty Cole Townsend (3-3, 4.43) will start today against Louisiana-Lafayette senior lefty Colten Schmidt (7-0, 1.93), who was named Monday the Sun Belt Conference's Pitcher of the Year.

At a glance

SUN BELT CONFERENCE

BASEBALL TOURNAMENT

at Moore Field, Lafayette, La. All times Central (x-if necessary)

NOTE Tuesday’s games are single elimination, while today’s-Saturday’s games are double elimination. TUESDAY’S GAMES

(7) UALR 2, (10) Georgia State 1

(8) Texas-Arlington 5, (9) Arkansas State 4 (10)

TODAY’S GAMES

GAME 3 (4) South Alabama vs. (5) Georgia Southern, 9 a.m.

GAME 4 (1) Coastal Carolina vs. (8) Texas-Arlington, 12:30 p.m.

GAME 5 (3) Troy vs. (6) Texas State, 4 p.m.

GAME 6 (2) La.-Lafayette vs. (7) UALR, 7:30 p.m.

Sports on 05/23/2018

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