UAPB Baseball: Hot Start at the Plate Sets the Tone in UAPB’s 15-1 victory over Southern

PINE BLUFF, Arkansas – Junior Trinidad De La Garza and senior Carlos Rodriguez-Velez each collected three hits to help lead the UAPB Golden Lions past the Southern Jaguars 15-1 on Thursday.

Junior Kenny Fabian started on the mound and picked up the win for UAPB. The right-hander went seven innings, giving up one run on six hits, allowing one walk and striking out five.

In addition to his three hits, junior Eli Gries-Smith had a double, two walks and two RBI to lead the Golden Lions. Rodriguez-Velez added a walk and three RBI to his three-hit performance as well. Junior Dane Small also helped out for UAPB, putting together two hits in three trips to the plate while adding a walk and three RBI.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Golden Lions got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the bottom the first inning with the game still scoreless. UAPB’s offense started clicking and put up eight runs, including a two-run single off the bat of Rodriguez-Velez and a two-run double from senior Brant Voth.

The Jaguars failed to push any runs across before the Golden Lions offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning. UAPB managed to push across two runs in the inning, which brought the Golden Lions lead to 10-0.

UAPB held Southern scoreless before expanding their lead to 13-0 the following inning. The Golden Lions picked up three runs in the frame, two of them coming across on a two-run single off the bat of Small.

UAPB kept the Jaguars scoreless before their offense got things rolling the next inning. The Golden Lions recorded two runs off of Southern pitching, punctuated by a run-scoring double off the bat of senior Gavin Terry, bringing the score to 15-0 in favor of UAPB. Southern put one run on the scoreboard before the game was over, but the Golden Lions still coasted to the 15-1 win.

GAME NOTES
» UAPB got three-hit games from three different hitters.
» Fabian struck out five Jaguars hitters.
» The Golden Lions power output was led by De La Garza, who compiled two extra base hits in the ballgame.
» UAPB’s highest scoring inning was the first, when it pushed eight runs across.
» UAPB grabbed an 8-0 lead in the bottom half of the first and didn’t surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
» Fabian put together seven innings of one-run ball for the Golden Lions.
» Five Golden Lions had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Golden Lions had a total of 16 hits.
» The Golden Lions out-hit the Jaguars at a 16-6 clip.
» The Golden Lions swiped five bases as a team.
» UAPB went 10-for-18 (.556) with runners in scoring position.
» Fabian limited Southern to just 1-for-10 (.100) with runners in scoring position.
» Fabian faced 29 Southern hitters in the game, allowing seven ground balls and eight fly balls while striking out five.
» The Golden Lions drew seven walks from Southern pitching.
» Gries-Smith led the Golden Lions at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI.