Through four innings Tuesday afternoon, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Arkansas State were locked in a tight pitcher’s duel.
An injury to starting pitcher Chris Bedgood quickly changed the game as the UAPB baseball team lost 7-4 at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex in Pine Bluff.
Bedgood (1-3) got a cramp in his right leg while throwing his warmup pitches before the start of the fifth inning with the Golden Lions trailing 1-0. After UAPB coaches and trainers checked on him, he returned to the mound and attempted to throw additional warmup pitches but only threw two before leaving the mound in obvious pain and frustration.
In four innings, he allowed 1 run on two hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
UAPB (9-16) assistant coach Roger Mallison coached the game with head coach Carlos James out sick. Mallison said Bedgood’s leg tightened up on him.
“That was probably the best he’s pitched in a while, so we hated to see that, but the guys that followed him gotta come in and not hit and walk people,” Mallison said. “I feel like the only two earned runs that they got were the two home runs. We can live with that. We just can’t, passed ball scoring runs, that’s a tough thing to deal with, and that’s something that we’ve had an issue with a lot of the times during the year.”
UAPB didn’t have anyone warming up in the bullpen when Bedgood’s injury occurred. Junior lefthander Darries Boyd quickly warmed up before entering the game. He induced a groundball for an out to start his emergency outing before giving up two walks and a single. A-State (15-12) third baseman Daedrick Cail hit an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, then centerfielder Blake Burris scored on a wild pitch.
Boyd got out of the inning with a strikeout. Brannon Bargsley took over in the sixth but gave up 3 additional runs, extending A-State’s lead to 6-0. UAPB senior Peyton Niemann settled things down, holding the Red Wolves scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings.
Mallison said Niemann has done well in recent outings.
“The things that I was proud of him today, we dropped a fly ball, and he pitched around it,” Mallison said. “We got what I felt was a bad call at first, and he was able to pitch around it. So, he did his job.”
Red Wolves starter Kole Turner (1-1) allowed just three baserunners across the first six innings but exited the game with one out in the seventh after hitting Brad Mican with a pitch and issuing his first walk of the day to Jaylon Nauden.
A-State coach Tommy Raffo said getting five or six innings out of a starter is important.
“Unfortunately, their guy had cramps,” Raffo said. “I think he would have gone five or six, too, the way he was pitching. So, we caught a break possibly with that pitching change and kind of changed a little bit. We did some things with the ball game, but they competed very well. They made a run back at us.”
Senior righthander Brian Veniard replaced Turner, who had given up three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. UAPB catcher Brant Voth reached on an error by A-State first baseman Brandon Hager but was retired at second on a fielder’s choice hit by Trinidad De La Garza.
With two outs, UAPB leftfielder Lamont Swannigan launched a 3-run homer to left field, cutting the deficit to 6-4.
Swannigan, who finished 3 for 3 at the plate, said he knew it was a homer off the bat.
“He couldn’t locate the, I think it was a slider, I think, and then he went high,” Swannigan said. “The fastball, it was 2-0 count, something I could barrel. He left the fastball middle, and I was able to drive it out the park.”
The Red Wolves then brought in senior Coby Greiner, who ended the inning with a strikeout. He went on to pick up his first save of the year by finishing the game allowing just one baserunner, a two-out walk in the ninth by Voth.