An errant throw sailed past third base Thursday afternoon, allowing Alcorn State to score the winning run in extra innings.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team lost its series opener with the Braves 8-7 in 10 innings at the Torii Hunter Baseball Complex in Pine Bluff.
UAPB (9-17, 0-7 SWAC) relief pitcher Ben VanMaanen entered the game to start the seventh inning with the game tied at 7. He retired the first nine hitters he faced, but Alcorn designated hitter Jaylon Lucky reached base on a misplayed ground ball. Freshman Ty Boze came in to pinch run for him.
Alcorn State (2-16, 1-5) first baseman Diego Lopez laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Boze to second base, but nobody from UAPB was covering third. Boze sprinted to take the extra base as two players tried to beat him there. Substitute first baseman Courtney Allen overthrew both infielders, and Boze scored the go-ahead run.
UAPB coach Carlos James said a lack of focus caused the errors.
"We call that baseball awareness," James said. "Knowing what I'm gonna do with the baseball before the ball's hit, and then after the ball is hit, after I make a mistake, there's always a next play. We hadn't done a good job of that all year long, just being really good baseball players. We're playing baseball, but we're not baseball players right now."
After a one-out walk, senior reliever Peyton Niemann entered the game and got both hitters he faced out to end the inning, but the miscues had given the Braves the lead. VanMaanen (0-1) struck out five hitters and walked one in 3 1/3 innings.
In the bottom of the 10th, UAPB substitute Darrius Brown walked with one out, then advanced to second on a two-out single by centerfielder Gavin Terry. Alcorn reliever Kiki Ford Jr. (1-1) struck out right fielder Jalyn Williams looking to end the game, giving the Braves their first SWAC win of the year.
UAPB led 6-1 after the second inning. Williams hit a go-ahead 2-run home run in the first, and designated hitter Carlos Rodriguez-Velez, who had scored on an error in the first, hit a 3-run bomb in the second.
Alcorn starter Guershon Exi was replaced after the second, and the Alcorn bullpen held UAPB to 1 run the rest of the game. Freshman Rico Garcia pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief, allowing two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He did not allow a run.
Alcorn scored 2 runs in the third, 1 in the fourth and 1 in the fifth before a 2-RBI single by third baseman Nathan Gamez in the sixth tied the game.
"You built the big lead early on and then just went to sleep, thinking, 'Ah, it's going to be easy,'" James said. "Well, it's hard to get that first conference win. When you down, and then you got the other team trying to get their first conference win, too, it's dog eat dog. We let them back in, and they chipped away, chipped away. Kudos to them. They kept fighting. They chipped away, and we made a costly mistake at the end."
UAPB had an opportunity to walk off Alcorn in the bottom of the ninth and avoid extra innings. Catcher Edwin De La Cruz reached second base on a two-out error. Senior Lawrence "Q" Noble pinch ran for him and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Pinch hitter Brad Mican walked, leading to a pitching change.
Ford came in to face Allen, whose fly ball to centerfield was caught to send the game to extras. Ford finished with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit in 1 1/3 innings.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday.