Privateers Baseball Falls in Extra Innings to Central Arkansas

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team (25-16, 9-10 Southland) got a strong pitching performance from the bullpen, but fell 4-3 in 11 innings to the Central Arkansas Bears (17-22, 8-11) on Friday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
 
Hunter Strong tripled to deep center with one out in the 11^th inning. Daniel Martinez came back to record a strikeout looking, which prompted an argument from Bears Coach Allen Gum and an ejection. With Tyler Langley batting, a wild pitch that kicked to the right of home plate brought in the go-ahead run to put Central Arkansas in the lead for the first time tonight.
 
The Privateers went to the bottom of the frame looking to extend the contest, but Central Arkansas' first call out of the pen in Tyler Gray stood to task. Gray struck out two batters in the frame to preserve his third victory of the season and went 2.2 scoreless after starter, Cody Davenport threw 8.1 innings.
 
"I told the guys they had plenty of opportunities to win the ball game," said Coach Blake Dean. "I want the guys that can hit when there's a runner on second base in the ninth. Nobody could come through in a clutch situation and it bit them."
 
UNO's missed opportunities at the plate came mostly in the later innings. Chaz Boyer doubled in the ninth inning and got to third, but was stranded there. In the 10^th, Samuel Capielano and Dakota Dean came up with back-to-back two-out singles, but a strikeout looking ended the inning and got the Bears out of a jam.
 
The Privateers took advantage of a couple of second inning errors to take a lead in the second. Hezekiah Randolph reached on an error and advanced to third on a two-base throwing error on a pickoff attempt. The bottom of the order followed with three consecutive singles to put the Privateers ahead 2-0.

An inning later, Randolph hit his fourth home run in the last two weeks, a solo shot to left to make it 3-0. The Bears had a response though in the fourth inning, which chased starter, Shawn Semple. Matt Anderson and Strong each had RBI doubles. With one out, Keaton Brewer was summoned out of the pen. Central Arkansas executed a squeeze bunt, which tied the game but Brewer got out of the inning a batter later.
 
Brewer, Martinez, and Jarred Taylor combined to throw 7.2 innings and gave up just one run. Martinez racked up five strikeouts including striking out the side in the tenth. Brewer worked 3.0 innings of scoreless ball and Taylor threw 1.2 scoreless frames.
 
"That's the problem," said Dean. "Our hitters came out lackadaisical and thinking they were just going to walk out there and take it. Now our pen is going to be limited and with two games tomorrow we have to go out there and find a way to get it done."
 
Offensively, Capielano, Dean, and Preston Marsh each had two hits. Randolph scored two runs and tied the team lead in home runs. Aaron Palmer's 13-game hitting streak was snapped as he went 0-for-5. Semple threw 3.1 innings and allowed eight hits.
 
The Bears collected 12 hits as a team and had three-hit nights from Brooks Balisterri and Strong. Chris Townsend was 2-for-5 and Anderson went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run. Davenport struck out four batters while he and Gray combined to not allow a walk on the evening.
 
The series will conclude with a doubleheader starting a 1 p.m. with rain expected late Saturday and into Sunday.

Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or click HERE.
 
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