LITTLE ROCK - ULM's
Drew
Granier and UALR's Adam Champion treated the fans at Gary Hogan Field to
a
classic pitchers' duel in Friday's Sun Belt Conference series opener. An
unearned run in the third inning proved to be the difference as the
Trojans
escaped with a 3-1 victory.
Champion, who was a
23rd
round selection by the San Francisco Giants in last year's MLB Draft,
threw his
fourth-career complete game to improve to 6-4 on the season. The
southpaw
struck out four batters and scattered seven hits - he retired 11
straight
batters at one point in the game.
Granier (4-6) held
the Trojans
to just three runs - two earned - over seven innings of work. The
reigning Sun
Belt and Louisiana Pitcher of the Week struck out five and allowed six
hits
before leaving the game in the eighth inning.
Judd Edwards and
Perry Smith
both had two hits for the Warhawks. Jake Rowell and Nate Brown were
2-for-4 and
2-for-3, respectively, to lead UALR (25-23, 8-15 Sun Belt).
The Warhawks
(17-32, 7-18) struck
first when Edwards scored on a Casey Auttonberry single to left field in
the
first inning. The frame was kept alive by a fielding error to make
Champion's only run allowed unearned.
Rowell ended
Granier's
scoreless inning streak at 14 in the second with a single through the
right
side to score Bryce Killingsworth - Killingsworth was hit by three
pitches on
the night in four plate appearances. The winning run scored following a
Brown
double in the third inning. Landis Wilson, who reached on a one-out
single, was
able to score from first on the double courtesy of a Warhawk fielding
error in the outfield.
Following four
innings of
scoreless baseball, UALR tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning
after a leadoff double by Tyson Parks. With the bases loaded, pinch
hitter
Tim Emmons hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to plate Parks.
The Warhawks had a
prime
opportunity in their half of the eighth inning to either take the lead
or tie
the game, but ended up on the wrong side of a close call. Caleb Clowers
and
Edwards had back-to-back singles with one out to get the inning rolling.
Nick
Wade hit a pop up that fell into shallow right field; however it was
ruled an
infield fly and Wade was recorded as the second out of the inning.
Game two of the
series is
scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. The game
will be broadcast live on the Warhawk Radio Network with local coverage
on 540
AM and worldwide coverage on ulmwarhawks.com. Live audio and video will
also be
available on Warhawks All*Access at ulmwarhawks.com.
