LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball could not stop a ninth-inning rally by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and lost 7-6 Saturday afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Screaming Eagles are 22-29 overall and 11-12 OVC, while Trojans go to 28-21, 15-8 OVC.
With the loss, USI remains sixth in the OVC standings. The Eagles also remain a game behind fifth-place University of Tennessee at Martin and two games Tennessee Tech University with four conference games remaining.
Little Rock had the momentum early, taking a 4-0 lead in the opening frame and holding USI hitless through the first 3.2 innings. The Eagle bats woke up in the fourth and fifth with two outs when USI score three times to take the lead, 6-4.
In the fourth, junior centerfielder Terrick Thompson-Allen (Sioux City, Iowa), sophomore second baseman Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana), and junior catcher Logan Mock (Livermore, California) (Villa Hills, Kentucky) posted back-to-back-to-back RBI-singles to pull the Eagles to with one, 4-3. The Eagles had six-straight singles in the two-out, three-run rally.
The fifth inning saw USI jump in front for the first time in the game with another three-spot. USI junior second baseman Thomas Emerich (Ava, Missouri) took advantage of a failed pickoff and an error to score from third and tie the game, 4-4. Mock broke the tie one batter later with a two-single to right field, scoring Thompson-Allen and Niehaus with the fifth and sixth USI runs of the contest.
At the plate, Mock finished with a team-high three RBIs and two hits. Emerich, Thompson-Allen, and Niehaus scored two runs each in the loss.
USI junior right-hander Gavin Seebold (Jeffersonville, Indiana) survived the first inning, but had to settle for no-decision despite throwing seven solid innings. Seebold allowed the four runs on four hits and a walk in the first inning before allowing just one more hit in the next six frames, while striking out seven.
The loss went USI freshman right-hander Clayton Weisheit (Ferdinand, Indiana). Weisheit (0-1) allowed three runs (one in the eighth and two in the ninth) on five hits.
