Early errors put the game out of reach early Sunday afternoon.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff baseball team lost 15-5 in seven innings to Prairie View A&M in the finale of a three-game series the Panthers swept at Bill Jones Field at Torii Hunter Complex.
UAPB (9-11, 0-3 SWAC) committed 4 errors in the first 3 innings, allowing Prairie View to take a 9-0 lead with just 2 earned runs.
Head Coach Carlos James said a lack of focus led to the mistakes.
“It seemed like we were defeated before it even started,” James said. “We came out, it seemed like, we wanted something to go right to kind of go, ‘Oh, we can play with them.’ But the good teams don’t allow you to do that. They pounce on you.” A misplayed groundball to first with two outs in the first inning allowed Prairie View (11-10, 3-0) left fielder Michael Burroughs and first baseman Marshal Jones to score, giving the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Prairie View third baseman Trenton Bush reached on an error in the second inning and later scored.
The Panthers blew it open with a 6-run third inning which included two additional errors. UAPB starter Jaedon Willis exited the game with no outs. He allowed 9 runs, though only 2 were earned. He finished with 2 strikeouts and 3 walks to go with 5 hits.
Ben VanMaanen came out of the bullpen to get out of the inning and went on to pitch 4 innings.
Prairie View led 10-0 midway through the fifth inning, but the Golden Lions got their bats going in the bottom half. Shortstop Jaylon Nauden led off with a double, then designated hitter JaKobi Jackson walked. Lawrence “Q” Noble bunted them into scoring position before an error at first and a groundout by Donovan Noble allowed them to score.
Leadoff hitter Malachi Jeffries, who reached on the error, later scored on an RBI single by Edwin De La Cruz before right fielder Carlos Rodriguez-Velez blasted a 2-run home run to right field, cutting it to 10-5.
Rodriguez-Velez said hitting the homer felt good.
“When I stepped on the plate, it was two outs,” Rodriguez-Velez said. “I was just trying to extend the inning, get some more runs in. We were lucky enough it went our way.” Prairie View responded by scoring 5 runs in the next two innings to get into run-rule territory and complete the sweep. UAPB committed 2 additional errors in the sixth and seventh innings. The Panthers’ starter, Preston Allen, went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 2 earned runs off five hits. He struck out three hitters while walking three.
Rodriguez-Velez led the UAPB offense, hitting 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs and a run. For Prairie View, nine-hole hitter Isaac Davila hit 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs.
This game comes one day after Prairie View won both games of a Saturday doubleheader, 16-5 and 8-2.
James said moving forward, he is challenging the Golden Lions to become a team rather than a group of individuals.
“What are you willing to do to win?” James asked. “We still got guys that’s dodging pitches that could be getting hit by pitches. We got guys that have made pitches when they needed to in certain situations, and that’s been this weekend. … I think the focus has to be there with this group.”