STARKVILLE — The University of Central Arkansas baseball team was in awe Tuesday during its tour of the facilities around Dudy Noble Field.
After the national anthem later that night, MSU was in shock after a 2-0 loss to the same UCA squad that seemingly was star struck by its surroundings hours before the first pitch.
MSU coach John Cohen could see the letdown coming and couldn’t re-charge a young lineup that was gearing up for a Southeastern Conference series against the No. 8 University of Kentucky on Thursday.
“We should show the team a 15-minute highlight tape because we knew (UCA) is going to be fired up to play this game,” said Cohen, whose team slipped to 31-21 and ended its non-conference season with an 18-7 record. “If anybody in Bulldogs’ Nation thinks we didn’t spend hours and hours and hours trying to get our kids fired up to play this ballgame, they’re wrong.”
Cohen is familiar with low- to mid-major Division I programs facing SEC schools. He spent three seasons at Northwestern State University (1998-00) and guided his teams to a 6-11 record against Bowl Championship Series conference opponents or top-25 programs.
“Our kids did not meet that challenge,” Cohen said. “We did everything and went overboard with our club because we knew this could happen. This is (UCA’s) World Series. It’s very discouraging to our staff because we warned them, worked them, and our kids still didn’t show.”
The Bears scored single runs in the second and fifth innings to back Ethan McKinzie, who was making his first start of the season. McKinzie (1-1), who entered the game with an ERA just below six, allowed five hits, walked one, and struck out four in six innings. Bryce Biggerstaff faced two more than the minimum in the final three innings for his first save.
“That was just a complete ballgame tonight,” UCA coach Allen Gum said. “Pitching, defense, and some timely hitting. We just played good baseball. When our guys play that kind of baseball, we can beat anybody.”
In the second, Bryan Wilson led off with a double. Griffin Claude worked a two-out walk and Blake Roberts followed with an RBI single.
A one-out walk to Forrest Allday started things in the fifth. Blake Marchal followed with a single. Ethan Harris’ groundball scored the final run.
The victory was UCA’s second against a SEC team. UCA beat the University of Mississippi 4-3 in 2008 in Oxford. Still, UCA (24-26) may have to win its final regular-season series this weekend to qualify for the eight-team Southland Conference tournament.
“Like I told our guys, enjoy it until midnight, then we have to flush it and get ready for a big series at home,” Gum said. “Sam Houston State is really the bigger fish for us.”
Starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (0-2) threw four innings. He allowed five hits and one run, with four strikeouts and two walks. Luis Pollorena allowed the other run in the fifth. Caleb Reed, Nick Routt, and opening night starting pitcher Ben Bracewell allowed only two hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Adam Frazier had three hits for his 23rd multi-hit game. Hunter Renfroe’s added two hits and has nine in his past 17 at-bats. MSU had seven total hits and failed to advance a runner past first base. UCA turned two double plays and threw out another runner on a steal attempt.
MSU and Kentucky will begin their series at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The series will continue at 7 p.m. Friday (SportSouth) and at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s about competing the right way, and hopefully we’re going to come out and do that against Kentucky,” Cohen said.
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