April 19, 2006

Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University of Northern Colorado baseball team put together four consecutive hits with two outs in the seventh inning, as the Bears scored three times to take a lead they would not relinquish, as they topped No. 12 Arkansas by a 4-2 margin on Wednesday night at Baum Stadium.

The win was the second of the year over a top-25 opponent, as the Bears topped No. 2 Nebraska 5-2 on March 28 in Lincoln. The Bears nearly made it a sweep of the Razorbacks, as they had narrowly pulled off the upset on Tuesday, before falling 2-1 on a walk-off triple in the ninth inning.

Northern Colorado (14-22) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Zach Harris hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season.

But the Bears would see the Hogs (28-11) score twice in the sixth inning to grab a 2-1 lead and turn all the momentum into their favor until the seventh inning. In the seventh, it appeared the Bears were dead in the water with two outs and nobody on base until they put the string of four hits together.

Grady Gorman, who had snapped a stretch of 0-for-12 at the plate with a single in the second inning, started the rally with a single. That was followed by Adam Symons, the reigning Division I Independent Newcomer of the Week, who hit a double to the right-centerfield wall, a hit that scored Gorman all the way from first base and tied the game at 2-2.

But the Bears were not done there, as Chad Clark singled to right field and Symons came around to score to give the Bears a 3-2 lead. That inning concluded when Seth Tartler doubled down the leftfield line to plate Clark and push the lead to 4-2.

The Bears pitching staff took over for then, keeping the Razorbacks off balance all night. Starter Roy Allen went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits and one earned run. He walked one while striking out a career-high seven. Eric Maydew (3-4) pitched the next 1.1 innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out one, in picking up his second win of the year. Chris Johns then pitched to two batters before Jon Leines shut down the `Backs in the eighth inning.

That allowed the Bears to go to closer Brennan Garr in the ninth inning, and he made it interesting. Garr walked two batters and hit another, loading the bases for Arkansas with out out. But Garr came back to strike out the final two batters of the inning in recording his fourth save of the season and the 11th of his career. Despite being somewhat wild in his last few appearances, 12 of Garr's last 13 recorded outs have been strikeouts.

"This is a big win both personally and for our program," said head coach Kevin Smallcomb, who was a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1989-90. "We played really well yesterday and didn't get it done but today we played a solid game and made all the defensive plays. Our pitching was good and everyone seemed to do their jobs out there tonight for us."

Tartler led the Bears at the plate, going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Gorman added his two hits, after entering the game with just two hits in his last 24 plate appearances. Symons had the game-tying hit at the plate and played stellar defense all night, making three putouts and four assists including a diving catch in he hole at shortstop, a play that ended the sixth inning and saved a run.

Arkansas was led by a 2-for-4 performance from Craig Gentry, who had the game-winning hit for UA in the bottom of the ninth in Tuesday's 2-1 win over the Bears.

Arkansas starter James Gilbert allowed four hits and a run in three innings of work before giving way to Brian McLelland. McLelland went the net two innings, allowing only a hit before Brett Bollman came into the game. After striking out three, Bollman (0-1) hit a funk, allowing three hits and the three Bears runs in the seventh inning. He would take the loss.

The win was the first-ever for the Bears over a Southeastern Conference opponent.

Northern Colorado returns to action this weekend when they host Pac-10 foe Washington State (23-15) for a three-game series at Jackson Field. Game times are set for 2 p.m. on Friday, 1 p.m. on Saturday and a new time of 11 a.m. on Sunday.