It took a while – four days to be exact – but the UAFS baseball team finally finished its season-opening Heartland Conference series against the St. Edward’s University Hilltoppers.
            The Diamond Lions beat the Hilltoppers 6-0 on Monday afternoon in the opening game of the series – a suspended game that began on Sunday – but lost 7-2 in the second game of the doubleheader at Lucian-Hamilton Field in Austin, Texas.
            It was a frustrating road trip for the Lions. The series was originally scheduled to begin on Friday with a doubleheader and finish with one game on Saturday. The series was pushed back to Saturday and Sunday because of rain and rescheduled again for Sunday-Monday because of rain.
            The teams played 1/3 of an inning on Sunday before rain forced the game to be suspended with the Diamond Lions leading 2-0 and runners at first and second base. At that point, the plan was to finish the suspended game on Monday at 10 a.m. and play a doubleheader right after in hopes of completing the three-game series. Conference rules stipulate that once the series begins it must be finished within 72 hours.
            However, Monday’s start time was pushed back to noon, and the series was shortened to a doubleheader because St. Edward’s ballpark doesn’t have lights.
            The long weekend will make for a short week for the Lions, who were expected to return to Fort Smith around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning. UAFS (1-1, 1-1) will leave on Thursday for its weekend conference series against St. Mary’s University that begins on Friday in San Antonio, Texas.
            St. Mary’s (3-0, 3-0) swept Newman University this past weekend in San Antonio and was scheduled to host Angelo State University on Tuesday prior to its weekend series against the Diamond Lions.
            Junior right-hander Sam Meloy was impressive in his debut for the Lions in the opening game. Meloy, who played two seasons at Connors State College and redshirted last season at UAFS, faced only three batters more than the minimum during his seven strong innings.
            Meloy (1-0) allowed only three hits – all singles – and struck out five to earn the win. Freshman left-hander Brandon Taylor allowed one hit in one inning of scoreless relief, and senior closer Kyle Thompson struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth.
            Third baseball Nate Bobrowski was 2-for-4, shortstop Ransom LaLonde was 1-for-2 and pinch-hitter Max Minor was 1-for-1 for the Hilltoppers, who batted just .129 (4-for-31) against the Diamond Lions pitchers.
            The nearly 22-hour delay didn’t faze the Diamond Lions batters, who collected 10 hits off two of the three Hilltoppers pitchers. The heart of the UAFS order – the Nos. 2-7 batters – were a combined 10-for-21.
            Designated hitter Christian Allen was 2-for-2 with a double and one RBI, center fielder Jordan May was 3-for-5 with a double and one RBI, catcher Ben Smith was 1-for-4 with a double and one RBI, first baseman Gordon Miller was 1-for-2 with two RBI, right fielder Steven Ross was 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI and shortstop Ryan Gros was 1-for-3.
            St. Edward’s (1-1, 1-1) retaliated with a big first inning of its own in the second game to force the series split.
            The Hilltoppers roughed up Diamond Lions starter Blake Brodie, tagging the right-hander with three runs on three hits and a walk in just 1/3 of an inning. Brodie (0-1) suffered the loss, facing only six batters.
            That’s all offense St. Edward’s needed, but the Hilltoppers added a solo run in the third of Diamond Lions reliever Neil Smith, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of long relief, and three runs off reliever Adam Cvengros, who pitched the final two innings.
            St. Edward’s collected eight hits in the error-free game with only one extra-base hit. First baseman Adam Shank was 3-for-4 with a two-run home run, LaLonde was 2-for-4 with one RBI, catcher Kyle Harris was 2-for-2 with one RBI and designated hitter Marshall Burford was 1-for-2 with one RBI.
            UAFS trailed 5-0 before ending St. Edward’s starter Tyler Harris’ shutout bid with two runs in the sixth inning. Junior left fielder Dax Dupire singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Allen, and shortstop Nick Gumm doubled and scored on a double by May.
            Tyler Harris (1-0) allowed two earned runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three over six innings before giving way to closer Stephen Johnson. Johnson, who is rated by Baseball America as the best pro pitching prospect in NCAA Division II and 58^th-best overall, struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh inning.
            Gumm was 2-for-3 with a double, May was 1-for-3 with a double and one RBI, Ross was 1-for-3 and Dupire was 1-for-2 for the Lions, who batted just .227 (5-for-22).
 
GAME ONE
UAFS 6, SEU 0
UAFS  202      010      001      --          6          10        0
SEU    000      000      000      --          0          4          2
Meloy, Taylor (8), Thompson (9) and B. Smith; Davis, Scott (5), Smith (9) and Elmore. W – Meloy, 1-0. L – Davis, 0-1. HRs – None.
 
GAME TWO
SEU 7, UAFS 2
UAFS  000      002      0          --          2          5          0
SEU    301      012      X         --           7          8          0
Brodie, N. Smith (1), Cvengros (5) and Rawls; T. Harris, Johnson (7) and K. Harris. W – Harris, 1-0. L – Brodie, 0-1. HRs – SEU, Shank (1).