Bethune-Cookman baseball upset by Arkansas-Pine Bluff in SWAC tournament
Bethune-Cookman was the SWAC regular-season champion, but it was upset by Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the first round of the league tournament Wednesday.
Zach Wieder singled to score Weston Gingerich in the top of the ninth inning to secure No. 8 Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s 6-4 upset over No. 1 Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the SWAC baseball tournament on May 20 in Birmingham, Alabama.
The top-seeded Wildcats (37-19) entered the event with regular-season road victories over Florida, LSU and South Florida, but it was the Golden Lions (24-32), the last team to make the field, that provided the upset to advance. Wieder’s single gave Arkansas-Pine Bluff an extra cushion entering the bottom of the ninth inning, which was delayed for more than an hour into the early morning of May 21 due to heavy rain. The RBI looked like it could be of use when the game resumed and Bethune-Cookman put runners on second and third base with two outs.
But the Golden Lions shut the door when Michael Rodriguez hit a ground ball to their shortstop, Konner Giddley, who made the routine throw to end the game. Arkansas-Pine Bluff never trailed the regular-season SWAC champions thanks to a three-run top of the first inning that featured RBIs from Aaron Grant, Blake Coleman and Nick Hockemeyer. Gingerich popped one for a sacrifice fly to plate another run in the top of the second, and Giddley singled in the top of the fourth to earn the Golden Lions a 5-0 lead.
That was when Andris Barroso replaced B-CU starter and SWAC Pitcher of the Year, Edwin Sanchez. Barroso pitched two innings before Jean Carlo Zambrano threw innings six through nine. Bethune-Cookman cut its deficit to one run in the fifth inning when Sergio Garcia singled to score the Wildcats’ first run and Andrey Martinez followed with a three-run homer to left field.