FORT SMITH (KFSM)- UA Fort Smith was able to hand No.6 Lubbock Christian their first conference loss of the season Friday, winning the rubber match 4-3. The Lions victory advances them to 28-17 overall and 15-6 in Heartland Conference play.
The Lions were able to win the key series in an exciting fashion Friday. UAFS was able to tie the game at 3 heading into the ninth inning. Relief pitcher Nick Yoning silenced Lubbock's bats at the top of the ninth, leaving a huge opportunity for his team's offense in the bottom of the frame. The Lions started to chip away at Chaps' pitcher, loading the bases. Junior College transfer Dion Williams stepped up to the plate and it only took one pitch for him to single the ball to bring in the game-winning run. Head coach Todd Holland was not surprised by Willaims' game-winning single.
"Dion has been hitting the ball like that all weekend," said Holland. "Once Dion got to the plate I knew it was over."
For Williams, he was just looking for any way to bring his teammates home. He wasn't expecting to get so lucky with the first pitch.
"I was just thinking to myself I'm going to take it one pitch at a time," said Williams. "I was just trying to get a foul ball somewhere, so I just let it rip and luckily for me it just landed."
For UAFS this was their 23rd win out of the last 29 games. After a slow start to the season, Head coach Todd Holland says that it took a little bit for his young team to click, but now they are rolling in the right direction.
"We've found our stride and everybody is starting to realize their roles," said Lions' coach Todd Holland. "I have been doing this for 14-years and it always takes about a month and a half to figure it out, and most of the teams I coach we usually get off fast start and trickle late. This is the first team that I have had we have gotten off to a slow start and picking up late it's a lot more fun to be on this end of it then the other end."
The Lions will play at Northeastern State Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.