UTPB Baseball suffered a pair of  losses Friday afternoon, falling 2-1 and 11-4 in Heartland Conference action against Arkansas-Fort Smith at Crowder Field in Fort Smith, Ark.

Trailing 1-0 after the Lions scored in their half of the first, UTPB evened the game with their first run of the day. A bunt base hit by Trey Cochran and a pair of walks by Ty Morgan and Ryan Arrick loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the second. Ryne Head hit into a double play up the middle but scored Cochran on the play from third to tie the game at 1-1.

UAFS came back with another run in the bottom of the third on an outfield single with two outs for what proved to be the last run of the game to put the Lions on top 2-1.

Andrew Grifol took the loss on the mound for the Falcons, giving up two runs, one earned, off of five hits and three walks. He struck out four in the six-inning outing.

The early innings of game two played out much the same as the opener when the Lions took an early lead twice and UTPB responded two times to tie the game.

The Falcons knotted the game at 1-1 when Arrick doubled into left center to bring Neil Madsen home after he singled up the middle to lead off the fourth.

Coming back to the plate after UAFS scored one in the bottom of the fourth, Grifol reached base to lead off the fifth on an error at second, stole second during the next at bat, advanced to third on an error by the pitcher and later scored when Arrick groudned out to the shortstop.

Arkansas-Fort Smith pulled away in its half of the sixth, scoring nine runs off of seven hits in the inning to go on top 11-2.

Cochran added to the UTPB total in the top of the seventh with his team-leading fifth home run of the season, and UTPB added a fourth run in the top of the ninth when Travis Sims tripled to left and scored on a Brian Brademan ground out to second.

The teams close out the three-game set Saturday, returning to the field at 1 p.m.