The UCA baseball team suffered a clean weekend sweep March 9-10 after it dropped three games over the weekend against Missouri State at the Bear Stadium.
Central Arkansas Bears (7-10) played a three-game series this weekend against the Missouri State Bears (9-5), going 0-3, the first time the Bears have been swept this season.
The first game of the series was played March 9, where the Bears lost 4-2.
Senior pitcher Jesse Barker pitched seven innings, allowed 2 runs, walked one and struck out ten. After taking out Baker, UCA pitched Mason Griffin, a grad student transfer from Arkansas Tech.
In the eighth inning, Missouri added on 2 runs by senior catcher Dylan Leach, who hit a 2-run home run.
The Missouri State pitchers, senior Brandt Thompson and junior Eric Loomis, combined to throw a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts and two walks.
The Bears played a doubleheader on Sunday. The first game was played at 12 p.m. and the second game at 3 p.m.
Zack Stewart put MSU on top with a solo home run in the first, his seventh of the season. UCA tied it in the second as freshman Zeb Allen hit an RBI single.
UCA loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and scored 3 runs on a ground out from junior outfielder Drew Sturgeon. Two wild pitches also helped give UCA the lead, 4-3.
Leach had an RBI hit in the seventh to make it 6-4, but UCA got both runs back in the bottom half for yet another tie.
Central Arkansas came close to home in the eighth with a runner on third, and Missouri State shortstop Tyler Epstein made a diving stop and threw to first to record the final out.
Missouri State’s graduate student utility player Logan Chambers and Leach singled with one out in the ninth, and Jake McCutcheon was hit by a pitch to load the bases, giving Rogers the chance to ground a ball through the left side for the game-winning two-run single.
In the final game of the series, Missouri State’s redshirt freshman pitcher Tyler Charlton delivered a dominant performance, holding UCA hitless through six innings.
However, UCA mounted a late-game comeback, with senior infielder Mason King scoring a run with a two-RBI double in the seventh inning, narrowing the deficit to 6-2.
UCA’s offensive momentum continued in the eighth inning, fueled by a 3-run homer from Drew Sturgeon and a tying run scored on a walk, setting the stage for a tense finale.
Despite UCA’s late-game heroics, Missouri State freshman pitcher Kaleb Thomas showcased composure under pressure, striking out four batters and allowing only one hit in the final 2.1 innings to secure the win for Missouri State.
Sophomore infielder/outfielder Taeg Gollert’s sacrifice fly allowed sophomore catcher Carter Bregman to tag up and score the winning run, clinching the victory for Missouri State.
Looking ahead, the Central Arkansas Bears will shift their focus to ASUN play, facing a series against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (2-14) on March 15-17.