The UCA baseball Bears began their ASUN conference play on the road, dropping a series to the Eastern Kentucky Colonels two games to one, March 13-15.
The first game of the series was a high-scoring marathon, as both sides put up runs in the double digits.
A combined 414 pitches were thrown by both teams during the game, with UCA throwing 200 of them.
The game began strong for UCA as junior outfielder Zeb Allen walked, followed by a two-run homer from sophomore infielder Jack Runsick to right center field.
Junior infielder Parker Gwynn drove in freshman Landon Carter on a double and freshman outfielder Jayden Sloan drove in two more runs with a single of his own.
A two-run RBI by Allen put UCA up 7-2 after two innings.
Freshman infielder Mark Ross hit a solo home run in the third to put UCA 8-2 and fourth inning two-run shot from Allen put UCA 10-3.
The Colonels battled back in the fifth inning, scoring seven runs to tie the game at 10-10.
UCA responded in the sixth, as Allen got on via a single and then stole second base. With two runners on, Gwyn managed to drive a single into right field which scored both runners.
The Bears tacked on another to go up 13-10.
Eastern Kentucky added another to make it 13-11 after six innings, but in the ninth Carter would hit a double down the right field line to score Runsick.
Senior infielder Noah Goodshield’s single to right brought in two more runners to put the Bears up 16-11.
Eastern Kentucky tacked on another run in the bottom of the ninth, but Central Arkansas held – making the final score 16-12.
It was a tough day for pitchers on both sides as UCA gave up 14 hits across five pitchers.
For the March 14 matchup, the offense dried up for the Bears as it would be the Colonels scoring big in a 16-3 route.
Central Arkansas jumped out to an early lead after Allen scored Gwyn on an RBI single.
But a two-run shot from Eastern Kentucky freshman outfielder Dylan Littlefield put the Colonels up and they would never look back as they put up five in the first.
Allen would homer in the third to cut the deficit to 5-2, but Eastern Kentucky scored two more in the bottom half of the frame to make it 7-2.
The Colonels continued to score in the fourth, piling on seven more runs to make it 14-2.
In the seventh, UCA scored on a passed ball to make it 16-3, but there would be no comeback for the Bears.
With a final score of 16-3, the series was now tied at one a piece.
In the rubber match of the series, Eastern Kentucky struck first and jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
UCA would score in the fourth after Gwyn was hit by pitch with the bases loaded. The Bears tacked on another run when junior catcher Zane Denton walked — also with the bases loaded — to tie the game at 2-2.
The following inning, the UCA offense sprung into action as Runsick scored from third on a wild pitch and Carter scored on a Denton sacrifice fly.
Gwyn would also score from third on a Sloan groundout to make the score 5-2 UCA.
Up by three with nine outs remaining, the seventh-inning stretch proved to be too much for the Bears as the wheels fell off in the bottom of the frame.
The Colonels scored four runs in the seventh as Eastern Kentucky senior infielder Pedro Moreno hit a two-RBI triple and then scored on a groundout.
Senior outfielder Jay Douglas also scored for Eastern Kentucky to make the score 6-5.
In the ninth, UCA had runners at second and third with one out but were unable to bring anyone home.
Over the course of the game, UCA left ten runners on base and went 0-9 with runners in scoring position.
UCA takes on Bellarmine March 20-22 in a home series.
