The UCA baseball team lost 4-3 to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the first game of the series against Jacksonville on Friday, April 8 at Bear Stadium. 

The Bears’ starting lineup included sophomore Tyler Cleveland, junior Kolby Johnson, senior Connor Emmet, junior Hunter Hicks, sophomore Drew Pollum and others. 

Neither team scored any points during the first two innings of the game. 

In the third inning, senior RJ Pearson got a base hit, and junior Kolby Johnson got a walk. 

Senior Connor Emmet’s bunt moved up both runners in the third inning. 

Senior RJ Pearson was then able to come in on a sacrifice fly by Hicks. The Bears ended the third inning with a one-point lead. 

In the fourth inning, the Gamecocks got a run and tied with the Bears 1-1. The Bears secured one point in the fifth inning after freshman Reid Bowman scored on a line drive sacrifice fly by Johnson. 

The Bears secured another point in the seventh inning, but Jacksonville State caught up to the Bears by scoring one point in the eighth inning and two points in the ninth inning, leading them to win the game 4-3. 

UCA baseball coach Nick Harlan said the Bears “played hard and fought until the end.”

Harlan also said that the team needed to improve their quality at-bats, which they did during the second and third games against Jacksonville State on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. 

“This team works hard to make quick adjustments,” Harlan said. 

Sophomore Tyler Cleveland said the game was very competitive overall. 

“It was two teams, both in the hunt for winning our side of the conference, so the intensity and energy was high,” Cleveland said. “It was a clean game with neither team really making any crucial mistakes.” 

“I threw a ton of strikes and challenged hitters early in the count. I had great control with my fastball, being able to move it around to all sides of the place. I did well controlling my emotions and continuing to pitch even when things didn’t go our way,” Cleveland said. 

Senior RJ Pearson said the game was an “unfortunate loss,” but one that woke the team up to perform better for the rest of the weekend. 

“Tyler Cleveland came out and had yet another amazing outing and did more than we could have asked out of him,” Pearson said. “It’s not easy to win games, and things can flip on one pitch, which is what makes this game so crazy.” 

“As a team, we battled that entire game and fought hard. We just came up a little short. Our team prepares and practices at a very high level throughout the week, and we always feel very prepared. I think we came out of our approach a little bit Friday night and didn’t produce how we thought we should’ve offensively,” Pearson said. 

The team made adjustments and came through with a win the next day. 

The Bears won the second game of the series 11-9. The third game was  clencher but the Bears pulled out a 5-4 win. This fourth league-series win has put the Bears at 8-4 in the ASUN West. They are now tied for first place with Eastern Kentucky, who they face this Saturday.