The UCA Bears baseball team (5-6) grabbed a 2-1 series win against Illinois State University (5-6). The Bears won the first game 4-3.

The four runs in that game were scored by junior infielder Mason King, senior outfielder Kolby Johnson, junior catcher/infielder A.J. Mendolia and senior catcher Noah Argenta. Two of those runs were home runs by King and Johnson.

The Bears went four innings before scoring a run and scored a run almost every remaining inning starting in the fifth inning.

The second game on Saturday, March 4 went into overtime due to tied scores throughout the game. Illinois State took the win in that game by scoring two runs in the 10th inning. UCA lost 8-6. Runs were played by graduate first baseman Evan Hafley, Mendolia, senior outfielder Dylan Cyr, and graduate first baseman Jack McLaughlin. Hafley was the only one to score a home run.

Just under half of Illinois State’s runs were home runs. The home runs were scored by junior outfielder Auggie Rasmussen, junior infielder Greg Nichols and freshman infielder Daniel Pacella.

UCA won Sunday’s game by 12 runs. The final score was 22-10.

The Sunday game started with the Illinois State Redbirds scoring 6 runs, and the Bears scoring none in the first inning.

Once the second inning started, UCA had a major comeback with 8 runs scored and continued to have the lead for the rest of the game.

UCA Coach Nick Harlan said, “33 of 38 hits were quality hits.”

Johnson agreed with Harlan and said, “We take pride in our offense and defense.”

Harlan said, “They had aggressive confident swings today.”

Freshman Coleman MacRae and freshman right-handed pitcher Charlie Christensen are, “both gifted individuals who did good today,” Harlan said.

Christensen threw 5 strikes in his portion of the game.

Johnson said, “I’m looking forward to seeing some of the young ones pitch.”

Johnson was one of many key players in these games. He scored a home run in each game the Bears won. He also scored at least one run in each game.

The tie-breaking run that won the first game for the Bears was from Johnson’s home run. In the second game, he scored half of the runs won.

The UCA Bears’ next game is at 4 p.m. on March 8 against the Missouri State Bears at home.

There will also be a series of games against the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks at home on March 10 and 12.