The baseball Bears’ trip to Nashville proved victorious as UCA took down the Vanderbilt Commodores 5-4 on March 3.
Central Arkansas held off a late-game rally from its SEC foes to snatch a road win and improve to 8-5 on the season.
On the mound for UCA was junior pitcher Patrick Fernandez, who started the game with three shutout innings.
On the offensive side, the Bears began scoring in the top of the third when junior outfielder Zeb Allen drove in senior infielder Noah Goodshield with a left field single.
The third inning offensive output continued with a passed ball allowing freshman outfielders Jayden Sloan to score.
A sacrifice fly from infielder Jack Runsick scored Allen, and UCA was up 3-0 after three innings.
The Commodores responded with a solo home run in the fourth run to cut the UCA lead to two.
The Bears added some insurance in the fifth when Allen scored Goodshield off of an RBI single to center field. Junior infielder Parker Gwynn then scored off a single from infielder Landon Carter to make the lead 5-1 UCA.
In the bottom of the fifth, Vandy scored another run, which knocked Fernandez out of the game.
In relief came junior pitcher JB Williams, who gave up three hits and one run across one inning, cutting the score to 5-3.
The Commodores’ pitching seemed to stifle the Bears, as UCA was shut out across the 6 and 7 innings.
Junior pitcher Denver Hamilton relieved Johnson and went one inning, allowing one hit and one run that made the score 5-4 UCA going into the ninth.
As the Bears bats continued to stall, the game entered the bottom of the ninth with UCA holding a one run lead.
Central Arkansas turned to closing pitcher Hunter Alexander to close out the game and he delivered with a perfect inning – setting down three straight Vanderbilt batters to give UCA the victory.
Alexander struck out one and earned his fourth save of the season.
The win at Hawkins field gave UCA its first win against an SEC school since 2023, which also happened to be against ninth-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville.
The out of conference win proved a successful road trip for the Bears, as they prepared for a brief home stint before heading to Richmond, Ken. to take on Eastern Kentucky University March 13 – 15.
