The UCA baseball Bears lost their home series against Austin Peay State University, dropping two out of three games to the Governors at Bear Stadium in Conway, March 27-29.

The Bears immediately dug themselves into a hole on Friday night, with sophomore infielder Cole Johnson bringing home junior infielder Ray Velazquez on a single up the middle to give the Governors an early 1-0 lead.

After the Bears went down in order, Austin Peay added a run to its lead in the top of the second; courtesy of junior infielder Paris Pridgen’s double that scored junior infielder Kyler Proctor. 

The Bears would score their lone run of the game in the bottom of the second, as junior infielder Keaton Laidley scored junior outfielder Zeb Allen from third on a sacrifice fly. 

The final offense for either side would come in the top of the fourth inning. Pridgen once again scored Proctor, this time on a sacrifice fly, before senior outfielder Zion Taylor homered to right field to give the Governors a 4-1 advantage they would hold for the remainder of the game. 

Saturday would belong to the Bears and junior pitcher Denver Hamilton. The right hander pitched seven shutout innings, only allowing two hits and a walk while striking out a career high 12 batters.

Senior pitcher Hunter Alexander would close out the dominant day on the mound for Central Arkansas, not allowing a baserunner while striking out two batters in the final two innings. 

The UCA offense got in on the party as well, totaling 8 runs for a dominant 8-0 Bear victory. 

Freshman outfielder Jayden Sloan led the way offensively, tallying two hits, a walk, and an RBI to contribute to the win. Allen also reached base on three of his five plate appearances, scoring twice. 

The Saturday win for UCA set up a decisive third and final game on Sunday, with the winner claiming the series victory. 

Sunday’s clash turned into a mini home run derby, with a total of five balls leaving the park for both teams.

Velazquez got the scoring underway for the Governors early with a two run homer in the first, followed by a solo home run by sophomore infielder Mason Pangborn in the second inning to put Austin Peay ahead 3-0.

After graduate infielder Jagger Schattle drew a one out walk in the bottom of the second, sophomore infielder Jack Runsick homered to left center to cut the Governors lead to 3-2. 

Neither team would score until the top of the fifth, when Velazquez sent a ball over the left center field wall for the second time in the game to put Austin Peay up 4-2.

After UCA failed to score in the bottom of the fifth, the Governors added another pair of runs in the top of the sixth. 

In the top of the seventh, Johnson hit another two run homer for Austin Peay to open up a commanding 8-2 lead. 

Central Arkansas didn’t go down easy, as the Bears loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore infielder Nate Negre drew a bases loaded walk to drive in a run, before Allen scored junior infielder Parker Gwynn on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to four runs. 

Sam Reynolds would strike out to end the inning and effectively end the Bears comeback hopes, as the score would remain at 8-4 for an Austin Peay victory.

After dropping the series finale, UCA finds themselves with an even 14-14 overall record, as they fall to 4-5 in Atlantic Sun play.