The UCA Bears baseball team came away victorious in their three-game weekend series on the road at Lipscomb University, taking two of three games from the Bisons at Steven Lee Marsh Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, April 10-12.
The teams kicked off the series Friday evening, with junior pitcher Denver Hamilton getting the start for Central Arkansas (18-18, 7-8 ASUN).
Despite allowing three Bison (15-17, 8-7 ASUN) to score in the bottom of the second inning, Hamilton rebounded to finish with a respectable outing, giving up four earned runs on nine hits and one hit batter across six innings pitched.
The UCA offense began to find life in the fourth inning, as sophomore infielder Nate Negre scored on a sacrifice fly courtesy of sophomore infielder Jack Runsick to cut the Lipscomb lead to 3-1.
After the Bison went scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, Negre would kick off a four run inning for the Bears with a single through the left side that brought home junior infielder Keaton Laidley from second.
Following Negre’s single, graduate infielder Jagger Schattle smashed a three run homer out to left field to put the Bears ahead 5-3.
After the Bison added a run in the bottom of the fifth, freshman outfielder Mark Ross homered in the top of the sixth to extend the UCA lead to 6-4.
The seventh inning would see both sides fail to score before the Bears broke the game open with a five run eighth inning to open up an 11-4 lead.
Lipscomb would add two runs in the bottom of the eighth off a home run from junior outfielder Jordan Thomas, before the Bears added one final run in the top of the ninth to open the series with a 12-6 victory.
Negre provided a stellar performance in the win, going four-for-four at the plate with a walk and four runs batted in.
UCA took the field Saturday aiming to clinch the series with a win, scoring twice in the second inning to go up 2-0 early on.
The Bears added another pair of runs to go up 4-0 in the third, courtesy of junior outfielder Zeb Allen’s two run homer that broke the Central Arkansas record for career home runs with 25.
The fourth and fifth innings would pass with neither team able to score, before the Central Arkansas offense put together a four-run sixth inning.
Schattle would score on a passed ball, followed by a three run bomb from sophomore outfielder Sam Reynolds to open up an 8-0 advantage.
UCA would add another pair of runs over the final three innings, while holding off a Lipscomb rally that saw the Bisons score five runs over their final four at bats to secure the series victory, winning 10-5.
After Saturday’s win, Bears coach Nick Harlan praised his offense’s patient approach at the plate.
Harlan said, “The great thing tonight was we weren’t taking the bait on pitches that were just outside of the zone, and we were on time and ready to hit pitches inside the zone, committed to a plan, and that’s just confidence”.
Looking for a series sweep, Central Arkansas built a late 5-4 lead on Sunday before the Bison offense hit solo home runs in the seventh and eighth innings to steal a 5-6 win from the Bears.
The Bears return home this weekend for another ASUN series, matching up with the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels in a three game series April 17-19.
All UCA baseball games can be streamed on ESPN+.