CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears got two outstanding pitching performances on Friday night and outlasted the Lamar Cardinals for a doubleheader sweep on the opening weekend of Southland Conference baseball at Bear Stadium.
Junior lefthander Jeffery Enloe pitched a complete-game shutout in the first game, winning 2-0. Junior righthander Caleb McClanahan went 10 strong innings on the mound in the second game and the Bears pulled out a 1-0 victory in 12 innings in the nightcap.
Sophomore Jonathan Davis was hit by a pitch with one out in the 12th and promptly stole second base. Machon Trimm, Lamar’s fourth pitcher of the game, came on and gave up a game-winning RBI single to junior Ethan Harris that scored Davis with the game’s only run.
McClanahan struck out a career-high 12 in 10 innings, allowing only four hits and walking just one. Lamar starter Eric Harrington was nearly as good, going 10 innings with 9 strikeouts, 5 hits and 4 walks. The teams combined for just 11 hits, with UCA’s Davis and Lamar’s Brad Picha the only players with multiple hits.
Senior Andy Steinmetz (1-1) pitched the final two innings, striking out 3 and allowing 1 hit for his first victory.
UCA, which also played a 17-inning game last Friday night, used just three pitchers in the two games, while Lamar (4-9, 0-2) threw six.
Enloe (2-1) was in control the entire first game, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 8. Lamar ace Jonathan Dziedzic (2-1), who entered the game with a 0.00 earned-run average in 21 innings, allowed his first earned run of the season in six innings of work. He worked out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the second inning, but UCA finally got to him in the fifth.
Forrestt Allday walked and Blake Marchal hit a two-out single to right field before Davis doubled to score Allday and Marchal came in on an errant throw back to the infield by Lamar right fielder Jude Vidrine.
That was all Enloe needed as he allowed only three hits after that. Seth Dornak singled in the ninth for the Cardinals but Enloe struck out David Harris and got Picha to fly out to end the game.
Ethan Harris finished 2 for 4 for the Bears.
Game 3 of the series is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
