LAKE CHARLES, La. _ Senior lefthander Jeffery Enloe went 10 innings for the third time this season and the University of Central Arkansas Bears scored three runs in the 11th inning to take a 6-4 win over McNeese State in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Cowboys came back and won the nightcap 6-1, holding the Bears to just four hits at Cowboy Diamond.
UCA (31-11, 10-8) won its fifth consecutive SLC series 2-1 and took a series from McNeese State (20-21, 7-11) for the first time since joining the conference in 2007.
In the opener, UCA scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning on three hits and an error. Senior Ethan Harris started it with a base hit and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Blake Marchal. Chris Townsend drew a walk and Scott Zimmerle was then intentionally walked to load the bases.
Senior Michael Marietta brought in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to right field, with Zimmerle moving to third. Townsend moved to second on a wild pitch before Zimmerle made it 5-3 when he came in on Garrett Brown’s ground ball that was bobbled by the MSU shortstop.
Townsend made it 6-3, coming in on Jacob Williams’ wild pitch.
Senior reliever Ethan McKinzie allowed a two-out double and an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th but got Tyler Klouser to pop up to Marietta behind the plate to earn his fifth save. Enloe (7-3) allowed 11 hits and 3 earned runs, striking out 3 and walking none in 10 innings to break his own two-game losing streak. Enloe has gone at least 8 innings in his last four starts.
Enloe allowed a run in the first inning on three consecutive singles by the Cowboys, but the Bears tied it in the third on Harris’ RBI single. McNeese went back in front in the sixth with sacrifice fly, and made it 3-1 with another run in the seventh. The Bears tied it with a pair of runs in the eighth on Chris Townsend’s RBI single to left and Justin Treece’s sacrifice fly.
UCA finished with just nine hits but drew 10 walks and left 15 runners on base. McNeese had 13 hits but commited 3 errors. Harris, Townsend and Brown all had two hits for the Bears.
The Bears commited three errors and came up with very little offense in the second game. Junior center fielder Jonathan Davis had 2 of UCA’s 4 hits, including a solo home run in the ninth inning for UCA’s only run. McNeese State had 12 hits off three UCA pitchers..
The Bears, who are 18-2 at home this season, return to Bear Stadium next weekend, hosting Southeastern Louisiana beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.
