San Antonio, Texas – The Central Arkansas baseball Bears took the field on Sunday looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Incarnate Word Cardinals. The Bears dug themselves a hole early, and were unable to rally, falling 10-5.
Incarnate Word (18-27, 9-15 SLC) built a 5-0 lead over the first two innings, thanks to a grand slam in the first and a solo shot in the second, before UCA left fielder
Wesley Hoover put the Bears (23-18, 13-11 SLC) on the board with an RBI single in the top of the third.
UIW added three more runs in the third, before Hoover again came through for UCA, poking a single through the left side in the fifth to score right fielder
Braxton Phillips and center fielder
Ty Tice to cut the Cardinal lead to 8-3.
The Cardinals tacked on another run in the seventh to push their lead to 9-3, before UCA second baseman
Chris Townsend doubled home firsts baseman
Matt Anderson in the eighth. Townsend would then come in to score on a wild pitch to make it 9-5 UIW.
The Cardinals would close out the day's scoring with a single run in their half of the eighth.
Hoover led the Central Arkansas offense on the day, going 4-for-5 with three RBI, while Tice and catcher
Charles Deckard each collected two hits.
Riley Echols (3-3) got the start for the Bears, but lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits and three walks while striking out two.
Derek Beier closed out the game, throwing 6.2 innings of relief in which he gave up six runs, just two earned, on seven hits and two walks while striking out five.
The Bears step out of SLC play on Tuesday, hosting Arkansas State at Bear Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
