BEAUMONT, Texas _ Three errors and nine unearned runs were too much to overcome Friday as the University of Central Arkansas Bears dropped their first Southland Conference game of the season 19-5 to the Lamar Cardinals at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

    The Bears (9-8, 3-1) led 2-0 after two innings but the Cardinals (11-7, 2-2) scored the next 14 runs over a four-inning period to win going away. Lamar got the majority of those runs in the sixth inning, getting eight, with seven of those unearned after a pair of errors. The Cardinals tacked on two more in the seventh for a 14-2 lead. UCA answered with a single run in the eighth but the Cardinals put up five more in the bottom of the inning.

    UCA, which got two more runs in the ninth, was out-hit 18-10 by Lamar and gave up two 5-plus innings.

    UCA took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning off Lamar starter Will Hibbs (3-1) when Matt Anderson walked, Justin McCarty singled and Butch Rea singled to right field to score Anderson. The Bears made it a 2-0 lead in the third on Logan Preston's sacrifice fly that scored Tyler Langley, who had led off the inning with a base hit.

    From there, it was almost all Lamar as the Cardinals scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth, eight in the sixth, three in the seventh and five more in the eighth. UCA got one back in the eighth on another RBI single by Rea that scored catcher William Hancock. In the ninth, UCA loaded the bases on a Langley walk and consecutive singles by Chris Townsend and Brandon Montalvo. Preston drew a walk to score Langley and McCarty's sacrifice fly made it 19-5.

    Rea, a junior shortstop from Cowley County Community College, went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI. Langley, Townsend and Montalvo all had two hits, while Preston had a pair of RBI. Senior Connor Gilmore (1-3) took the loss, striking out 7 in 4 2/3 innings.

    Game 2 is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.