CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears got a strong pitching performance from freshman starter Cody Davenport and solid relief work from senior Derek Beier to down the Northwestern State Demons 6-3 and even the series on Saturday at Bear Stadium.

    Davenport, a righthander from Fayetteville, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs while striking out six. When he ran into trouble in the seventh, Beier came on and threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits and striking out two. The pair combined to strand 11 NSU runners on  base.

    The UCA offense did its part with one run in the second inning, two in the third and fourth and another single run in the seventh. The Bears (16-21, 7-10) had their leadoff runner on in all four of those innings and they scored each time. Junior shortstop  Brooks Balisterri went 2 for 3 with an RBI, while senior third baseman Logan Preston was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

    Senior left fielder Brandon Montalvo led off the second with a walk off NSU starter Chase Hymel. Preston followed with a base hit to center and Montalvo scored on Matt Anderson's RBI single to left for an early 1-0 lead. In the third, Langley was hit by a pitch for the first of two times to lead off the inning. Balisterri's sacrifice bunt moved him to second and he scored on Chris Townsend's RBI single up the middle.

    After Townsend stole second, Preston brought him in with a base hit to left to stretch the lead to 3-0.

    The Demons (19-18, 10-10) got one run back in the top of the fourth but the Bears answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame.  Catcher Justin McCarty doubled to the wall in left field to start the inning and advanced on Hunter Strong's bunt. Right fielder Ty Tice doubled over the head of the NSU left fielder to bring home McCarty and force a pitching change for the Demons.

    Jeffery Stovall got one out before Balisterri added another run with an RBI single to make it 5-1. The Demons made it a game with two more runs in the seventh off four hits, but the Bears got one back in the bottom when Langley was hit again and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

    Beier earned his first save of the season after allowing a lead-off single in the ninth, but then getting a fielder's choice, groundout and strikeout to end it. Hymel (2-5) took the loss for the Demons, who out-hit the Bears 11-9..

    The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.