LAKE CHARLES, La. _ The McNeese State Cowboys answered every one of the University of Central Arkansas' scores Sunday afternoon in taking a 6-4 victory in their Southland Conference series finale at Joe Miller Ballpark.
The Cowboys (26-22, 15-15) broke a 4-4 tie with two runs in the bottom of the eighth and then turned it over to their closer Collin Kober, who got the Bears in order in the ninth.
UCA (24-25, 13-14), down 2-0 after three innings, got one run in the fourth on Logan Preston's RBI single to center that scored Brandon Montalvo after a walk. The Bears tied it at 2-2 in the top of the fifth when catcher Justin McCarty had an infield single and then came all the way around to score on Michael Haun's groundout and an MSU error.
The Cowboys responded quickly to that with two runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2. UCA tied it at 4-4 in the seventh inning with three consecutive singles to start the inning by Preston, Hunter Strong and McCarty, which drove in Preston. McNeese replaced starter Bryce Kingsley with Trent Fontenot and he allowed Haun's sacrifice bunt to move both runners. Strong then scored on Tyler Langley's ground out.
But MSU's Will Fox led off the eighth with a single off UCA reliever Connor McClain and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. Tyler Gray came in for McClain and walked Ricky Ramirez before Lewis Gilbeau had an RBI single up the middle to make it 5-4. Ramirez eventually scored on wild pitch for the 6-4 advantage.
McCarty, a sophomore catcher from White Hall, finished 3 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Preston, a senior third baseman from Texarkana, Texas, was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI. MSU out-hit UCA 14-8, including the only two extra base hits of the game. McClain (1-1) came on with one out and a runner on third in the sixth and got out of that jam with two quick outs but was tagged for the loss.
UCA will take on the Little Rock Trojans at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock in Round 3 of the "Rock N Roar Rivalry." The season series is tied at 1-1. The Bears return home for their final regular-season series on Thursday night, hosting league leader Southeastern Louisiana. Game times are 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday for "Senior Day."
