SUGAR LAND, Texas _ Freshman Cody Davenport pitched a gem in his first postseason appearance, carrying the fifth-seeded University of Central Arkansas Bears to a 3-0 victory over the No. 4 Lamar Cardinals in first-round action Wednesday in the Southland Conference Tournament at Constellation Field.

    Davenport, a righthander from Fayetteville, went 8 1/3 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and striking out 8. Sophomore Tyler Gray recorded the final two outs in the ninth as the Bears avenged a 3-0 series sweep at Lamar during the regular season. UCA, which won the SLC championship here in 2013, is now 8-3 all-time at Constellation Field. 



    Davenport won the pitching duel with Lamar's Will Hibbs, a first-team All-SLC selection. Hibbs (9-3) lasted 6 1/3 innings, but allowed 3 runs on 5 hits, with all three runs coming in the top of the seventh inning. 

    "He's a horse,' UCA head coach Allen Gum said of his freshman hurler, who threw a career-high 124 pitches. "And he's been that way most of the season, and back to last weekend. He pitches seven or eight innings last weekend in the pouring down rain. He's a mudder. He's a Friday night guy that's tough. 

    "It was just great pitching, both guys were good. We were just hoping to stay with it, stay with the process. We were trying to get his (Hibbs) pitch count up, which was hard. We were hoping for a break and that's what we got.'

    In that decisive seventh, senior second baseman Matt Anderson led off with a walk, moved to second on Logan Preston's sacrifice bunt and came around to score when freshman Hunter Strong hit one up the middle, off the mound and into center field for the RBI. Catcher Justin McCarty followed with a bloop single to right to chase Hibbs. 

    UCA right fielder Ty Tice greeted reliever Fernando Martinez with a perfect safety squeeze bunt to make it 2-0. Senior Tyler Langley then slapped a base hit to center, scoring McCarty to give the Bears their 3-0 lead.

    "Let's get somebody on, let's bunt them over and see what happens,' said Gum. "All of a sudden, we get a base hit up the middle, then we get another base hit up the middle. First and third and then Ty Tice did a great job on that safety squeeze. He put it exactly where we needed to. 

    "Just simple stuff, getting singles up the middle. That's what we've been working on, and it paid off tonight.' 
  
    Davenport retired the first 11 batters he faced, including five strikeouts. The first baserunner for the Cardinals came on a two-out walk in the fourth inning but Davenport followed that with a fly ball to left center that senior Brandon Montalvo chased down on the warning track after a long run. The first hit against Davenport came with two outs in the fifth when Lamar third baseman Robin Adames doubled over the head of right fielder Ty Tice.

    "I felt great,' said Davenport, who improved to 6-2 on the season. "I had a great team behind me that made some great plays. Montalvo made a great play in left. I was just able to go out there and do my thing, and I knew if I kept plugging and kept us in the game, that we'd score. And we scored three in the seventh and it felt great.

    "I wouldn't want to go into this tournament with a different team. We bring a lot of momentum into this tournament and I think we're dangerous.

    McCarty finished with three of UCA's eight hits. Lamar got two hits from Adames but he was the only Cardinal with multiple hits. Lamar's Russell Reid, the SLC Hitter of the Year, went 0 for 4 after entering the game with a .363 average and a league-high 18 home runs.     

    "Just little things,' said Gum. "I go back to Montalvo's catch in left center. That was a big momentum swing for us. It kept us right there, they didn't score and it allowed us to score first and get the momentum.'

    The Bears, who have won five consecutive games and 11 of their last 13, hope to carry that momentum into Thursday's 7 p.m. matchup with No. 1 seed Sam Houston State, a 5-3 winner of Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday. No. 2 seed Southeastern Louisiana and No. 6 seed McNeese State also won on Wednesday.