CONWAY, Ark. _  The University of Central Arkansas Bears got a pair of home runs from senior Keaton Presley and a solid pitching performance from freshman Gavin Stone in a 7-3 victory over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in non-conference action on Wednesday night at Bear Stadium.

The Bears scored two runs in the first, third and fourth innings to put the game away early. Stone, a righthander from Jonesboro, tossed five innings, striking out four and allowing just four hits for his first victory in his first career start. He got help from freshman Logan Gilbertson of Cabot, sophomore Ross Rogers of Fordyce and sophomore Mark Moyer of Russellville, who earned his first save. 

Presley hit a pair of identical home runs off SEMO starter Ryan Losman in the first inning and off reliever Logan Winder in the eighth. He finished 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Senior shortstop Josh Somdecerff went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI, while junior Hunter Strong was 2 for 4 and scored twice.

After Stone worked out of a jam in the top of the first inning, Presley's two-run home run in the bottom of the inning scored Strong, who led off with a sharp base hit to center field. In the third, T.J. Black singled to center, moved to second on a ground out and scored on Somdecerff's double down the left-field line. and Tyler Smith followed with an RBI single for a 4-0 lead.

The Bears took advantage of two SEMO errors on the same play to score twice more in the fourth inning for a 6-0 lead. The Redhawks (5-12) got single runs in fourth, sixth and seventh innings but UCA's pitchers worked around those and did not allow anymore damage. The Bears pushed the lead to 7-3 in the eighth on Presley's leadoff home run, also over the left-field fence.

UCA finished with 10 hits and held SEMO to just seven, which included a home run by right fielder Justin Dirden.

The series concludes with a 3 p.m. matchup Wednesday.