HOUSTON, Texas _ The Houston Baptist Huskies scored three times in the first inning and held on to beat the University of Central Arkansas Bears 4-2 on Sunday in their Southland Conference series finale at Husky Field.

UCA (23-21, 13-8) still took the series 2-1, winning their sixth conference series in seven attempts. The Huskies, who broke a three-game losing streak, improved to 14-29 and 7-14.

HBU got four hits and put up three runs in the bottom of the first to chase UCA starter Brad Verel (4-3). The Bears, who had their six-game winning streak broken, got two runs back in the sixth inning on a two-run home run to left field by senior first baseman Tyler Smith, his fourth of the season, which brought in junior center fielder Josh Ragan, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.

Senior Taylor Anders took over for Verel in the first and went 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one run and striking out five with no walks. The Huskies finally added another run in the eighth inning to set the final.

UCA left two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings. The Bears finished with just four hits against two HBU pitchers. Starter Kyle Gruller (3-3) went 7 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and two runs and striking out nine. Reliever JT Newton tossed the final 1 1/3 and earned his sixth save by striking out two.

The Bears have no mid-week game this week but return to SLC play this weekend at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. The Bears and Cardinals are tied for third in the SLC standings. Game times are 6:30 Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Sullivan Field.