SAN ANTONIO, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears dropped both games of Saturday's doubleheader to the UIW Cardinals in Southland Conference action at Sullivan Field.
The Bears (8-11, 5-6) saw a 10-0 lead after two innings slip away in Game 1 and lost 12-11 in the seven-inning game. In the nightcap, the Cardinals (10-7, 7-4) used two big innings to down the Bears 10-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. The finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday with UCA trying to gain a split in its third consecutive SLC series.
The Bears' bats went to work early in the first game, putting up seven runs in the first inning and three more in the second. The Bears sent 13 batters to to the plate in the top of the first that lasted 25 minutes. Junior right fielder
Connor Emmet started the hit parade with a leadoff home run before six more came across in the frame. UCA had seven hits, drew three walks, had one hit by pitch and left the bases loaded in the first.
The Bears got first-inning RBIs from
Benny Ayala,
Hunter Hicks,
Kolby Johnson,
Drew Sturgeon Sturgeon, R.J. Pearson and two from Emmet.
UCA got three more runs in the second, with Emmet picking up his third RBI in his third at bat, through just two innings. At that point, all nine Bears had scored a run and seven of the nine had a run batted in.
But the Cardinals, who lost Saturday's series opener 12-7, began to chip away at the deficit and answered the Bears with 10 consecutive runs of their own _ one in the second, four in the third, three in the fourth and two in the sixth to tie the game. UCA took an 11-10 lead in the top of the seventh on Ayala's RBI single but the Cardinals plated two runs, the game-winning run on a walk-off infield single.
Emmet want 3 for 4 with 3 RBI, and finished the day 6 of 10 with 4 RBI. Ayala, Hicks and
Beau Orlando all had two hits for the Bears, who totaled 13. UCA's fourth of five pitchers,
Brad Verel, took the loss.
In the second game, UIW scored all the runs it would need in the fourth inning when it put across five runs. The Cardinals added a four-run seventh inning for good measure. UIW finished with 12 hits, including two home runs, and drew seven walks. UCA scored a single run in the second on
Drew Sturgeon's RBI double and added its only other run in the seventh when Emmet had a base hit up the middle.
UCA used five pitchers, with starter
Dillan Janak (2-2) taking the loss.
