CONWAY, Ark. _ An infield base hit by junior Drew Sturgeon handed the University of Central Arkansas Bears a wild and wooly 16-15 victory over the Austin Peay Governors on Saturday night in a game that lasted more than four hours at a raucous Bear Stadium on Alumni Day/Graduation Day.

UCA (21-24) improved to 12-11 in ASUN Conference play and won the series over the Governors after Friday's 4-2 victory. Game 3 of the series is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Bears took advantage of 15 base on balls issued by the Governors (an APSU school record). APSU dropped to 22-25 overall and 12-11 in the conference and lost its fifth consecutive game. The Bears and Governors are now in a five-way tie for fifth place in the ASUN standings with seven league games remaining. The top eight teams make the postseason tournament.

In a game that featured eight leads changes and seven ties, the Bears put up three in the ninth to win it after the Governors scored four in the top of the eighth to take a 15-13 lead. UCA scored in six different innings and APSU scored in seven. 

The Governors used nine pitchers, with Peyton Jula taking the loss, allowing three runs in 1.2 innings. UCA's final pitcher, junior Trent Gregson, got the victory, striking out four and allowing just one hit over the final two innings.

UCA had left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning but Gregson struck out the side in the top of the ninth to give the Bears some momentum heading into their final at-bat. Senior Kolby Johnson led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk and Connor Flagg followed with another. Pinch hitter Evan Hafley dropped in a single to center field to load the bases.

After a strikeout, shortstop Reid Bowman got the Bears within one at 15-14 with a bases-loaded walk. After a pitching change, Flagg scored on a wild pitch to tie it, with pinch runner Tyler Monroe moving to third. Tanner Leonard drew the Bears' fourth walk of the inning before Sturgeon hit a dribbler down the first-base line that scored Monroe with the game winner.

Sturgeon finished 2 for 4 with three runs scored and also had the defensive play of the game, throwing out a runner at the plate in the top of the eighth to complete a huge double play. Gregson then struck out Jon Jon Gazdar for the third out of the inning to keep the Bears within two runs.

After the Bears spotted the Governors a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, Flagg got three of them back with a three-run home run over the right field fence in the bottom of the inning. Flagg, a junior from Greenbrier, Ark., had five of UCA's nine RBI in the game, going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. King, a junior third baseman, scored four times and had a pair of hits.

Third baseman A.J. Mendolia was 3 for 5 with and RBI and two runs scored. Johnson, one of 13 Bears who went through graduation ceremonies on the field prior to the game, had no official at-bats, walking three times and getting hit twice more. He still managed an RBI and scored two runs.

The game was UCA's longest nine-inning game of the season, and trailing only a 14-inning affair at Missouri State on Feb. 24 that topped five hours. The 16 runs was the third-most for the Bears this season overall, and the second-most in ASUN play.