UCA GETS PAST JACKRABBITS, 5-3

Friday, March 4

Conway, Ark.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

2-7

Central Arkansas

2-6

South Dakota State

Central Arkansas

Photo by: Erik Williams

3/4/2022 10:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas scored in each of the middle three innings and went on to defeat South Dakota State, 5-3, in the opening game of a four-game college baseball series Friday night at Bear Stadium.

UCA improved to 2-6 on the season, while the Jackrabbits dropped to 2-7 overall.

South Dakota State broke through the second time through the order to put two runs on the board in the top of the third inning. Henry George and Luke Ira opened the frame with back-to-back singles, with George advancing to third base on the first of three hits on the night for Ira. George later scored on a groundout off the bat of Derek Hackman and Ira crossed home plate on a two-out single to left-center field by Nic Nelson.

The Jackrabbits upped their lead to 3-0 an inning later on an RBI double down the left-field line by Ira that scored Dawson Parry, who led off the fourth with a walk.

Central Arkansas answered with a run of its own in the home half of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Drew Sturgeon, then drew even in the fifth as Trey Harris delivered a two-run single off Jackrabbit starter Nic McCay.

The Bears completed their comeback in the sixth inning, taking advantage of back-to-back walks to Tanner Leonard and Kolby Johnson to begin the frame. After both runners moved up a base on a bunt, A.J. Mendolia laced a single to right-center field to score both runners.

UCA's bullpen tandem of Tyler Navarro and Andrew Shoultz combined to limit the Jackrabbits to one hit over five shutout innings. Bear pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts on the night as starter Tyler Cleveland punched out nine over four innings, followed by two K's in 2 1/3 innings by Navarro and five strikeouts from Shoultz over the final 2 2/3 innings.

McCay struck out three and walked one before exiting with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Ryan Bourassa pitched the last 3 1/3 innings for SDSU and was charged with the loss. The junior right-hander struck out five, but walked six. He surrendered only one hit in his third outing of the season.

Harris led UCA's 10-hit attack by going 3-for-5. Nelson notched two of the Jackrabbits' six hits.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits and Bears are scheduled to play a doubleheader Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.

NOTES

UCA leads the all-time series, 8-2
The Jackrabbits dropped to 0-3 in series openers this season
Hackman drew two walks and was hit by a pitch and has now reached base safely in all nine games during the 2022 campaign
Bourassa has struck out 16 batters in 11 1/3 innings this season
Ira posted his second three-hit game of the year
SDSU played its second consecutive errorless game

-GoJacks.com-