CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas rallied from a 7-1 deficit with three home runs over the final three innings but still came up short in an 8-5 loss to the Austin Peay Governors on Friday night in ASUN action at Bear Stadium.

The Bears (6-13, 1-3) scored first in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Nathan Negree that brought home Zeb Allen.

The Governors (16-7, 3-1) scored the next seven runs to back the pitching of starter Cody Airington, who went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits and striking out eight.

The Bears finally got to him in the seventh inning when Preston Curtis led off with a single to left center and Sam Reynolds followed with his team-leading sixth home run, a two-run shot to left center.

Four pitches later first baseman Jagger Schattle hit his first of the season, a solo home run to right field to close the gap to 7-4.

After Austin Peay padded its lead in the top of the ninth with a single run, UCA got its third homer of the night from sophomore center fielder Zeb Allen to make it a three-run margin.

APSU closer Kaleb Applebey pitched the final 2.1 innings and got a strikeout to end the game.

Reynolds finished 3 for 4 with 2 RBI while Allen was 2 for 3 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored.

UCA closer Hunter Alexander made his first start of the season and went 6.0 innings, allowing four runs and striking out six.

Jackson Schwank and Perry Titlow combined to hold the Governors to one run over the final three innings.

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.

FLORENCE, Ala. — Central Arkansas thrashed North Alabama across two games of a doubleheader on Friday, picking up a series win before sunset.

Game one saw the Bears do their work early to coast to the finish line, and game two had some slight dramatics before a big late inning helped the Bears pull away.

The doubleheader dominance improves UCA to 13-17 on the year and brings the squad back to .500 ball in conference play, now 2-2 in ASUN games. Kylie Griffin batted .600 across the two games, putting down six hits and scoring four times.

Game One: UCA 8, North Alabama 3

By the numbers, North Alabama came into the weekend with the best pitching staff in the ASUN, ranking sixth in the nation with a 1.83 ERA.

If not for an error in the first, the Bears would have doubled that immediately. Griffin opened the game with a single past the pitcher and a stolen base, establishing herself on second quickly.

Madi Young reached on an error and made it to second, allowing Griffin to scamper over to third. Addie Graham punched a single up the middle, and just like that, the Bears were up 2-0.

Lilly Hood knocked a double to put herself and Graham in scoring position, and a Kaitlyn Graham fielder’s choice gave the runner from third time to sprint home for a three-run lead.

UNA answered with back-to-back doubles to start the second, getting on the board in a comeback effort. But two strikeouts from Bailie Runner put the Lions in a tough spot, and a fielder’s choice to Young cleaned up the inning.

The first three batters of the third got on board in the third inning, via a Hood single, a Graham double and an Emma Veach walk.

The damage continued after UNA made a pitching change, as LJ Smith welcomed the new kid to the circle with a two-RBI single up the middle.

After the Lions added another run in the bottom of the third, the Bears responded with two more in the top of the fourth, snuffing out any comeback attempt the Lions could muster.

Hood walked, Graham doubled, and Veach tagged a single up the middle to clear the bases, putting UCA up five.

Each team added one more run, one in the fifth for North Alabama, one in the seventh for the Bears, and the Lions couldn’t find an answer in the bottom half, giving UCA a big game one win.

Runner picked up the win, scattering eight hits while striking out seven. On the other side, the Bears tallied 12 hits and five walks, while only striking out four times.

Game Two: UCA 7, North Alabama 3

It was more of the same in game two. The Bears again took an early lead, starting with a Madi Young walk with one out.

Addie Graham singled, and Lilly Hood took a pitch off the shoulder to load the bases. Mya January walked a run in, and Kaitlyn Graham hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 after the top of the first.

UNA answered with three unanswered runs, one in the first, and two in the third, taking their first lead of the weekend after ten innings of play.

But the lead was short-lived; Kylie Griffin got on base with two outs in the fourth, and stole second. Young punched one up the middle, and the speedy Griffin made it home to make it 3-3.

After scoreless fourth and fifth innings, UCA went back to work in the sixth. Still tied, Griffin singled up the middle, her third of four hits on the day.

Young doubled to move both into scoring position, and a fielder’s choice allowed Griffin to score, as the senior dodged the tag to make it in safely.

The Lions couldn’t retie the game in the sixth, and UCA poured it on in the seventh.

With two outs, North Alabama issued two walks to Emma Veach and Autumn Vessier, and Griffin hit a triple off the wall that careened past the outfielder in right field.

Now up 6-3, the Bears benefited from two more walks, one to Young and one to Addie Graham, whose fourth ball was a wild pitch that gave Griffin time to jet home.

Madge Layfield came in for the final four innings, picking up the win after tossing four scoreless.

She allowed four hits and walked three, but found her spots well enough for the defense behind her to clean up the Lions. Offensively, UCA tagged UNA pitchers for nine hits and drew eight walks, striking out just five times.

It marked the first time this season that a team has drawn more walks than strikeouts over two games against the Lions, with the Bears totaling 13 walks to just nine strikeouts.

The Bears and Lions will finish their series tomorrow at 1 p.m., with UCA looking for its first conference sweep of the season.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.

CONWAY, Ark. – The Sugar Bears are headed to the ASUN Finals bound!

Central Arkansas held on to defeat Lipscomb 70-65 on Tuesday, claiming a five-point win to advance to a second-straight ASUN Championship Final.

Jade Upshaw poured in 25 points to improve the Sugar Bears to 23-8 on the year, and put her squad in a position to compete for an ASUN title.

After giving up an early three, the Sugar Bears responded with a 13-0 run to jump out in the first five minutes.

After a timeout, the Bisons settled down and started to trade buckets with the Sugar Bears, and the lead stood at eight after the first quarter.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

Upshaw tallied seven points, including a couple of threes, to help build the lead, and the home defense held the Bisons to 29 percent shooting.

The lead hovered near double-digits for the first few minutes of the second quarter, but then Lipscomb started to whittle the lead away.

As the clock went under seven minutes, the Sugar Bears saw the lead decrease to seven, and by the four-minute mark, the lead was just two.

The bench helped prop up the scoring and end the slide, and UCA took a five-point lead into halftime after a Randrea Wright layup with under a minute to go.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

While the Sugar Bears shot 50 percent in the frame, Lipscomb shot 56 percent, trimming the lead after the first quarter by three points before the break.

Out of halftime, the Sugar Bears rebuilt the lead to eight points, before turnovers started to play a factor in the quarter.

Miscues from the Sugar Bears gave Lipscomb an opportunity to get back into the game, and by the four-minute mark, took the lead for the first time in the game.

Over the last five minutes of the third quarter, the teams traded the lead four times and were tied once.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

But a Wright three and an Upshaw and-one lifted the Sugar Bears from down two to up four by the end of the quarter. Upshaw scored nine in the third, accounting for more than half of the Sugar Bears’ 17 points.

The fourth quarter went very similarly to the third; over the first few minutes, the Sugar Bears held a multi-possession lead, going up seven at the 6:36 mark. But Lipscomb never went away, never gave up.

With UCA up nine with under a minute to go, back-to-back steals and scores cut the lead to four points with 19 seconds left, and the game very quickly shifted from a done deal to a dogfight.

After evading the trap, Wright split a pair of free throws to inch the lead back to five.

A bucket on the other end trimmed the lead to three with six seconds left, and Fisher iced the game with free throws on the next possession.

Upshaw’s 25 points were the second-most in a game for the senior guard this season, trailing only the last time Lipscomb played in the Farris Center.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

Upshaw averaged nearly 25 points per game over three matchups with Lipscomb, a series that was decided by 18 points.

Elizabeth Abiarawas a key factor on the offensive glass, pulling down eight offensive boards to help UCA tally 11 second chance points.

UCA now turns its attention to the ASUN Championship Final.

Hosted by Florida Gulf Coast, the Sugar Bears will head to Fort Myers for a second-straight postseason, hoping to dethrone the reigning champion Eagles. Tip-off in Fort Myers on Saturday is set for 1 p.m.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.