Baseball
UCA belts 13 hits behind big day from French with career-high 4 RBI
Bears improve to 8-7 in ASUN play and remain in a second-place tie in the Gold division
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A stellar performance out of the bullpen by Cooper King and a big five-run eighth inning earned Central Arkansas a 10-7 victory over the Bellarmine Knights on Sunday at Knights Field.
UCA won the series 2-1 behind a 13-hit attack, including a 4-for-6 performance by junior right fielder Blaine French, who had a career-high four runs batted in.
Junior Gavin Alveti earned his first save of the season, getting the final three outs in the ninth after entering with the bases loaded.
The Bears (14-20) improved to 8-7 in Atlantic Sun Conference play and remain in a second-place tie in the ASUN Gold Division.
UCA scored first when left fielder Zeb Allen led off the game with a home run, his second lead off home run of the week.
Bellarmine took the lead with three runs in the second before UCA tied it with a pair in the sixth. Third baseman Keon Moseni had a two-run single that scored Jagger Schattle and Preston Curtis.
UCA then took the lead for good in the eighth off three different Bellarmine pitchers. Bryce Cermenelli and Casey Shipley had consecutive bases-loaded walks before French blasted a three-run double to right field that put the Bears up 8-3.
UCA added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth on RBI singles by Shipley and French.
King, a junior transfer from Merced Community College, came on in the second and tossed 6.1 innings of one-hit baseball, allowing two runs and striking out five.
Negre and Schattle had two hits each for the Bears, while Shipley had a pair of RBI. Allen, Negre and Cermenelli each scored twice.
The Bears are back at home on Tuesday, hosting the Memphis Tigers.
