Negre hits two homers as UCA baseball sweeps Oral Roberts

TULSA, Okla. — Sophomore infielder Nate Negre put on a show Tuesday afternoon at Chapman Park, connecting for two home runs and driving in four runs to lead Central Arkansas to a 5-3 victory over Oral Roberts University.

The win gave the Bears a season sweep of the Golden Eagles and moved UCA to 19-18 overall on the year.

It wasn’t a smooth start for the Bears. Oral Roberts jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Kole Dudding’s ground out brought Cooper Kelly home, and then Will Edmunson added an RBI single to score Cooper Combs.

UCA starter Samuel Curtis held things together as long as he could, pitching two innings while allowing both of those earned runs on five hits, finishing with one strikeout and no walks.

The Bears chipped away at the deficit in the fourth inning. Negre reached on a single and later crossed the plate when Keaton Laidley grounded out, cutting the Oral Roberts lead to 2-1 heading into the fifth.

Negre takes over in fifth

That’s when everything changed. Negre stepped up with Carter Alexander and Zeb Allen on base and drove all three of them in — including himself — with a three-run home run that gave UCA a 4-3 lead.

It was the kind of swing that shifts the entire tone of a game, and the Bears didn’t look back from there.

Oral Roberts answered in the bottom half of the fifth with a fielder’s choice that made it a 4-3 game, keeping things interesting through five innings.

But the Golden Eagles couldn’t find another run after that.

Negre added another solo shot in the seventh inning, pushing the score to 5-3 and giving the Bears the cushion they needed heading into the final frames.

He finished the afternoon going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBIs — a complete performance from the sophomore.

Defense also played a key role in the victory. The Bears threw out two Oral Roberts runners trying to score at home plate.

In the fifth inning, Laidley started a relay through Negre to catcher Carter Alexander to cut down a runner.

Then in the sixth, outfielder Zeb Allen threw to Alexander again to erase another Golden Eagle at the plate.

Bullpen closes door

Silas Cowgill took over on the mound in relief and tossed two clean innings, allowing just two hits and no runs while striking out one batter.

He picked up his third win of the season, improving to 3-0 on the year.

JB Williams worked 1⅓ innings, giving up three hits with one strikeout, before Nicholas French came in and handled his inning on just 10 pitches, striking out two and throwing eight of those pitches for strikes.

Hunter Alexander shut things down for good, working the final two innings without allowing an earned run, striking out four batters while issuing just one walk.

It was his seventh save of the season, and his two innings of work were exactly what the Bears needed to finish off the Golden Eagles.

Oral Roberts finished with 14 hits on the afternoon compared to UCA’s eight, but the Bears made the most of their opportunities at the plate.

The Golden Eagles left too many runners stranded and couldn’t overcome Negre’s two-homer explosion.

With the sweep, the Bears have now gone 7-8 in ASUN Conference play this season while sitting at 19-18 overall.

Oral Roberts entered the game at 20-14 overall and 11-1 in conference action, making the result a notable one for UCA heading into the back half of the regular season.

The Bears are back in action Friday, April 17, when they host Eastern Kentucky at Bear Stadium in Conway.

First pitch is set for 6 p.m., and the game’ll be available on ESPN+, with radio coverage on The Bear 91.3.