Bears pound three homers in 14-7 road win over Bellarmine

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The bats showed up early and didn’t stop Saturday at Knights Field.

Central Arkansas (25-19, 12-8 ASUN) turned in one of its more complete offensive performances of the season, rolling past Bellarmine University (17-25, 9-11) by a final score of 14-7 to take the series lead.

The Bears put together 18 hits and didn’t need any help from the opposition — though Bellarmine’s four errors certainly didn’t hurt UCA’s cause.

Three different players went deep and the middle of the Bears’ lineup did serious damage from the second inning on.

It didn’t take long for UCA to set the tone. The second inning was when things got going in a big way.

Mark Ross led off with a double down the right field line and Casey Shipley followed up with an RBI double to left center, scoring Ross. After Zane Denton drew a walk, Zeb Allen delivered his own RBI double to bring home Shipley.

Nate Negre’s triple to right center drove in two more runs and Jagger Schattle capped the inning with a run-scoring double to left field.

The Bears jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Bellarmine even had a chance to answer.

The third inning added to the cushion. Keaton Laidley singled and later scored on a Shipley base hit, the run unearned due to a Bellarmine fielding error.

Ross crossed the plate on a wild pitch, making it 7-0 through three frames.

Bellarmine didn’t go away without a fight. The Knights cut into the deficit with Eli Watson’s RBI double in the fourth inning, then scored two more in the fifth through ground outs by Cole Huett and AJ Swader to make it 7-3.

Connor Pawlowski’s sacrifice fly in the sixth trimmed the gap to 7-4, giving the home team some late momentum.

The Bears answered in the seventh inning with authority. Ross launched a three-run homer and Shipley followed immediately with a solo shot of his own — back-to-back home runs that stretched the lead to 11-4.

Bellarmine managed two unearned runs in the bottom half, but UCA’s advantage was firmly in place at 11-6 heading into the final two innings.

Jack Runsick’s RBI single in the eighth scored Laidley to push the lead to 12-6. Bellarmine added one more run in the eighth to make it 12-7, but the Bears locked down the rest.

Allen provided the exclamation point in the ninth, going deep for a two-run homer that brought the final score to 14-7.

It was a fitting ending to a day when the Bears’ offense was relentless from start to finish.

Three Bears Lead the Way at the Plate

Allen, Ross and Shipley each finished with three RBIs on the afternoon. Allen went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and his ninth-inning home run.

Ross crossed the plate three times, going 1-for-4 with a double and his three-run blast in the seventh.

Shipley posted a 3-for-5 line with two runs scored, driving in three on the day as well.

Negre went 2-for-6 with two RBIs, while Runsick also collected three hits in five at-bats.

On the mound, Jake Jones earned the win to improve to 4-1 on the year. He went five innings, giving up four runs — three earned — on four hits while striking out two and walking two. Jones threw 95 pitches, 63 of which found the strike zone.

Silas Cowgill handled the next two innings, allowing two runs on two hits with two strikeouts and no walks. Kannon Nesslage closed things out with a strong two-inning effort, surrendering one earned run on two hits and recording three strikeouts.

The Bears head back out to Knights Field on Sunday, April 26, with first pitch scheduled for noon.

The contest will stream on ESPN+ and can also be heard on The Bear 91.3. A win would give UCA a series sweep in Louisville.