UCA has late shot against No. 2 Hogs, but fall just short

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Central Arkansas had a shot in the ninth inning against Arkansas on Tuesday afternoon. The Bears really couldn’t have been in much better of a position, loading the bases trailing 9-7, bt they couldn’t get that that last hit.

The result of that was a 9-7 loss to the second-ranked Razorbacks in a game that was  put a ninth-inning scare in the second-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks on Tuesday before falling 9-7 at Baum-Walker Stadium.

It played out about like Hogs’ coach Dave Van Horn said later wasn’t particularly surprising to him and gave UCA coach Nick Harlan a disappointing hope for the future after another loss to an SEC team on the road. They had a couple of close games against LSU in Baton Rouge a couple of weeks ago.

“Thought it’d be wild, it’d be tight,” Van Horn said. “They’ve played some good teams this year and they’ve played a lot of people close. You know they jumped out on us.”

The Bears (7-7) fought back from a 7-2 deficit after three innings, primarily after a grand slam homer from Wehiwa Aloy and a three-run homer from Ben McLaughlin that wiped out an early 2-0 UCA lead.

Nick Harlan (Andy Hodges / allBEARS+)

“As a competitor, you hate to lose,” Bears coach Nick Harlan said alter. “Disappointed we gave up that one big inning. But as a whole, I thought we were ready to play and our approach was really good. I was really pleased (with the comeback). That’s what these guys do.

“There’s no panic and they’re not going to play the scoreboard. They’re just going to try to play the game the right way every pitch. I was really proud of that effort.”

The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three innings. Three consecutive singles in the second by Drew Sturgeon, Preston Curtis and Bryce Cermenelli put UCA up 1-0 in the second. In the third, back-to-back hit batters in A.J. Mendolia and Zeb Allen, followed by an RBI base hit up the middle by Jagger Schattle, pushed the lead to 2-0.

The Razorbacks took advantage of an error and two walks, followed by a grand slam by Wehiwa Aloy, put the Bears behind in the bottom of the third. Two more walks and another home run, this one by first baseman Ben McLaughlin, made it 7-2.

“Seven out of the eight innings we pitched really well,” said Harlan. “I thought it was unfortunate that we gave up some free bases and they were able to get off some good swings and get into some good counts to create that big inning.

Bryce Parlin (Andy Hodges / allBEARS+)

“Outside of that, (Bentonville native) Bryce (Parlin) did a great job coming home and handling the magnitude of that moment. Pitching well, aggressive in the zone. Gavin (Alveti), outside of the first couple of hitters, threw really well, kept the ball down and got a lot of ground balls. We needed Hunter (Alexander) to come in and give us a strikeout and he did, but the ball just trickled away a little bit.”

The Bears answered in a big way in the top of the fifth. Schattle, Sturgeon, Preston Curtis and Cermenelli had consecutive RBIs to close the deficit to 7-6. A.J. Mendolia led off with a walk before Zeb Allen lined out to left field. Catch Casey Shipley, from nearby Farmington, was hit in the face by a pitch to put two runners on.

Schattle then singled in Mendolia, and Sturgeon followed with an RBI double to center. Curtis had a sacrifice fly to bring in Schattle and Cermenelli’s base hit brought in Sturgeon with the fourth run.

UCA reliever Gavin Alveti induced a double play to end Arkansas’ fifth, then got the Razorbacks in order in the sixth.

“Offensively, I was very pleased,” said Harlan. “Very disciplined at-bats, we didn’t chase outside of the zone. We created opportunities in multiple innings. We had a couple of timely hits. We were one big hit away from taking the lead in the ninth inning.”

Arkansas got two more runs in the eighth on three hits to go up 9-6. But the Bears went to work against Arkansas right hander Gabe Gaeckle. Hayden Seldomridge, who replaced Shipley behind the plate, had his first hit of the season, a single up the middle, to start the rally. Schattle followed that with another before a second out.

Left fielder Kade Seldomridge drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Cermenelli walked for his third RBI of the day but Gaeckle got a strikeout to end it.

Schattle, a junior designated hitter from Richardson, Texas, finished 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. Ceremenelli was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI, while Sturgeon was 2 for 5 with an RBI and two runs scored. UCA out-hit Arkansas 9-7.

The Bears return home for non-conference series with Missouri State beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Bear Stadium.

Information from UCASports.com is included in this story.