Central Arkansas Holds off Nicholls’ Late Rally
Southland Conference
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SUGAR LAND, Texas
– No. 6 seed Central Arkansas took a 7-6 win from No. 3 seed Nicholls to open the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament at Constellation Field.
Central Arkansas (28-22, 16-14 Southland) got on the board early as junior Travis Hull grounded out to advance senior Wesley Hoover to third and scoring junior Tyler Langley to give UCA a 1-0 lead.
Nicholls’ (34-18-1, 18-11 Southland) Alex Tucker doubled down the leftfield line to score junior Seth Stevens as the Colonels tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning.
In the top of the sixth inning, UCA Junior Preston Logan tripled down the leftfield line to score freshman Ty Tice, extending the Bears’ lead 3-1.
Nicholls closed the gap, 3-2 on a throwing error in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Bears put another run on the board in the top of the eighth inning as Preston doubled to score Tice, giving the Bears a 4-2 lead with one out. The Colonels turned to Relief Pitcher of the Year Stuart Holmes with runners on the corners. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Bears scored on a hit by pitch to lead 5-2. Holmes was able to get out of the inning with a looking strikeout from UCA’s Chris Townsend.
The Bears continued to move runners as Tice tripled down the leftfield line scoring senior Brad Dillenberger before a wild pitch allow Tice to make it a 7-2 ballgame.
The Colonels put two runners on in scoring position with no outs in the bottom of the ninth as senior Christian Correa singled to score two runs and cut the lead 7-4.
Right-hander junior and Connor Gilmore picked up a win giving up three earned runs off of 10 hits in eight innings pitched for the Bears. With runners on second and third base, Reese pick up a hit through the middle to close the Bears’ lead to one run, 7-6, but the Colonels came up short.
Central Arkansas with play the winner of No. 2 Northwestern State and No. 7 Houston Baptist Thursday at 4 p.m. for Game 7 of the tournament. Nicholls will face the loser of the Northwestern Stats and Houston Baptist Thursday at 9 a.m.