April 16, 2010
Box Score
CONWAY, Ark. - The Colonels scored two in the fifth and two more in the top of the ninth, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Central Arkansas Bears, which took advantage of seven free passes from Colonel pitching and a pair of Nicholls errors to outpace the Nicholls State University baseball team (15-18, 6-10 Southland Conference) to the tune of a 7-4 loss in the opener of a three-game series between the two schools on Friday.
The Colonels outhit the Bears 9-6 on the night, but UCA got off to a fast start with one run each in the first and second. Jordan Getchell led off the first with a walk and advanced to second on a balk by Colonel starter Jarret Dunnam. Two groundouts later, Getchell scored and gave UCA a 1-0 lead.
UCA went up 2-0 in the second as Zack Dickson doubled home Drew Sullivan. However, Dunnam soon settled in, keeping UCA off the board in the second and third.
The Nicholls lineup finally broke through against UCA staff ace Bobby Pritchett in the fifth. Bear Comer had an RBI double and Beau Faulk drove in the first of his two runs with a run-scoring single to tie things up at 2-2.
However, UCA reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Mitchell Pair launched a two-run homer to make it 4-2.
Dunnam regained his composure by retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced and send it to the eighth with the Colonels down by just two, but the Colonel offense couldn't break through against Pritchett in his sixth and final inning of work, or in the first two innings of relief delivered by Michael Wild.
Meanwhile, the Bears struck big against the Colonel bullpen, plating three in the bottom of the eighth against Nicholls relievers Brent Bonvillian and Cullen Babin.
Facing a do-or-die top of the ninth, and trailing 7-2, Nicholls finally broke through against Wild. Steven Gauthe led off with a walk and advanced to second on a base-hit by Keith Kulbeth two batters later. Adam Miley loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Faulk picked up his second RBI of the night with a base hit and Blake Bergeron followed with a bases loaded hit by pitch to make it 7-4.
However, with one out and the tying run on first, Chase Jaramillo struck out and Kasey Culverson grounded into a game-ending fielder's choice.
The Colonels will try to event the three-game series at one game each when they face the Bears in game two on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. Live stats and streaming audio play-by-play will be made available at www.ucasports.com.
