Final Stats CONWAY, Ark. – For the second time in the last week, the Colonels surrendered a large lead late and fell to an opponent, losing to the Central Arkansas Bears 12-7 Saturday night.
 
Nicholls (18-17, 7-10) has now dropped its last two conference series, and has lost three straight for the first time since late February. With a 7-1 Nicholls lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Bears scored 11 runs in the final five innings to complete the comeback.
 
Jeremy Hill finished the night with three hits, extending his hitting streak to ten games and is just two shy of tying Philip Lyons' 12 game streak set earlier this year. Lyons, Matt Richard, Michael LeGrange and Blake Bergeron all finished with two hits for Nicholls on the afternoon, as the Colonels finished with 12 hits as a team.
 
Pat Shreve (3-5) was working well for most of the game until running into trouble midway through, finishing the day with 4.1 innings, giving up five runs on ten hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Donnie White (1-1) pitched two innings giving up three runs on three hits with a walk and strikeout in the loss.
 
Hill singled over the head of the UCA shortstop to start the Colonel second inning, and LeGrange followed that up with an infield single back to the shortstop to put two on with no outs. Bergeron signaled the third hit of the inning with a single through the left side loading the bases. Austin Flores got behind in the count, but remained composed at the plate and was eventually walked to bring in the first run of the game, as was the same for Cody Dufrene who was walked to make the score 2-0 Nicholls. After a looking strikeout for the first out of the inning, Mike Barba was hit square in the back to reach first and score the third run of the inning for the Colonels. Richard singled through the left side to drive in Flores putting Nicholls up 4-0 still with only one out. Lyons hit into the fielder's choice scoring Dufrene, advancing Barba to third, and catching Richard at second putting Nicholls up 5-0. A groundout after the Colonels batted in order ended the inning.
 
UCA got a run back in the second on an RBI single to centerfield, with the Colonels leading 5-1 with seven innings still left to play.
 
Richard singled through the right side to begin the third inning, promptly stealing second before another looking strikeout put the first out on the board. With Hill at the plate, Richard took off for third and would be cleared to score as Hill singled to right field to score the Colonel left fielder easily making the score 6-1 Colonels. LeGrange followed with another single to right field, advancing Hill to third to put runners at the corners. Bergeron drilled a shot right at the first baseman and had no option but to get the unassisted out allowing Hill to score from third and advance LeGrange to second for a 7-1 lead. A pop fly to the outfield ended another Nicholls scoring inning.
 
Shreve got into trouble in the UCA fifth, giving up four runs on five hits before getting relived in favor of White, who would only need a handful of pitches to end the UCA scoring threat with the Colonels clinging to a 7-5 lead.
 
UCA clawed back for good scoring seven runs in the seventh on seven hits between White and Brad Delatte who came in for relief as the Bears took a 12-7 lead, their first and only lead of the afternoon.
 
With one out, Bergeron doubled down the left field line in the top of the eighth, and was followed by a walk to Flores. Dufrene singled to left field to load the bases, but the Colonels did not capitalize on the opportunity as the final two batters struck out in order to close out the inning.
 
The Colonels got two more hits in the ninth in the hopes of starting a ninth-inning rally with hits by Hill and Lyons, but a fly out and strikeout ended the game giving UCA the series win.
 
The finale which was originally set for 1 p.m. Sunday has been moved up to Noon in Conway.