CONWAY — Central Arkansas is putting itself in position to repeat as Southland Conference Tournament champion.
The sixth-seeded Bears used a five-run fourth inning to beat No. 7 seed McNeese State 11-3 on Thursday night in front of announced crowd of 535 at Bear Stadium.
UCA (31-21), which has won seven consecutive Southland Tournament games, will play at 7 tonight against either McNeese State or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Mc-Neese State (29-27) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi play in an elimination game at noon today, with the winner facing the Bears, who can advance to Saturday’s championship game with a victory.
Three UCA players had at least two hits. Scott Zimmerle finished 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. Chris Townsend went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored while Doug Votolato was 2 for 5 and scored 2 runs. Also, Votolato has reached base in 24 consecutive games and is on an 11-game hitting streak.
UCA has won eight consecutive, all in May, including six to end the regular season.
“These guys love being in crunch time. These guys love being in clutch situations,” Zimmerle said. “When it’s crunch time, we get out there and play. We don’t want to go home and we don’t want the season to end.”
Sophomore right-hander Connor Gilmore (7-3) allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on 5 hits. He struck out 2 and walked 2 in 104 pitches.
“Getting to come out here in situations like this is a blessing,” said Gilmore, who has thrown three complete games in his three career postseason games. “It’s nice to come back home. Coming in like this and the way we’ve played is outstanding. I’m so proud of my team.”
“He had great stuff tonight,” UCA Coach Allen Gum said of Gilmore. “He was really efficient.”
One year after winning its first Southland Tournament championship, UCA is showing its tournament form again.
UCA led 4-2 entering the bottom of the fourth when it sent 10 batters and scored five runs to make it 9-2.
Charles Deckard and Carson Dowdle singled to start the inning off McNeese State starter Bryce Kingsley and Votolato’s RBI single scored Deckard to give UCA a 5-2 lead. Dowdle stole second base and Wesley Hoover walked to load the bases for Townsend.
Townsend doubled to center field to score two runs and a third run came home when right fielder Matt Williams’ throw went into the UCA dugout behind third base, sending Townsend to third base and making it 8-2. Reliever Collin Kobert replaced Kingsley, but he threw a wild pitch and Townsend came home to extend the Bears’ lead to 9-2. All five runs came with no outs.
“We got some timely hits,” Gum said. “We put some pressure on them and made some things happen. It paid off that inning.”
UCA added two runs in the bottom of the sixth for an 11-3 advantage on Zimmerle’s tworun single.
McNeese State Coach Justin Hill said that the Cowboys made too many mistakes Thursday. The Cowboys made three errors and hit three batters one day after beating No. 2 seed Nicholls State.
In other games Thursday, Andrew Godbolt drove in a run with a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth and No. 5 seed Southeastern Louisiana (35-23) held on to beat top seed Sam Houston State (41-16). ... Caleb Dugas’ two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning broke an 8-8 tie and Northwestern (La.) State (32-25) beat Lamar (31-25) 10-8. ... Trevor Belicek allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 1/3 innings to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (31-26) past Nicholls State (32-26) 3-2.
Tournament glance
at Bear Stadium, Conway Double elimination THURSDAY’S GAMES Northwestern (La.) State 10, Lamar 8
Lamar eliminated
Texas A&M-CC 3, Nicholls State 2
Nicholls State eliminated
SE Louisiana 1, Sam Houston State 0
Central Arkansas 11, McNeese State 3 TODAY’S GAMES GAME 9 Sam Houston State vs. NW (La.) State, 9 a.m. GAME 10 McNeese State vs. Texas A&MCC, noon GAME 11 SE Louisiana vs. winner Game 9, 4 p.m. GAME 12 Central Arkansas vs. winner Game 10, 7 p.m.
Sports on 05/23/2014