March 29, 2013

Box Score

CONWAY, Ark. – Sam Bumpers came up a double shy of the cycle and Seth Dornak picked up his second home run of the season on Friday night, but unfortunately for the Lamar baseball team, it wasn’t enough to get past Central Arkansas, falling 12-7 at Bear Stadium.

Bumpers ended the day 4-for-5 with three scores and a pair of runs batted in, and Dornak was 4-for-4 with three RBI.

The seventh inning proved to be critical in the game as UCA responded to a torrid Cardinal comeback with five runs in the frame to effectively put the game out of reach for Lamar and secure a series victory.

Eric Harrington solidified his spot in Lamar history, but unfortunately it came in a loss as the senior gave up six runs (four earned) on six hits in 4.2 frames of work to drop to 4-1 on the year.

Now, with 357.2 innings pitched for his career, Harrington is unmatched in school history.

The trio of Jerin Spikes, Lance Warren and Travis Moore combined to give up six runs, including five in the seventh, before Tom Elsom recorded the final four outs.

Lamar put the first run on the board in the second with a Dornak lead-off home run to left, but it proved to be only temporary as the Bears struck for three in the bottom of the frame.

UCA would go on to add another three in the fifth before the Cards mounted a comeback attempt in the sixth. LU loaded the bases on a Bumpers single, Jude Vidrine walk and Darian Johnson single, and Dornak earned a walk of his own to push the first score across. Garret Autrey picked up a sacrifice fly an at-bat later to cut the deficit to three at 6-3.

Johnson ended 2-for-5 and Autrey was 1-for-4.

The Bears tacked on another score in the ensuing half-inning, but a two-run blast by Bumpers put the Cards back in business. Dornak singled in another run to cut the deficit to one at 7-6 as the teams headed into the seventh inning stretch.

After the first two hitters of the bottom of the seventh went down in order for UCA, the Bears mounted a massive two-out rally, scoring five times to take control of the game.

LU scored once more in the ninth to account for the final score. Bumpers led off with a triple and later scored on a wild pitch.

The two teams will return to action on Saturday at Bear Stadium, and first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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