Central Arkansas no-hits Southeastern in Southland opener

CONWAY, Ark. – Central Arkansas right-hander Gavin Stone was the story of the night, tossing the third no-hitter in program history Friday as the Bears defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 2-0, in the Southland Conference opener at Bear Stadium.

Stone (3-1) was locked into a pitcher’s duel with Southeastern (5-8, 0-1 Southland) starter Trey Shaffer (3-1) into the sixth inning before the Bears (6-7, 1-0 Southland) broke through. With two outs, UCA cleanup hitter Ben Ayala turned on 1-1 offering from Shaffer and deposited it just over the left-field wall for his team-leading fourth home run of the season.

The Bears added an insurance run in the eighth. After reliever Justin Simanek hit Coby Potvin with a pitch to open up the inning, UCA third baseman Beau Orlando doubled into the left-center field gap to drive Potvin.

Southeastern had two baserunners in the game. Stone’s only blemish was issuing a leadoff walk to Champ Artigues in the fifth. Artigues was erased after the next batter, Jacob Burke, reached on a fielder’s choice, advancing to second on a throwing error by the second baseman who was attempting to turn a double play.

Stone earned the win, needing 112 pitches to finish the game. He issued one walk and struck out a career-high 13 batters. Shaffer was the hard-luck loser, allowing one run in a season-high 6.1 innings pitched. He scattered two hits and three walks, striking out nine.

The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. Sophomore right-hander Grant Upton (1-0, 1.00) heads to the bump for the Lions, opposing Central Arkansas southpaw Noah Cameron (0-1, 3.00).

There is no local radio coverage of the game. Other options to follow the action include both audio and video streams provided by Central Arkansas, live statistics or the @LionUpBaseball Twitter account. Links to audio, video and stats are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

LIONS GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE APP
The Lions Gameday Experience app puts audio, stats, video, social media and more in the hands of fans. Those in attendance can also check in to earn reward points redeemable for Southeastern-related prizes. Available for both Android and iOS devices, it can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play or by following the link www.LionSports.net/App.

DIAMOND CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the baseball program are encouraged to join the Diamond Club. Lion baseball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.

All membership fees and donations to both the Diamond Club and S Club (baseball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern baseball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lions Baseball, follow @LionUpBaseball or @MattRiser17 on Twitter, @LionUpBaseball on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

LINESCORE
Central Arkansas 2, Southeastern 0 (March 6, 2020 at Conway, Ark.)
———————————————————————-
Southeastern ………. 000 000 000 – 0 0 0 (5-8, 0-1)
Central Arkansas …. 000 001 01X – 2 3 1 (6-7, 1-0)
———————————————————————-
Pitchers: Southeastern – Shaffer, Trey; Simanek, Justin (7) and Manola, Connor. Central Arkansas – Stone, Gavin and Sagdahl, Nathaniel.

Win-Stone, Gavin (3-1) Loss-Shaffer, Trey (3-1) T-2:11 A-415
HR UCA – Ayala, B. (4).
Weather: sunny, 55 degrees