NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb University Baseball team avoided the sweep on Sunday afternoon, as the Bisons used two home runs by Jordan Thomas and Kai Holm to defeat the Bears of the University of Central Arkansas 6-5, Sunday afternoon from Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium. 

Final Score: Lipscomb 6, Central Arkansas 5
Location: Nashville, Tennessee (Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium)
Records: Lipscomb (15-17, 8-7), Central Arkansas (18-18, 8-7)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams traded blows in the first inning, as each saw two runs come across. The Bears got their runs in on back-to-back bases loaded walks in the top half. 

In the bottom half, the Bisons manfacutred their runs. After back-to-back hits by Brady Miller and Jorder Thomas, then moving to second and third on a wild pitch, the next two batters brought them home. 

Aaron Stelogeannis made it 2-1 with an RBI groundout, while Cam Pruitt followed with a sac fly. 

In the fourth, the Bisons tacked on two more runs to earn their first lead in the series since early in Friday's game. With runners on second and third, Hutson Miles gave the Bisons the lead with a sac fly to score Keaton Mahan. 

Next up, Alejandro Ludeiro made it a 4-2 lead with an RBI knock up the middle. 

Unfortunately, the Bears, looking for the sweep, used a Mark Ross sac fly in the fifth and a two-run single by Parker Gwyn in the sixth to reclaim the lead, 5-4. 

In the seventh, new reliever Kaleb Kantola slammed the door in the seventh with back-to-back strikeouts, and the momentum shifted to the offense. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Thomas hit his seventh home run of the year to tie the game at five runs each. 

After a 1-2-3 eighth that saw a called third strike to end the frame for Kantola on the mound, Kai Holm responded with his second home run of the week and season with the solo shot over the left field wall to give the Bisons the 6-5 lead. 

In the ninth, UCA was unable to get the ball out of the infield, as a groundout was sandwiched between two strikeouts and Lipscomb took the game to avoid being swept. 

With the first half of ASUN Gold Division play in the books, Lipscomb sits in third place at 8-7, two games ahead of North Alabama, who swept Austin Peay in Clarksville this weekend, and one game behind Bellarmine, who took the series from the Bisons last week and swept Eastern Kentucky on the road this weekend. 

KEY STATISTICS
Brady Miller, Jordan Thomas and Kai Holm all had two hits for the game. 

Kaleb Kantola (1-0) slammed the door for the Bisons, striking out five batters out of 10 faced in three shutout innings. 

UP NEXT
The Bisons will step away from conference play and take on Vanderbilt from the Southeastern Conference. The Bisons and Commodores will play at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

Tickets are still available for the contest, and you can purchase them by going to lipscombsports.com/tickets.