The University of Central Arkansas Bears gave UTSA another conference loss Saturday at Roadrunner Field, 9-6. The Runners got things rolling in the bottom of the first with four runs, however the Bears would counter with two runs of their own in the top of the second to cut the score in half, 4-2. UCA prevented UTSA from scoring any more in the bottom of the second, while adding two more runs to tie the score at four all in the top of the third when Bears’ Kelly Martino bunted, bringing home Rachel Baucom and Kasey Britt. The score remained tied throughout the fourth and fifth innings, but UCA exploded in the top of sixth, scoring four runs, and taking an 8-4 lead. Bears’ leftfielder Sarah Garcia ended all of the Runners’ threats in the bottom of the sixth by catching all three of UTSA’s outs. Garcia upped UCA’s lead to 9-4 when her double to center field brought home team mate Martino. In the bottom of seventh, UTSA mounted a comeback off of Ashley Kappler’s first home run of the season, closing the gap, 9-5. Amber Anderson’s floater to left field fell in between two Bears outfielders, sending her to first. Leanne Risberg nailed a single to left center, putting runners on first and second. Freshman Caitlyn Ivy struck with a grounder to center field to bring Anderson home, making the score 9-6. Kelly Cato’s deep bomb to left field was just inches shy from being a home run before it was caught, ending the game. On her first home run of the season, Kappler said, “It felt great to hit that home run. I was just trying to get us ahead in the last winning.” Kappler discussed how it felt to win the first two games of this series, but to drop the third: “This feels bad. We came out fighting, but we got set back too much. We needed this win.”Head Coach Lori Cook agreed with Kappler on the loss: “This loss hurts bad. Our conference is so tough, we can’t just give games away like this.” “We need to start playing better defense; we were ranked 30th in the nation in total defense. We gotta go back to fundamentals and make those plays,” Cook said regarding her team’s upcoming match up against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech Mon. at 1:00 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.