CONWAY, Ark. — An early outburst at the plate paired with a stellar collective effort on the mound drove the Bellarmine University baseball team to a 6-2 win over Central Arkansas in an Atlantic Sun Conference series finale Sunday at Bear Stadium.

Bellarmine (11-33, 7-14 ASUN) scored five runs over the first two innings while sophomore left-hander Aaron Ragat, junior right-hander Oliver Ward and senior right-hander Blake Donnan clamped down on the offense of Central Arkansas (17-25, 10-11).

Ragat tossed the first 4.0 innings and limited UCA to two runs in the fourth. Ward followed with 3.0 scoreless innings of relief and Donnan delivered 2.0, ending the contest with his fourth strikeout while earning his third save. Ward collected his second win of the year while fanning three.

Most of Bellarmine's run production came through two innings. After freshman Landon Akers led off the game with a single, senior Casey Sorg unloaded a towering two-run homer for his sixth long ball of the season.

The Knights tacked on three more runs in the second after the first two batters of the inning were retired. After freshman Mason Acton walked and senior Seth Sweet-Chick singled, Akers drove them in with a double down the left-field line. Akers then scored on a single by Sorg to push the lead to 5-0.

Bellarmine didn't score again until the ninth, when Sweet-Chick led off the inning by hammering a solo homer to left, his sixth round-tripper of the season.

The teams finished with nine hits apiece. Akers and Sweet-Chick amassed three each and Sorg tallied two along with three RBI for the Knights.

Bellarmine does not have a midweek game this week. The Knights will next play an ASUN series Friday-Sunday at Austin Peay, with first pitches set for 7 p.m. ET (6 CT), 3 p.m. and 2 p.m.

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