CONWAY, Ark. – Northwestern State’s bid for a Southland Conference East Division baseball title came to an end on Friday when the Demons dropped a 6-2 decision to Central Arkansas while Lamar rallied for an 11-10 extra-inning win over McNeese State to win the east title.

The Demons (28-25, 17-11 SLC) fall to a game-and-a-half-game behind Lamar in the division standings with just one to play, but with Sam Houston State and Texas State losing on Friday, the Demons can still garner the No. 3 overall seed with a win in Saturday’s 1 o’clock game coupled with a loss by Texas State.

“We just came out flat tonight,” said NSU head coach J.P. Davis.  “(Starting pitcher Heath) Hennigan wasn’t sharp tonight and their guy was pretty good.  We had a really hard time making adjustments on him.”

 “I told the guys it’s all about us on Saturday,” said Davis.  “We just want to go out, win the series, and get some momentum heading into the tournament.”

Hennigan (3-4) took the loss after giving up five runs, two earned, on three hits in 4.1 innings.

UCA starting pitcher Bobby Pritchett (5-5) threw brilliantly in allowing just six hits and two runs in 8.0 innings of work.  He also struck out 11 Demon batters.

Offensively, the Bears (26-27-1, 12-16-1 SLC) scored their six runs on just six hits.

“They made the best of their baserunners,” said Davis.  “Obviously the two home runs were huge, but we had some opportunities to get some things going our way that didn’t pan out.”

UCA first baseman Richey Irvin snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning with a 3-run home run then the Bears scored two more runs in the fifth inning to go up 5-0.

The Demons got on the board in the seventh when Justin O’Neal, who had two of his team’s six hits, led off the inning with a triple, then scored when Chase Lyles grounded into a double play.  Shortstop Roberto Gallegos also added two hits while right fielder Jordan Nipp extended his hitting streak to a season-best 11 games after singling with one out in the fourth inning, the first hit of the night for the Demons.

The Bears added another run in the eighth on a Payton Seelinger solo home run and NSU put its second run on the board in the top of the ninth after O’Neal doubled, moved to third on a fly out, and scored on a wild pitch.