HAMMOND, La- Southeastern Louisiana outhit Central Arkansas 12-4 en route to a 7-1 victory in Southland Conference baseball action at University Field on Friday night. With the win, the Lions improve to 23-18 overall and 10-9 in SLC play. The Bears fall to 18-23 and 6-13.

The Lions opened the scoring in the bottom of the fifth inning when shortstop Ty Summerlin hit a triple and was knocked in by a Brandon Street sacrifice fly. The Bears knotted the game in the sixth when junior second baseman Josh Huffman doubled and scored after a pair of SLU errors.

Summerlin knocked in Matthew Schexnayder on a RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh, to give the Lions a 2-1 lead. SLU blew the game open in the eighth, scoring five runs on five hits, including a two-run double by Casey Summerlin.

Lion starter Brent Varnado (1-2) struck out 10 and allowed two hits and an unearned run in seven innings. Ryan Collins picked up his fifth save of the year by fanning two in the final two innings.

Sophomore Bobby Pritchett went six innings and allowed five hits, one run, a walk and three strikeouts while getting the no decision. Senior reliever Derrick Corso (0-1) suffered the loss by allowing the go ahead run.

Ty Summerlin went 4-for-5 to lead SLU. Huffman finished 2-for-3 and had the Bears' only extra-base hit.

The Bears and Lions will play the second game of the three-game series on Saturday at 3 p.m.