CONWAY, Ark _ Senior Jonathan Yerby became the single-season home run leader on Saturday and led the University of Central Arkansas Bears to an 8-2 victory over Sam Houston State.

Yerby, a senior third baseman from Winnfield, La., hit his 13th home run of the year to lead off the sixth inning and sophomore Reece Cross pitched a four-hit complete game as the Bears broke a four-game Southland Conference losing streak.

Cross, from Pine Bluff, struck out seven and allowed just two earned runs to improve to 3-4 on the season.

The Bears (19-27, 10-19) took a 4-0 lead in the third inning when junior designated hitter Beau Geren hit a three-run home run to score Dillon Smith and Blake Roberts.

After a 45-minute lightning delay in the middle of the fifth inning, UCA got a home run from freshman Jordan Getchell, his first, to lead off the seventh inning. The Bears added two more runs in the eighth inning to even the SLC series at 1-1.

The only runs surrendered by Cross came in the seventh and eighth innings. The Bearkats’ Adam DeLaGarza homered in the eighth inning for only their second extra-base hit of the day.

For the Bears, Roberts and catcher Eric Tennyson had two hits apiece.

The series concludes with a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.