LANCASTER — Three USC-Lancaster students, two of them players on the school’s baseball team, were arrested Sunday night after wildlife officials say they were illegally hunting deer at night.

James Christopher Stewart, 18; Ryan Charles Manroe, 19; and Blake George Shirley, 18, were all charged with illegal night hunting and released on $5,000 personal recognizance bonds, according to court records.

The arrests came after officials noticed a rash of illegal night deer hunting in Lancaster County, said Cpl. Shawn Hanna with the state Department of Natural Resources.

At 11 p.m., the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office received a call about someone shooting deer on Riverside Road. Hanna arrived and helped deputies, the Lancaster Police Department and Highway Patrol search for the hunters, who fled the area, he said. They stopped a car and found three men suspected in connection with an ongoing investigation into nighttime deer hunting, Hanna said.

Stewart, Manroe and Shirley were charged. They “fully cooperated” with Hanna, willingly admitting their wrong, he said. The three college students weren’t charged with the previous deer hunting violations, Hanna said, because “they knew what they had done was wrong.”

Manroe and Shirley, both freshmen, are pitchers for the Lancers baseball team.