CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears return home Friday for a three-game Southland Conference series against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at Bear Stadium.

    The Bears, who opened conference play with an impressive three-game sweep of Lamar two weeks ago, are now riding a three-game losing streak after dropping all three games at McNeese State last weekend.

    UCA, 8-9 overall, is third in the league in hitting (.280) and pitching (3.28 earned-run average) and second in defense (.971 fielding percentage). 

     Junior right fielder Forrestt Allday is leading the UCA offense, hitting .439 on the season to rank second in the SLC. Senior first baseman Bryan Willson is 10th in the conference in hitting at .348.

     Junior righthander Caleb McClanahan, the SLC Pitcher of the Week after the Lamar series, is 10th in the league in ERA at 2.50, seventh in strikeouts (29) and third in innings pitched (36). Junior lefty Jeffery Enloe is tied for eighth in strikeouts (28).

     Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-12, 3-3) counters with one of the top pitchers in the league in junior Daniel Minor, who is 4-1 with a 0.99 ERA. He is first in strikeouts (43), second in innings pitched (36.1) and third in opponent batting average (.180).

     As a team, the Islanders are hitting just 2.40, last in the SLC, and have scored only 84 runs in 22 games, an average of 3.8 per game. UCA is scoring 5.9 runs a game.

     Friday’s first pitch is set for 6 p.m., with Saturday’s game at 4 and Sunday's series finale at noon at Bear Stadium.