SUGAR LAND, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears closed the regular season by winning 10 of their last 12 games, including a 3-0 sweep of then-league leader Southeastern Louisiana on the final weekend of Southland Conference play at Bear Stadium.

    The Bears (28-25) hope to carry that momentum into their first-round matchup with the Lamar Cardinals in the Southland Conference Tournament that gets underway Wednesday. The fifth-seeded Bears take on the fourth-seeded Cardinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Constellation Field.
    
    UCA , which won the SLC Tournament in 2013 at Constellation Field, is led by a senior class of 10 players, three that were named All-Southland Conference on Monday. The Bears jumped from eighth place and barely in the tournament field to a No. 5 seed with the sweep of the Lions. UCA won 13-5, 3-2 and 3-2, hitting .302 for the weekend and putting together a 2.67 earned-run average.
    
    Senior left fielder Brandon Montalvo led the offensive charge, hitting .545 with a home run and 4 RBI. Senior second baseman Chris Townsend hit .500 and scored 4 runs, while sophomore catcher/first baseman Justin McCarty hit .500 as well. UCA's pitching staff got victories from starters Chris Davenport and Ty Tice and a victory and a save from fifth-year senior Connor McClain in relief.

    Lamar finished the regular season with a three-game sweep of Stephen F. Austin on the road in Nacogdoches, Texas. However, the Cardinals have are just 4-7 in their last 11 games, losing 2 of 3 to Sam Houston State and going 0-3 vs. Southeastern Louisiana.

    Lamar won all three earlier meetings with the Bears in Beaumont, Texas, winning 19-5, 7-6 and 9-2 in the second SLC series of the season on March 18-20. UCA hit just .248 for the weekend while Lamar hit .356. The Cardinals hit six home runs to UCA's one.

    The No. 5 seed is the highest for UCA since joining the league in 2007 and becoming eligible for the tournament in 2011. The Bears won the tournament as a No. 7 seed in 2013 and reached the championship game again in 2014 as a No. 6 seed. The Bears have an 11-8 all-time record at the tournament.     

    UCA, making its fifth straight SLC Tournament appearance, has the most wins of any NCAA Division I team in Arkansas this season with 28, and also has the highest RPI among Arkansas schools at 108. 

NOTES:
• UCA's senior class of 10 has won 131 games over four years, including the school's first SLC championship and first NCAA Regional appearance (2013).

• UCA head coach Allen Gum, in his sixth season, passed the 400-victory mark this season and has an overall career record of 406-220, including a 180-152 mark at UCA.

• UCA has outscored its last 15 opponents by a combined score of 124-62.

• UCA senior righthander Connor Gilmore, the school record holder in several categories including career victories (22), pitched twice out of the bullpen in the sweep of Southeastern Louisiana last weekend, picking up his first career save on Thursday.

• The Bears have a 10-11 record against this year's SLC Tournament Field. UCA went 3-0 against SLU and SFA, went 2-1 against New Orleans, 1-2 against Northwestern State and McNeese and 0-3 against Lamar and Sam Houston.

• The Bears are in the "Texas" side of the bracket with Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. The other side of the bracket features all Louisiana schools.