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    CONWAY, Ark. _ Opening Day for the University of Central Arkansas Baseball Bears will feature a bevy of new faces.

    The Bears, who open the 2019 season at 3 p.m. Friday against the Bradley Braves at Bear Stadium, feature 21 new faces on the roster, including eight pitchers and 13 position players.

    "Grab a roster, there's going to be a lot of new players,' UCA head coach Allen Gum told a Bear Backers crowd on Monday. "It looks seven of the eight position players on the field will be new players, whether that be freshmen or junior college guys. We lost a lot. We lost Hunter Strong, who was a big part of our team on the offensive side. Then William Hancock, who was just a tremendous catcher last year. And of course we lost the best pitcher in the league in Tyler Gray.

    "So it's a new team and some big shoes to fill. But we like our group, there's no doubt about that. Good kids, good character kids. They did really well in the fall academically. Just a very coachable, teachable spirit with a lot of these guys. And that's exciting. But like I said, seven out of eight of those guys have never been on a (NCAA) Division I baseball field, so that will be a new experience for them.

    "But we like them, we think they're a good blend.'

     One of the familiar faces will get the Opening Day start on the mound for the Bears.  Senior Cody Davenport, a righthander from Fayetteville, started 13 games a year ago (three complete games) and 40 over his three-year career at UCA. Davenport has won 15 games and has 177 career strikeouts.

    The remainder of the weekend rotation will see newcomer Ty Callahan, a lefthander from Van Buren and Connors State Community College on the mound Saturday (1 p.m.) and veteran junior righthander Mark Moyer from Russellville on Sunday (1 p.m.).

    "You have to be good behind the plate and you better be good on the mound,' Gum said. "Of course we have Cody Davenport starting out on Friday. He's been around, this is his senior year, he's pitched a lot of big innings for us. So we'll start the season off with him. He had a tremendous fall and we look for great things from him.'

    Gum said the biggest difference in this year's pitching staff, which includes returnees senior Conner Williams, senior Tanner Wiley, senior Taylor Anders, sophomore Gavin Stone and sophomore Logan Gilbertson, is their versatility.

    "As far as our pitching goes, we can come at you with some velocity, we have some soft-throwing lefties this year, we have a sidearm guy this year, a couple of guys with split fingers, changeups... We're going to come at teams from a lot of different angles. You'll see a lot of different angles and a lot of different people. We feel really confident with our guys on the back end (of the bullpen). You have to be good there. You can win a game for two hours and lose it in 15 minutes.

    "We have a chance to do more matchups this year. We have a pitching staff where there's not a lot of separation in any of them. They all throw strikes and they all do a good job. We lost a Tyler Gray, and I'm not sure there's that guy, but there's a lot of guys that are all about the same and we can come at people with a lot of different matchups. And that's something we haven't had here. I think you'll see a lot of different arms on the mound.'

    The Bears are coming off another 30-victory season (32-25) _ fourth in the past six seasons _ and their seventh consecutive trip to the Southland Conference Tournament in Sugar Land, Texas. UCA senior first baseman Tyler Smith is a returning All-SLC selection as well as an SLC All-Defensive team pick. Smith hit .285 with six home runs and 41 RBI last season while starting all 57 games at first. He also recorded a .996 fielding percentage.

    The remainder of the Bears in the field this season could be newcomers. The projected starting lineup for Friday includes: junior Nathan Sagdahl at catcher; junior Beau Orlando at third base; junior Joshmar Doran at shortstop; junior Cole Fiori at second base; junior Josh Ragan in right field; freshman Kolby Johnson in center field, and a group of potential players in left field and at designated hitter.

    "There are a couple of spots where guys are still fighting for it,' said Gum, who enters his ninth season at UCA. "And it's close. These guys work hard and they're fun to coach. They play hard-nosed baseball and they get after it pretty good. So hopefully on Friday if you come out, we'll show you some good things.'

    UCA's schedule, which has 12 of the first 14 games at home over the first three weeks, features a home matchup with Missouri from the SEC on March 1, a game at Oklahoma State on Apri. 2, a three-game series at NCAA Regional and 53-win team Tennessee Tech on April 12-14, home and away games with Arkansas State and the annual three-game "Governor's I-40 Challenge" against Little Rock at home, in Little Rock and at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

    The 2019 Southland Conference Tournament returns to Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, on May 22-25.