CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears' final month-long push toward the Southland Conference baseball tournament will be conducted mostly away from home, beginning Friday at Houston Baptist.
    
    The Bears (21-20, 11-7) play three of their final four league series on the road. The only home series remaining is with Abilene Christian on May 10-12 at Bear Stadium.

    UCA takes a four-game winning streak into the HBU series, including a three-game sweep of league-leader Sam Houston State last weekend in Conway. The Bears, who have won six of their past seven games, used spectacular pitching to hand the Bearkats their first series loss of the season. UCA used only five pitchers in the series and they had a combined earned-run average of 1.33.

    Senior right hander Cody Davenport, who will get the start on Friday at HBU, tossed a complete-game four-hitter, striking out nine to set the tone for the sweep. UCA's left handed starters, freshman Noah Cameron and junior Brad Verel, both went at least 6 2/3 innings and got scoreless relief from sophomore Gavin Stone and senior Conner Williams out of the bullpen.

    The Bears lead the SLC in ERA at 3.41 in all games, and just 1.96 in conference games.

    The Huskies (13-27, 6-12) are fighting for a spot in the eight-team SLC Tournament and currently sit in 11th place. They are coming off 1-2 series loss at Incarnate Word, and an 11-8 non-conference loss to UTSA on Tuesday. The Huskies  have lost four of their past five games but are 4-5 in their past nine SLC games.

    HBU took two of three games from UCA last year in Conway during the regular season, and then beat the Bears in the opening round of the SLC Tournament. UCA's lone victory against HBU last year was Davenport's one-hit gem in the third game of the series.

    The Bears have lost just one SLC series this season and are tied for fourth place with Stephen F. Austin heading into the final month.
    
    Game times at Husky Field are 2 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Listen live with Steve Owens on The Bear 91.3.

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