BEAUMONT, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears have plenty to play for in the final weekend of Southland Conference action.

UCA (27-24, 17-10) take on the Lamar Cardinals (17-34, 8-19) in the final three games of the regular season before the 2019 SLC Tournament begins next Wednesday at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.

The Bears enter the weekend in a three-way tie for second place in the SLC standings. The other two teams, Incarnate Word and Southeastern Louisiana, play each other this weekend. No. 1 Sam Houston State, which UCA swept at Bear Stadium last month, has a one-game lead on the three others and hosts fifth-place Northwestern State in Huntsville, Texas.

Three more teams _ NSU, McNeese State and Stephen F. Austin _ are tied for fifth place. Eighth place, as of now, belongs to the Nicholls Colonels with a 13-14 record. The top eight teams qualify for the double-elimination tournament.

UCA secured its spot in the tournament, its eighth consecutive berth, last Saturday with the second of three wins over Abilene Christian during a Senior Weekend sweep at Bear Stadium. Now the Bears must face the last-place team in the league, the Cardinals, for the first time sinnce 2016. UCA leads the overall series 15-13 but is just 2-7 in games played in Beaumont.

The Cardinals are coming off a 10-5 non-conference win over Big 12 TCU on Tuesday night in Fort Worth, a victory that broke a four-game losing streak. The Cardinals, under second-year head coach Will Davis, are 11-13 at home at Vincent-Beck Stadium this season and just 6-21 on the road. They were eliminated from postseason play prior to last weekend's non-conference series with Gonzaga, a sweep for the Bulldogs in Spokane, Wash.

UCA lost 5-1 to the Little Rock Trojans on Tuesday night in North Little Rock in Round 3 of the "Governor's I-40 Showdown" to end a three-game winning streak. The Bears have won seven of nine SLC series this season and have tied their most conference victories mar with 17.

UCA's pitching staff has a league-best 2.81 earned-run average and is the No. 1 staff in strikeouts (234), runs allowed (89), earned runs (76) and walks (60) in league play. Freshman Game 2 starter Noah Cameron has a 6-1 record with a 2.67 ERA, while senior right hander Cody Davenport is 5-4 with a 2.16 ERA and is the reigning SLC Pitcher of the Week after striking out a career-high 13 in last Friday's win over ACU. Cameron also had a 13-strikeout game earlier this season in a four-hit shutout of Nicholls.

Sophomore closer Gavin Stone, from Jonesboro, Ark., has a 1.70 ERA with a 3-2 record and 7 saves.

The Bears will need to be good on the mound as the Cardinals are fourth in the SLC in hitting at .277 with 41 home runs, 12 triples and 61 doubles. Three Cardinals sit above .300, including Logan Berlof (.336), Avery George (.333) and JC Correa (.330). Lamar's pitching staff sports a 5.49 ERA, which ranks ninth in the conference, and has allowed 42 home runs.

UCA's top hitter is junior center fielder Josh Ragan at .297, with four home runs and 31 runs batted in. Ragan has a team-high 15 multiple-hit games. Senior Tanner Wiley, a pitcher who took over the designated hitter role two weeks ago, is hitting .364 in seven games, with a .545 slugging percentage.

Game times are 6 p.m. both Thursday and Friday, with Saturday's series finale set for 2 p.m. at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

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