BEARS OPEN 2020 SEASON WITH FOUR-GAME HOMESTAND

CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears, coming off a runnerup finish at last year's Southland Conference Baseball Tournament, open the 2020 season at home Friday night, hosting another set of Bears, from Missoujri State.

The Bears will be at home for four consecutive games to start the season, also hosting the University of Memphis next Tuesday at Bear Stadium.

UCA and Missouri State will open their three-game series at 3 p.m. Friday, followed by 1 p.m. matchups on Saturday and Sunday.

For UCA head coach Allen Gum, beginning his 10th season with the Bears, the goal is always the same.

"It's like we tell our players all the time, just play a high level of catch, let's throw strike one, let's run the bases aggressively but smart and let's put the ball in play,' said Gum. "Nothing more than that. It's kind of a simple goal, but this early, that's what we're after the first weekend.'

The Bears were picked second in the recent SLC preseason poll and were co-leaders with five preseason All-SLC selections. Those include pitchers Conner Williams, a senior from Conway, junior Gavin Stone, a junior from Lake City, Ark., and sophomore Noah Cameron from St. Joseph, Mo., along with senior third baseman Beau Orlando of Houston and senior center fielder Josh Ragan from Irving, Texas.
 

UCA will open the season with Stone on the mound against MSU. Stone finished with a 4-3 record and a team-low 1.52 earned-run average, mostly out of the bullpen. Stone struck out 58 batters while walking only 11 over 47.1 innings. His second start of the season was an eight-inning, five-hit effort in the SLC Tournament against Stephen F. Austin, a game the Bears won 11-0 by run rule.

The rest of the weekend will see Cameron, named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball, on the mound on Saturday, followed by senior Mark Moyer on Sunday. 

"I like the fact that we have a lot of moving parts, a lot of interchangeable guys,' said Gum. "We have some versatility there. A lot of guys can play a lot of different positions so it could give us some options late in the game, or maybe a little better matchups this year.' 

Gum said this year's squad should mirror the previous nine in approach to the game.

"We always want to start with strike one and pitching,' he said. "We always want to be a pitching-defense team first. I think we have the potential to maybe have a little more power, if a couple of guys can get in the lineup. If they can get a little better defensively and can get in the lineup, that may allow us to have a little more power this year. 

"But that's always our MO, we always want to be pitching and defense, run the bases really, really well. Nothing has changed on that, the same type of team we always are.'
 
Missouri State, which finished an uncharacteristic 20-36 and in sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference last season, returns 19 players from last year's team, including six different players who have earned All-Conference honors at some point in their collegiate careers, and two former freshman All-Americans. The visiting Bears will open the series with senior righthander Logan Wiley, who was 5-5 with a 3.67 ERA and 82 strikeouts last year. Righthander Hayden Minton and lefty Peyton Carson are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

MSU, under the direction of 38-year veteran Keith Guttin, swept the two-game series with the Bears last year at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo., winning 9-7 and 15-3. The last time the teams met in Conway, in 2018, they split a pair of games. UCA won 1-0 and MSU won 5-2. In UCA's win, Tyler Gray and Moyer combined on a two-hit shutout, with Gray striking out nine in 7 innings and Moyer with 4 Ks.

Gum said the preseason No. 2 pick among SLC coaches and sports information directors means very little this time of year.  

"All that means, the preseason stuff, is its (based on) the accomplishments of last year's team,' said Gum. "These guys have to reset and it's got to be on them now. And the same with the preseason accolades and all that stuff. Like I tell our guys, you've got to treat success and failure the exact same, and praise and criticism the same. If you do that, you'll be all right.'

All three weekend games will be streamed live on ucasports.com, while Sunday's game will also be carried live on The Bear 91.3. UCA Baseball single-game and group tickets can be purchased at ucasports.com/tickets or by calling the UCA Ticket Office at 501-852-2234. Tickets can also be purchased in person Monday-Friday at Estes Stadium from noon until 4 p.m. The Bear Stadium ticket office will open one hour prior to first pitch on Game Day.