CONWAY, Ark. _ Two familiar opponents will open the Southland Conference season on Friday at Bear Stadium when the University of Central Arkansas Bears host the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.

The Bears (5-7) and Lions (5-7) open their three-game series at 6 p.m. Friday at Bear Stadium. It will be the first of 30 SLC games over the next three months for the Bears, who were picked second in the preseason conference poll after finishing as the runnerup at the 2019 Southland Conference Tournament.

The teams met five times last season and have faced off in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game twice since 2013 and five times overall in the postseason. 

Both teams enter conference play off losses to nationally ranked powerhouses. The Bears are coming off a 10-2 loss at No. 2 Vanderbilt, the defending NCAA national champion, on Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. The Lions dropped a 6-3 decision at No. 20 LSU, also on Tuesday night.

SLU is 1-3 in road games, including a pair of in-state losses at Louisiana-Monroe. One of those was a 23-5 loss in which ULM came close to setting numerous NCAA records for a single inning. The Warhawks sent 25 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored 19 runs _ both one short of NCAA records _ and hit two grand slams. For the game, SLU pitchers walked a school-record 15 batters and hit five more.

That same SLU team held LSU to six runs on nine hits at Alex Box Stadium.

UCA's loss at Vandy was its worst of the season. The Bears are 0-3 in one-run games and 1-1 in games decided by two runs. UCA is third in the SLC in batting average at .262 and third in fielding percentage at .975. UCA's leading hitter is junior transfer outfielder Connor Emmet, who is second in the league with a .435 batting average. He is also tied for second in hits (20) and is seventh in doubles with four.

UCA senior closer Conner Williams leads the conference with five saves in six appearances. Junior starting pitcher Gavin Stone is second in strikeouts looking with nine, while sophomore starter Noah Cameron is ninth in total strikeouts with 21.

The Bears and Lions met five times last season, with the Bears taking the regular-season series 2-1 in Hammond, La. They then met twice more in the SLC Tournament at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, with the Lions winning 9-3 and forcing a rematch that the Bears won 6-3 in 10 innings to advance to the tournament championship game.

The regular-season series was dominated by pitching as UCA hit just .183 and SLU just .148 for the weekend. UCA's team ERA was 1.72 and SLU's was 1.97. The Bears had 20 total hits and the Lions had only 16. There were only seven extra-base hits, including two home runs by each team. UCA's pitching staff struck out 30 Lions and walked eight while SLU's staff struck out 22 and walked six.

Josh Ragan led the Bears with a .455 average. Conner Williams recorded a win in relief and freshman Noah Cameron won his start. Senior Cody Davenport struck out 9 in 9 innings in his no decision in the opener, which UCA won with two runs in the top of the 12th.

Both teams generated more offense in the tournament matchups, with UCA hitting .269 and SLU hitting .235 in the two games. UCA's ERA was 4.74 and SLU"s was .379.

Game times for the weekend series are 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. for the finale on Sunday.