LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS

     CONWAY, Ark.  _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will open Southland Conference play Friday at the friendly confines of Bear Stadium, where they have won two-thirds of their games over the past six seasons.

    UCA hosts Abilene Christian in a four-game SLC series, beginning at 4 p.m. Friday.

    The Bears and Wildcats will be meeting for the 11th time. UCA has owned the series, winning all 10 previous matchups. The teams did not meet last season when the pandemic halted conference play with only one series played. UCA took two of three from Southeastern Louisiana while ACU went 1-2 at Northwestern State on opening weekend a year ago.

    The Bears outscored the Wildcats 25-8 in sweeping their last series back in 2019. UCA won 4-1, 11-3 and 10-4 in a series also played in Conway. In that three-game stand, UCA hit .322 and had a 2.67 earned-run average. ACU hit just .225 and had a 9.00 ERA.

    UCA senior third baseman Beau Orlando, then a junior, led the Bears at the plate with a .545 average with six hits in 11 at-bats, including three doubles. UCA also drew 19 walks and were hit by a pitch eight times. A combination of five UCA pitchers struck out 32 Wildcats while walking just five.

    The Bears (3-4) are coming off a 2-1 weekend where they beat Tarleton State twice (6-1, 19-2) and lost to Missouri State 15-9 on Sunday. ACU (8-3) swept Arkansas State in a three-game series last weekend in Abilene, winning 26-3, 6-5 (10 innings) and 9-4.

    The Wildcats also own victories over Texas A&M and New Mexico State (twice) this season. Tommy Cruz leads the Wildcats at the plate, hitting .440 with four doubles and nine runs batted in. Colton Eager has a team-high 16 hits and 13 RBI and was named the SLC Hitter of the Week on Tuesday.

    ACU's pitching staff has recorded 120 strikeouts and walked 68 and has a 4.36 team ERA. The Wildcats are hitting .315 as a team. ACU has 17 stolen bases in 23 attempts, including a perfect 7 of 7 by Mike Brown.

    UCA's offense is led by senior first baseman Coby Potvin, who is hitting .364 with an on-base percentage of .563. Orlando is right behind at .333 with a .588 on-base percentage, thanks to a team-best 10 walks and 3 hit by pitch. UCA's Friday starter, senior Mark Moyer, is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA. Redshirt freshman reliever Tyler Cleveland has a team-high 12 strikeouts.

    The weekend schedule, pending weather issues, will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday (1 and 4 p.m.), followed by the series finale at 1 p.m. Sunday.