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BEAUMONT, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears loaded up and hit the road Thursday for what will eventually be 10 consecutive road games, beginning Friday night when they take on the Lamar Cardinals at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

The Bears and Cardinals will meet in a four-game Southland Conference series that starts at 6 p.m. Friday. Saturday's double header is set for 1 and 4 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday.

UCA (5-6) is coming off a weekend split with Abilene Christian where the Wildcats won the first two games at Bear Stadium (9-8 in 11 innings, 5-4) and the Bears took the final two (6-3, 9-8) to open 2-2 in SLC play. The Cardinals (8-2) will open conference play this weekend against the Bears.

Lamar has been led so far this season by stellar pitching. The Cardinals are sporting a league-best 2.20 earned run average over 90 innings and have struck out 76 batters in 10 games. Three of Lamar's four weekend starters have ERAs lower than 1.00. Zach Bravo is 2-0 with an 0.75; Dylan Johnson is 1-0 with a 0.82; Trevin Michael is 0-0 with a 0.90. The fourth starter, Josh Ekness, is 0-0 with a 6.75.

Lamar's junior reliever Jack Dallas has a league-high five saves this season.

The Bears counter with the SLC's fourth-best hitting squad, sporting a .256 batting average, and the second-best on-base percentage (.420). UCA also has the best fielding percentage (.985) in the conference, with just six errors in 11 games. UCA is expected to start senior Mark Moyer, junior Logan Gilbertson and sophomore Dillan Janak in the first three games, with Sunday's finale to be determined.

UCA has played seven of its first 11 games at home at Bear Stadium, but will now play 10 consecutive away from home, including mid-week matchups against Top 5 Southeastern Conference teams Arkansas and Ole Miss over the next two weeks. The Bears will also be on the road next weekend at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

UCA leads the overall series with Lamar, and won two of three games in their last meeting in 2019 in Beaumont. The Cardinals took the middle game of the series in 10 innings. In fact, the past two series between the Bears and Cardinals were played in Beaumont, with an SLC Tournament matchup in Sugar Land, Texas (3-0 UCA win) in 2016 sandwiched between. Due to scheduling quirks, the 12 games previous to that run were all played in Conway.

The Cardinals are 4-0 at home this season. Their only losses so far are at Tarleton State and at UT Arlington in a series they won 3-1.

All four games of the series can be heard on The Bear 91.3 with Steve Owens.