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OXFORD, Miss. _Â The University of Central Arkansas Bears will take on their first of two Top 5 opponents in a span of a week on Tuesday when they face the Ole Miss Rebels at Oxford-University Stadium at Swayze Field.
The Rebels are ranked fourth in all the major college baseball polls released Monday and are 16-3 overall, 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference. UCA and Ole Miss will meet at 6:30 p.m. The Bears will also face the Arkansas Razorbacks, ranked No. 1 the past two weeks, next Tuesday night in Fayetteville.
The Bears and Rebels will be meeting for the seventh time. Ole Miss leads the series 5-1, with UCA's lone victory coming in the very first meeting back in 2008. The Bears won 4-3 in 10 innings in their second year at the NCAA Division I level. Ole Miss dominated the last meeting, winning 18-4 in 2015.
The Bears are coming off a 2-2 split with the Lamar Cardinals in Southland Conference play last weekend in Beaumont, Texas. The Ole Miss game is sandwiched in the middle of a 10-game road trip for the Bears, who head to San Antonio this weekend to face the UIW Cardinals in league play.
Ole Miss continues its homestand after sweeping an SEC series from the Auburn Tigers last weekend. The Rebels won Sunday's series finale 19-11 in a game that featured a combined 31 hits. Ole Miss survived a nine-run eighth inning by the Tigers.
UCA, 7-8 overall, beat Lamar 6-1 on Sunday to salvage their second consecutive SLC split for a 4-4 conference mark. Redshirt freshman right hander
Tyler Cleveland earned the victory in relief Sunday, his second win of the weekend. The Bears took two of four games despite hitting just .214 with only four extra-base hits. UCA took advantage of 18 walks _ compared to six for Lamar _ and five hit batters to keep runners on base throughout the weekend.Â
Freshman outfielder
Drew Sturgeon, from Farmington, Ark., led the Bears offensively, hitting .364. Senior
Beau Orlando and junior
Benny Ayala scored three runs apiece, while Sturgeon and sophomore
Kolby Johnson had four RBI each.
The game will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 and on SEC Network+.