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LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears make their first foray into ASUN Conference play on the road this weekend at Bellarmine.

    Their first-ever ASUN series begins at 10 a.m. (CT) Friday against the Knights. It will also be the first meeting between the programs in baseball.

    UCA, which closed out a 15-year run in the Southland Conference last season, enters ASUN play with a 5-10 overall record, while Bellarmine is 2-15. Both teams have played formidable non-conference schedules, with UCA playing Top 5 Vanderbilt among others, and Bellarmine facing both Purdue and Louisville in the past week.

    Under the ASUN regular-season format, each team in the West Division will play a home-and-home series with the other five schools. Bellarmine will come to Conway for a three-game series on April 22-24. UCA will play 30 conference games, all against West Division competition. The teams will not play across divisions until the ASUN Tournament, which is set for May 24-28 at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla.

    UCA's first home conference series will be next weekend against Lipscomb.

    The Bears, under first-year head coach Nick Harlan, are coming off a 7-5 loss to Oral Roberts on Tuesday at Bear Stadium. Prior to that, UCA knocked off UT Martin on Sunday at home, coming back from a 10-1 deficit with 12 runs in the seventh inning to win 13-10.

    UCA's leading hitter entering conference play is senior shortstop R.J. Pearson at .316, followed by senior first baseman Connor Emmet (.255), who has a team-best three home runs. The Bears will start sophomore right hander Tyler Cleveland on Friday. Cleveland is 0-0 with a 4.42 earned-run average this season, and has 24 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings.

    The game will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 with Steve Owens.