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RICHMOND, Ky. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears took care of business in one key ASUN Conference baseball series last weekend, and now face another equally important one on the road this week beginning Thursday.
   The Bears, 8-4 in conference play, take on the Eastern Kentucky Colonels (8-4), the team they are tied with for first place in the ASUN West Division standings. The three-game series at Earle Combs Stadium begins at 5 p.m. (CT) Thursday due to the Easter weekend. Game 2 is set for 3 p.m. Friday, with the series finale at 11 a.m. Saturday.
   UCA took two of three games from Jacksonville State last weekend at Bear Stadium after entering the weekend tied for second place with the Gamecocks. EKU was swept by fourth-place Lipscomb to fall into a tie with UCA for the top spot heading into the halfway point of the conference season. The three-game set closes out the first half of the round-robin in the West Division. EKU returns the series in Conway to close out the regular season on May 19-21.
   UCA is the only team in the ASUN, in either division, that has won all four of its league series so far this season. The Bears have taken two of three games from Bellarmine and North Alabama on the road, and at home against Lipscomb and Jacksonville State.
   EKU, 21-11 overall, had won eight consecutive games prior to getting swept at Lipscomb in Nashville last weekend. The Colonels have already matched their win total from the 2021 season. EKU's pitching staff is ranked fourth in the ASUN in strikeouts with 303 and is 50th in the nation in that category. Defensively, the Colonels have committed the fewest errors in the ASUN with 24.
   Sophomore outfielder Kendall Ewell leads EKU's offense, hitting .388, which ranks second in the conference. He has 47 hits, including six home runs. Ewell is the only Colonels hitting better than .300
   UCA has been balanced on offense, with three players (
Hunter Hicks, Andrew Pollum,
Connor Emmet) hitting above .290. Emmet, a senior left fielder, has a team-best six home runs, while junior right fielder
Kolby Johnson has scored a team-high 23 runs scored. Sophomore center fielder
Drew Sturgeon has raised his batting average nearly 60 points in the month of April and is now hitting .259 with a team-best three triples.
   Junior catcher
Noah Argenta is hitting .364 and Emmet is at .333 in conference play.
   Sophomore right hander
Tyler Cleveland (2-2, 2.81 earned run average) will start Game 1 for the Bears, facing EKU's Isaac Milburn (1-1, 5.33 ERA). Cleveland, who has three consecutive complete games in ASUN play, has 52 strikeouts in 51.1 innings.
   All three games will be carried on The Bear 91.3, with Saturday's series finale also on ESPN+.
