LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO

    CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears open ASUN Conference play at 6 p.m. Friday against the North Alabama Lions at home at Bear Stadium.

    UCA (8-8) and UNA (5-10) met six times last season under the ASUN conference scheduling system from 2022, with UCA winning five of the six games. The Bears swept the three home games by a combined score of 37-17, including scores of 18-9 in the opener and 16-6 in the series finale.

    The Lions took the middle game of the three-game series in Florence a year ago. For the six games, UCA hit .316 and while UNA hit .278. UCA's earned-run average was 3.57 compared to 8.24 for UNA. The Bears tallied six home runs and five triples while the Lions had just one home run.

    The Bears are coming off a come-from-behind 7-4 victory over in-state rival Arkansas State on Tuesday night in Jonesboro. UCA trailed 3-0 after two innings but outscored ASU 7-1 the rest of the way to earn the victory in the first of two meetings with the Red Wolves.

    UCA also won its non-conference series at home last weekend with UT Martin, winning the first two games 10-6 and 11-1 before falling 5-3 in the finale on Sunday. The Bears have won all three home series this season by a 2-1 margin.

    North Alabama, led by first-year head coach Jad Prachniak, has lost seven of its last eight games, including a 9-6 home loss to Murray State on Tuesday in Florence, Ala. UNA went 1-2 against Tennessee Tech last weekend in Cookeville, Tenn., and dropped four games to Cincinnati on the road the previous weekend.

    Sophomore Jesse Barker is expected to get the start for Friday's opener. Barker, from Benton, Ark., is 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA this season and is coming off a win in last weekend's UT Martin series. Barker tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing just four hits.

    Junior first baseman A.J. Mendolia is leading the Bears in batting average (.434), on-base percentage (.545), hits (23), runs batted in (17) and walks (11). As a team, the Bears are hitting .276 with 22 home runs and 37 (of 51) stolen bases through 16 games. UCA had 39 home runs and 58 stolen bases all of last season.

    All three games of the series will be carried live on The Bear 91.3. Friday's and Sunday's games will also be on ESPN+.