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STARKVILLE, Miss. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will take on the No. 21 Mississippi State Bulldogs for the first time since 2013 at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bears and Bulldogs have played six times in their history, and all six games were in the same season. UCA beat MSU two out of three in a regular-season series in 2013. Then after winning the Southland Conference Tournament, en route to a school-record 42 victories, the Bears were sent back to Mississippi for the NCAA Starkville Regional.

In the Regional, UCA's first, the Bears lost to the Bulldogs in the opener, then came back and beat Mercer and South Alabama to earn two more shots at the Bulldogs. UCA beat MSU 5-2 to force another title game before losing 6-1. Mississippi State would go on to finish as national runnerup to UCLA.

This year's Bulldogs are 19-10 overall and 4-5 in the Southeastern Conference. MSU beat defending national champion LSU 2-1 in its opening SEC series but then dropped two of three games at College Station, Texas. MSU also went 1-2 at Florida last weekend.

The Bulldogs will be the Bears' third SEC opponent of the season, joining LSU and Arkansas. UCA has played well in three games vs. the league this season, losing twice at LSU (2-0, 4-3) on opening weekend, then dropping a 9-7 decision at Arkansas on March 5.

UCA is coming off a big come-from-behind victory over ASUN leader Jacksonville on Sunday at Bear Stadium. UCA survived a 9-1 deficit after four innings and won 11-10 on a walk-off sacrifice fly by junior catcher Casey Shipley in the ninth. 

Junior center fielder Drew Sturgeon had a grand slam in a six-run fifth inning, and outfielder Kade Seldomridge and first baseman Jagger added home runs as well. Mason Griffin, who has a team-best five victories, got the win on the mound, tossing the final 3.0 innings after a stellar bullpen effort from sophomore Gavin Alveti.

Tuesday's game will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 and SEC Network+. The game time was moved from 6 p.m. to 11 a.m. to avoid possible weather issues later in the day.