Conway, Ark.- The Central Arkansas Bears (8-5, 0-0) and the Little Rock Trojans (6-6, 0-0) will play a three-game series this weekend at both The Bear and Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock. This series is part of the Governor's I-40 Showdown, the year-long competition across all sports between UCA and LR. First pitch on Friday, March 6th will be at 2:00 p.m. in Conway. Game 2 of the series will be game 2 of a doubleheader on Friday, first pitch at about 6:00 p.m. For the doubleheader, game 1 will be a 9-inning game and game 2 will be a 7-inning game. Then the series finale will be on Sunday at Little Rock with first pitch at 1:00 p.m. The Bears and Trojans have played sixty-one times dating back to 1977. The Bears won the first meeting on 3/9/77, then the programs played nine times in the '80s with the Trojans winning all but one of those match-ups, then in the '90s the series went 6-6 and since 2000 the Trojans have a 23-16 advantage winning 7 of the last 10 games.

Last weekend the Bears played a home series with South Dakota State, winning the series 2-1 and also made a midweek trip to SEC foe Vanderbilt and won that match-up 5-4. Zeb Allen had a great week at the plate with 8 hits, 7 runs, 1 double, 1 home run and 6 rbi in the four games. On the mound, Denver Hamilton earned a win in his start and threw 7.1 innings (6.1 against SDSU and 1 against Vandy) this week, giving up just 5 hits, 2 runs and striking out 6 batters. Patrick Fernandez in his start against Vandy threw 4.1 innings allowing just 3 hits and struck out 3 batters. While Hunter Alexander threw three times this past week; 1 inning on Friday against SDSU, 3 innings on Sunday against SDSU and 1 inning against Vandy on Tuesday. Over those 5 innings Alexander gave up just 2 hits and struck out 6 batters earning a win and a save. Over all this season, the Bears are batting .265 with 119 hits and a .390 slg% and their opponents are batting .260 with 116 hits and a .399 slg%.

The Trojans are coming off of a difficult week getting swept at Missouri State on the weekend and then losing a midweek game at UAPB. With the loss in last week's midweek game against Memphis, the Trojans are on a five-game losing streak. Previous to this losing streak the Trojans had a five-game winning streak sweeping West Georgia, winning at Memphis and winning the series finale at home against Eastern Michigan. Over all this season, the Trojans are batting .279 with 114 hits and a .471 slg% and their opponents are batting .263 with 104 hits and a .443 slg%.

First pitch against the Trojans on Friday is set for 2 p.m. in Conway. Games 2 and 3 of the series will be broadcast on ESPN+, all games will have live stats that can be followed online.