Central Arkansas set to face No. 1 LSU

CONWAY - For the first time in school history, the University of Central Arkansas will face the No. 1 team in the nation when the Bears take on the LSU Tigers on Tuesday night.

The Bears and Tigers will meet for the first time at 6:30 p.m.

The Tigers are 18-2 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference after dropping the final game of the SEC opening series at No. 11 Texas A&M on Sunday.

LSU was the consensus No. 1 team in all major college baseball polls to start the season and remains there.

The Bears (11-8, 3-0) are coming off a sweep of North Alabama in their opening ASUN Conference series last weekend at Bear Stadium.

UCA won 9-1, 7-6 and 17-8. For the weekend, the Bears hit .365 with five home runs and seven doubles and had a 4.67 earned-run average.

UCA has never played a top-ranked team in the nation, but has faced several top 10 teams.

The most recent was a 5-4 UCA victory over No. 10 Vanderbilt back on March 21 in Nashville.

The Bears have played 10 other top 10 teams over the past decade, including four teams ranked No. 2 at the time (Arkansas in 2021, Arkansas and Texas in 2022 and Vanderbilt in 2013).

UCA also knocked off No. 3 Mississippi State 2-1 in a weekend series back in 2013, then beat the Bulldogs again in the NCAA Starkville Regional.

The Tigers had the SEC Player of the Week on Monday in Tommy White, a sophomore third baseman from St. Pete Beach, Fla.

In four games last week, White hit .479 (9 for 19) with a double, home run and 11 runs batted in and extended his current hitting streak to 14 games.

As a team, the Tigers are hitting .330 with 35 home runs and 128 walks. The batting average is ninth in the country and the walks rank eighth.

LSU leads the nation in scoring, averaging 11.1 runs per game.

The Tigers are second in fielding percentage, fifth in ERA and have a nation-leading seven shutouts.

UCA is led by junior first baseman A.J. Mendolia who is hitting .438 and has reached base in all 19 games this season with an on-base percentage of .561.

Senior right fielder Kolby Johnson is the team leader in runs scored (23) and slugging percentage (.597), while Mendolia is first in hits (28), RBI (18) and walks (15).

The Bears have shown both power and speed throughout the lineup, with 27 home runs and 40 stolen bases.

The home run leader is graduate transfer designated hitter Evan Hafley with six, while Johnson and senior outfielder Dylan Cyr have four each.

Sophomore second baseman Tanner Leonard has stolen a team-high nine bases, while four others have at least four.