A rivalry is renewed on the diamond when Central Arkansas travels to Little Rock to play the Trojans in the I-40 Showdown presented by Blue Cros and Blue Shield at 3 p.m., Tuesday at Gary Hogan Field. The game can be streamed on ESPN+ with Max Coltrane on the call.
The teams will meet two other times later this spring – April 8 in Conway and May 6 in Little Rock. The Bears (6-11) make the short trip to Little Rock having dropped five of their past six games. They fell in two of three games in their Atlantic Sun Conference opening series at North Alabama last weekend with two of the setbacks coming in 10 innings. UCA, who is 3-5 on the road so far, has played a solid schedule that includes a 9-2 loss at Arkansas last week.
UCA leads the series 48-41-1 between the two rivals but Little Rock has won five of the past six meetings. The Bears snapped a five-game losing streak at Gary Hogan Field last year with a 6-3 win as the teams split two games in 2024.
The Bears have hit the ball well in 2025, as five players are hitting over .300. Bryce Cermenelli leads the way with a .384 average and a team-leading 12 RBI. Zeb Allen is hitting .308 with 11 RBI and Nathan Negre and Sam Reynolds have each driven in 10 runs apiece.
Little Rock (8-12) is looking to win consecutive games for the third time this season. The Trojans swept a three-game series from Evansville the first week of the season but hasn't won three straight since.
The Trojans are fresh off a 10-6 win at UT Arlington on Sunday after dropping the first two games of the series. The Trojans led 10-0 before the Mavericks scored six runs late in the game. This is Little Rock's last tune-up before Ohio Valley Conference play begins with a weekend series with Tennessee Tech starting Friday. The five-game homestand continues with a game next Wednesday with Louisiana-Monroe.
