The Central Arkansas baseball team was greeted by a welcomed site at the end of its eight-hour bus ride Tuesday.
The Bears arrived at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, where they will open the Southland Conference Tournament today against Nicholls State at 9 a.m.
SOUTHLAND TOURNAMENT
WHEN Today-Saturday
WHERE Constellation Field, Sugar Land, Texas
RADIO KUCA-AM, 91.3, in Conway
FORMAT Two double-elimination brackets consisting of four teams, with the winner of each bracket meeting in the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
(3) Nicholls State vs. (6) Central Arkansas, 9 a.m.
(2) NW (La.) State vs. (7) Houston Baptist, noon
(1) SE Louisiana vs. (8) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 4 p.m.
(4) McNeese State vs. (5) Sam Houston State, 7 p.m.
Constellation Field just happens to be the stadium where UCA experienced its greatest success as an NCAA Division I program. It was there, at the home of the independent league Sugar Land Skeeters, that UCA won five games in three days in 2013 to win the conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
"A lot of good memories," UCA Coach Allen Gum said Tuesday.
Gum said a familiar setting can help, but he's mostly using the return to Sugar Land as an opportunity to remind his team what got them through the tournament two years ago -- clean defense and dominant pitching.
After opening the tournament with a loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, UCA beat Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Oral Roberts twice and Southeastern Louisiana over three days to win the title. UCA held teams to a combined five runs in those five games, and then-freshman Connor Gilmore pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout in the final against Southeastern Louisiana.
"We just played better than everybody two years ago," Gum said. "Really, just outplayed them, did the little things that added up to one big thing."
The Bears (27-22) are seeded sixth going into today's game against third-seeded Nicholls State (32-17-1), which has the best ERA in the Southland.
Gum said he expects Nicholls State to start right-hander Justin Sinibaldi, the conference's pitcher of the year who went 10-1 with a 1.40 ERA. But Gum is just as confident in Gilmore, a junior from Little Rock Catholic who went 6-3 with a 2.57 ERA and threw 4 complete games this season.
Gum said the economic approach Gilmore uses in games makes it possible for him to go deep into games.
"He's thrown a lot of innings, but not a lot of pitches," Gum said. "One of his complete games was 83 pitches. He's minimized his pitches and really worked hard on that. He's a strong kid. He feels good."
The tournament is split into two four-team brackets with the winner of each bracket meeting in a championship game. UCA's bracket includes Nicholls' State, No. 2 Northwestern (La.) State and No. 7 Houston Baptist.
No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana, which won the regular-season title by four games, is in the other bracket along with No. 4 McNeese State, No. 5 Sam Houston State and No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
"All eight teams have the ability to win it," Gum said. "So it's not about who the best team is. It's about what team plays the best."
Sports on 05/20/2015