CONWAY, Ark. (May 7, 2026) – The University of North Alabama baseball team travels for the final road series of the 2026 season to play Central Arkansas at Bear Stadium beginning on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Conway, Ark.
Live stats will be available via StatBroadcast. All three games will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
North Alabama at Central Arkansas
Friday, May 8, 2026
3 p.m.
Live Stats |
ESPN+
North Alabama at Central Arkansas
Saturday, May 9, 2026
4 p.m.
Live Stats |
ESPN+
North Alabama at Central Arkansas
Sunday, May 10, 2026
1 p.m.
Live Stats |
ESPN+
NOTES
THE RUNDOWN: UNA lost the final midweek home game of the 2026 regular season to Samford, 8-2, on Tuesday at Mike D. Lane Field at Bank Independent Stadium. North Alabama was held scoreless until pinch hitter
Bryant Loving hit a double to put himself and
Justin Santoyo in scoring position. A passed ball allowed Santoyo to score in the next at-bat to end the drought. Samford had seven hits to create its eight runs scored. The Bulldog defense turned four double plays to eliminate Lion base runners. Santoyo,
Will Millard and
Wes Walker secured a hit aside from Loving; Santoyo and Loving were the two runs scored.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 33rd through 35th all-time meetings between the two programs dating back to 1982. Since then, UNA is 17-15 in this matchup, going 9-2 before the Division I transition. The Lions had never won a game in Conway until last season when UNA swept them to end the regular season. Before 2025, the Lions had one win over Central Arkansas which came in 2022 in Florence, Ala. After the five wins over Central Arkansas last season, the Lions raised their Division I win total to six. This season, UNA took the first series at home against UCA with a 2-1 series win with the loss coming on Saturday in extra innings.
SCOUTING THE BEARS: Since the last square-off Central Arkansas has been on a tear with a 13-6 record. The Bears have the most overall wins this season in the Gold Division at 27 and the second most in the ASUN behind FGCU (30). UCA is one game behind North Alabama at 14-10 in conference play, which sets up a heavy-bout fight in Conway. Central Arkansas is fifth in ERA at 5.99 and is the first Gold Division team in that metric – the Bears are third in fielding percentage at .971. Zeb Allen owns 17 home runs this season which is the most in school history for UCA, a record broken in Florence against North Alabama. The pitching core is led by two of the top three pitchers in the ASUN with Hunter Alexander and Denver Hamilton.
HOW IT PLAYS: The ASUN Tournament begins on Tuesday, May 19 and it will look a tad different than last year. The top-four teams in each division will be seeded 1-4 based on record then RPI if there is a tie. Last season, the entire tournament was double elimination, this season the 3-8 seeds are single elimination through the first two days. The 5-8 seeds play against one another on Tuesday while the 3 and 4 seeds get a first day bye to Wednesday. Only the 1 and 2 seeds get a bye to Thursday of the tournament. From Thursday to Saturday, teams will go through the double elimination process for the remainder of the tournament.
LOOKING TO CLINCH: The UNA baseball team made its first ASUN Tournament a season ago in 2025. The Lions won their first postseason game against North Florida, 14-11. North Alabama aims to return back to the postseason this year and with 16 conference wins, they can clinch that opportunity. The Lions currently have 15 conference wins and have the Gold Division No. 1 seed by one game. The Lions need just one more win through conference play to clinch a spot in the postseason.
POWERFUL PETEY:
Petey Craska blasted three home runs against Bellarmine on Friday, May 1. He homered in the first, sixth and seventh innings of the game with the first inning and seventh inning blasts came on the first pitch thrown. Craska led the Lions to a mercy rule win, 13-3, to take the opening game of the series. This broke the Division I record for most home runs in a single game by a Lion and tied the all-time record for North Alabama. He tied five other instances in UNA history that the feat had been accomplished with the most recent being Casey Miller against Lambuth in April 1, 2003.
DOES THAT SAY NINE TIMES????: On Sunday, May 3,
Tyler LePage knocked two home runs in the contest against Bellarmine. In doing so, he became the sixth Lion to own a two-home run game and the ninth time for it to happen this season. Others to accomplish this feat are
Dylan Coleman (3x),
Will Millard (2x),
Nash Rippen (1x),
Wes Walker (1x) and Craska for the first time two games prior.
UP NEXT: After Central Arkansas, North Alabama has its final stretch of games with Murray State in Murray, Ky. on Tuesday and the final home weekend series against Austin Peay in Florence on Thursday, May 14.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
