  The analysis of eclipsing binaries containing non-radial pulsators allows: i)
to combine two different and independent sources of information on the internal
structure and evolutionary status of the components, and ii) to study the
effects of tidal forces on pulsations. KIC 3858884 is a bright Kepler target
whose light curve shows deep eclipses, complex pulsation patterns with
pulsation frequencies typical of {\delta} Sct, and a highly eccentric orbit. We
present the result of the analysis of Kepler photometry and of high resolution
phaseresolved spectroscopy. Spectroscopy yielded both the radial velocity
curves and, after spectral disentangling, the primary component effective
temperature and metallicity, and line-of-sight projected rotational velocities.
The Kepler light curve was analyzed with an iterative procedure devised to
disentangle eclipses from pulsations which takes into account the visibility of
the pulsating star during eclipses. The search for the best set of binary
parameters was performed combining the synthetic light curve models with a
genetic minimization algorithm, which yielded a robust and accurate
determination of the system parameters. The binary components have very similar
masses (1.88 and 1.86 Msun) and effective temperatures (6800 and 6600 K), but
different radii (3.45 and 3.05 Rsun). The comparison with the theoretical
models evidenced a somewhat different evolutionary status of the components and
the need of introducing overshooting in the models. The pulsation analysis
indicates a hybrid nature of the pulsating (secondary) component, the
corresponding high order g-modes might be excited by an intrinsic mechanism or
by tidal forces.
