Little Rock Returns to Sun Belt Action Against Troy

Games 21-23: Little Rock vs. Troy
March 24-26
Little Rock, Ark. • Gary Hogan Field
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LITTLE ROCK – With a three-game winning streak in tow, Little Rock baseball (9-11, 2-4 Sun Belt) will welcome Troy (13-9, 3-3) to Gary Hogan Field for a three-game series beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Ryan Scott continues to lead the nation with a .500 batting average and leads the Sun Belt in eight different categories.
• Scott is on pace to break the Little Rock season record for hits.
• A win on Friday would increase Little Rock's streak to four games, it's longest since 2014.
• Little Rock will go with an all right-hander rotation this weekend in Matt McDowell, Cory Malcom and Joe Corbett.
• Troy leads the all-time series 18-11.
• Little Rock is 7-6 against Troy when playing at Gary Hogan Field.
• Little Rock has won the season series with Troy three times since the two began play in 2006.
• Little Rock's only three-game sweep of Troy occurred in 2007.
• Dalton Thomas enters the weekend with a 16-game hitting streak and has the third-highest batting average in the conference at .395.
• Little Rock has recorded at least seven hits in every game this season and averages 9.95 hits per game.
• Little Rock's leadoff batters are hitting .451 this season.

 
SCOUTING TROY
Troy comes into the weekend series after winning three of their last four games. Troy earned a midweek win on Tuesday against Alabama A&M after winning two of three at Georgia Southern this past weekend.
 
Offensively, Troy is hitting .239 as a team, ranking ninth in the Sun Belt. Little Rock leads Troy in every major offensive category with the exception of stolen bases. Troy's only hitter with a .300-plus batting average is Matt Sanders, who is hitting .370 with 20 hits in 54 at-bats this season.
 
Troy holds the upper hand when it comes to pitching with a conference-leading 2.77 earned run average. They'll start right-hander Lucas Brown (3-2), right-hander Grant Bennett (3-0_ and lefty Evan Hebert (2-2). Brown has worked the most innings this year at 36.1 and has given up the most hits with 32. Bennett has the second-best ERA in the league at 1.27 and has rung up the most hitters at 32. Hebert has the highest ERA of Troy's starters at 4.00 in 27 innings of work with an opposing batting average of .286.
 
SERIES AGAINST TROY
Troy leads the all-time series with an 18-11 record. However, when playing at Gary Hogan Field, Little Rock leads 7-6. Last year, Little Rock took one game in the three-game series at Troy. Since the two began playing each other in 2006, Little Rock has won the season series three times, most recently in 2014. Little Rock's only three-game sweep against Troy came in 2007.
 
NATION'S BEST HITTER
Senior outfielder Ryan Scott earned his second Sun Belt Conference Student-Athlete of the Week award on Monday as he continues to lead Division I with a .500 batting average. He went 9 for 16 with three home runs, three doubles, a triple, 10 RBIs, six runs, two walks, a stolen base and was hit by a pitch in four games last week. Scott slugged 1.438 and had an on-base percentage of .632 with 23 total bases.
 
Scott leads the conference with 40 hits, 25 runs, 29 RBIs, seven home runs, 71 total bases, a .570 on-base percentage and an .888 slugging percentage. Nationally, Scott ranks second in hits, third in slugging percentage, fourth in total bases, , fifth in on-base percentage, 12th in RBIs, 15th in home runs, and 23rd in runs.
 
If Scott keeps up his current pace of 2.0 hits per game over the 35 regular-season games left this season, he'll shatter the school record for hits in a season (86) set by Greg Taylor in 1996.
 
STREAKS IN PROGRESS
Dalton Thomas keeps the hits coming as he now has a hitting streak of 16 games. Thomas extended his streak with an RBI single against UAPB on Tuesday. A hit on Thursday would tie Ryan Scott's season-high streak of 17 from last season, the most consecutive games since at least 1999.
 
In the Sun Belt, Thomas has the third-highest batting average (.395), fourth-most hits (32), second-most doubles (8), seventh-most total bases (43), eighth-best slugging percentage (.531) and ninth-best on-base percentage (.451).
 
Scott has a streak of his own as he reached base in 16 straight games. Ty Gunter trails Scott and Thomas at 12 consecutive games reaching base.
 
PRODUCTIVE OFFENSE
Little Rock's offensive play has been on point this year as it has recorded a .294 batting average through 20 games, third-best in the Sun Belt. Little Rock ranks third in doubles (38), third in on-base percentage (.382), fourth in slugging percentage (.405), fourth in runs (122), fourth in hits (199), fourth in RBIs (115) and fourth in walks. Little Rock also has the third-fewest strikeouts in the conference with 139.
 
Little Rock has recorded at least seven hits in every game this season and averages 9.95 hits per game.
 
With a runner on third and less than two outs, Little Rock has scored the runner 41 out of 63 times, averaging 65 percent. Little Rock's leadoff hitter haven't done bad job either with a combined .451 batting average.
 
A WIN ON FRIDAY WOULD…
…give Little Rock its first four-game winning streak since 2014.
 
TWO WINS THIS WEEKEND WOULD…
…would give Little Rock back-to-back series wins for the first time since 2014 when the Trojans won two of three against Texas State and Arkansas State at the end of the season.
 
A SWEEP OF TROY WOULD…
…put Little Rock over .500 overall and in conference play. It would also give Little Rock its second sweep over Troy since the series began. Little Rock would also have a winning streak of six games, its longest since the 2012 season.
 
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES

• Zach Baker's next run scored will be his 10th.
• Freshman Joe Corbett and junior Cody Daylor are four strikeouts away from their 20th.
• Nik Gifford's next RBI will be his 15th.
• Kyle Kirk is one RBI away from his 30th.
• Cameron Knight is one hit away from 20.
• Ryan Scott is two doubles away from cracking the top 10 at Little Rock.
• Reed Willenborg's next inning on the mound will be his 40th.
• Keenan Wingfield's next strikeout will be his 10th.

 
ON DECK
Little Rock will return to non-conference action on Tuesday as it hosts the Oklahoma Sooners at 6 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.