Trojans Earn First Road Win, Even Series at SFA

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Little Rock baseball's bats were alive and well on Saturday as the Trojans earned their first road win of the year and evened the series against Stephen F. Austin with an 8-3 victory at Jaycees Field.
 
The Trojans (7-8) rattled off 12 hits with five going for extra bases. Dalton Thomas had the best offensive performance as he went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, four RBIs, three runs and a walk. Zach Baker also went 3 for 4 with two doubles, three runs and a walk. Bryce Dimitroff went 2 for 4 with a run and a walk. Hunter Owens continued his strong play by going 2 for 5 with an RBI.
 
"I'm just really proud of the way we bounced back after a hard-fought yesterday," head coach Chris Curry said. "Last night was a classic Friday night duel. We came out on the short end, but we challenged the guys to come out in an early game with some energy. We got some runners on, executed offensively and set some innings up with small ball."
 
SFA (6-10) took an early lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI ground out to second by Connor Fikes. Tyler Kendrick scored on the play after singling, stealing second and advancing to third on a balk to put the Lumberjacks up 1-0.
 
With a runner on second and two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Clark Kahawaii hit an RBI double to left center to put SFA ahead 2-0.
 
After Danny Mitchell Jr. got on with a leadoff walk in the top of the third, Thomas evened the game with a two-run moonshot to left center.
 
The Lumberjacks retook control in the bottom of the third. After Kendrick singled and stole second, Nick Ramos hit an RBI single up the middle to give SFA a 3-2 lead.
 
The flood gates opened in the top of the fourth as Little Rock grabbed the lead with four runs on four hits, two errors and a walk. After the Trojans got on base with back-to-back errors by the Lumberjacks to begin the inning, an RBI ground out by Christian Reyes scored Kale Emshoff. An RBI double to right by Mitchell scored Dimitroff and gave Little Rock a 4-3 lead. Thomas then hit an RBI single to center as Baker scored from second. The Trojans weren't done yet as Owens hit an RBI single through the right side to put Little Rock up 6-3.
 
After a scoreless fifth inning by both sides, Little Rock put up two more runs in the top of the sixth. The inning began with a leadoff double down the left field line by Baker. Thomas then tallied his third hit and fourth RBI of the afternoon with a double to same spot as Baker's. After Thomas moved over to third on a ground out, he trotted home for the Trojans' eighth run on a balk by SFA's Josh Ponder.
 
Trojan starter Cole Townsend (2-0) earned the win after throwing 5.0 innings, striking out two and allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits and one walk. Reliever Justin Garcia entered the game to begin the sixth inning and allowed just two hits in 2.2 innings of work. Dylan Slayton closed out the contest with one strikeout in 1.1 innings on the hill. The Trojans' pitching staff allowed just one walk the entire game. The Lumberjacks' Austin Hagy (0-3) took the loss after giving up four unearned runs.
 
"Cole shoved it in the strike zone, and we only allowed one walk all day," Curry said. "That's how you win baseball games. Garcia did an outstanding job, and then we just asked Slayton to throw it over the plate with a five-run lead. It's a shame that it's that simple, but it is. Even though there were so many execution opportunities left out on the table, we did enough to win the game by throwing strikes."
 
Little Rock will look to win its third consecutive weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m.