Late-Inning Rally Comes Up Short Against Troy

LITTLE ROCK – A late-inning rally came up short as Little Rock baseball fell 7-6 to Troy in the Sun Belt Conference opener on Friday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.
 
Dalton Thomas went 2 for 4 with one home run, three RBIs and two runs while Jonathan Davis went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Christian Reyes earned his first career multi-hit game as he went 2 for 4, and Riley Pittman picked two hits and two runs in five at-bats. Little Rock tallied 12 hits for the day compared to Troy's 10.
 
Little Rock (7-11, 0-1 Sun Belt) took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. With runners on the corners, Davis hit an RBI single to left to score Pittman from third.
 
Troy (10-6, 1-0) knotted it up at 1-1 in the top of the second with a run on two hits. After a single and a double with one out, an RBI ground out to short by TJ Binder scored Chase Smartt.
 
The game remained tied until Troy went ahead in the top of the seventh inning. After Matt Sanders reached on an error to begin the top frame, a one-out double by Joey Denison scored Sanders from second. Once Mack Hathcock singled to left, an errant throw allowed him to advance to third as Denison came home. After Little Rock put Dylan Slayton on the mound, Drew Frederic reached on a fielder's choice as the throw to the plate came in late. Frederic stole second before advancing to third on a ground out. A Trevor Davis single to center scored Frederic and gave Troy a 5-1 lead.
 
Little Rock went to the bullpen and brought out McKinley Moore to begin the top of the eighth. With one out and a runner on, a two-run homer by TJ Binder upped Troy's lead to 7-1. After tallying his second strikeout of the inning, Moore was replaced by Jacob Rateliff. Rateliff made quick work out of Troy as a ground out to second ended the frame.
 
The rally for Little Rock began in the bottom of the eighth after Troy made its first pitching change of the day. With one on and one out, Cameron Knight hit a pinch-hit single to right center to put runners on the corners. This made Troy go to the bullpen once again as Ty Gunter came on to pinch hit. Gunter ripped a double down the left field line to score Thomas and put runners in scoring position. An RBI single through the left side by Bryce Dimitroff scored Knight and cut Troy's lead to 7-3.
 
Little Rock's rally continued into the ninth inning with a leadoff walk by Zach Baker and a Pittman single through the left side. Troy then brought on closer Marc Skinner with the save opportunity in play. Skinner was readily greeted with a three-run homer to left center by Thomas that cut the deficit to 7-6. That ended up being Little Rock's final hit of the game as a fly out and two ground outs gave Skinner his fourth save of the season.
 
Little Rock starting pitcher Cory Malcom (1-1) took the loss as he pitched 6.1 innings, struck out four and allowed four runs (one earned) on eight hits. Malcom became the fifth Trojan in program history with 200 strikeouts as he struck out the game's first batter. Troy starter Daren Osby (4-1) picked up the win as he threw 7.0 innings, struck out five and allowed one run on six hits and a walk.
 
"I believe in this team," head coach Chris Curry said. "In those final three innings, they finally captured the intensity, focus and unselfishness of playing for each other that it takes to win in college baseball. For six innings, we were tiptoeing and playing conservative, but when the score got to 7-1, we finally forgot about it, let it all hang out and just played. Things started happening for us, and we ran out of outs. I told the team that I'm proud of them for fighting back, but it's still not good enough because we need to win."
 
Little Rock will look to even the series against Troy on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.