Little Rock Travels to No. 16 Louisiana This Weekend

Game 17: Little Rock at Louisiana
March 18-20
Lafayette, La. • M.L. Tigue Moore Field
Friday Live Video (ESPN3) | Sat. & Sun. Live Video | Live Stats | Game Notes

LITTLE ROCK – Fresh off a win, Little Rock baseball (6-10, 0-3 Sun Belt) heads to Lafayette, La., to take on No. 16 Louisiana in a three-game Sun Belt series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. Friday's game will be aired on ESPN3.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Little Rock swept Louisiana in a rain-shortened two-game series last season, all on walk-offs.
• Louisiana leads the all-time series 47-15.
• Ryan Scott boasts the nation's best batting average at .492.
• Dylan Slayton will make his first start on Friday.
• Scott has half of his 2015 hit total in just 16 games this season.
• Scott has 12 multiple hit games this season after recording 18 in 2015.
• Scott and Dalton Thomas have reached base in 12 straight games.
• Thomas is currently on the longest hitting streak of the season at 12 games.
• Trojans have no fewer than seven hits in a game this season.
• Little Rock's .290 batting average ranks fourth in the Sun Belt.
• A series win would give Little Rock back-to-back series wins for the first time since the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
• One win this weekend would give Little Rock its 900th win since 1975.

 
SCOUTING LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns have won three of their last four games as they beat Northwestern State last night and took two of three from Troy in the opening weekend of Sun Belt action.
 
Offensively, Louisiana has the fifth-best hitting club in conference with a .285 batting average. They are led by junior shortstop Joe Robbins with a .393 average. Robbins leads the Cajuns with 15 runs, 24 hits, three triples, three home runs, 42 total bases and a .689 slugging percentage.
 
On the mound, Louisiana sports a 2.88 ERA, the second-best in the Sun Belt. The Cajuns' strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.88 is the best in Division I. UL will start lefty Gunner Leger (1-1) on Friday night, right-hander Wyatt Marks (2-1) on Saturday and right-hander Nick Lee (3-0) on Sunday. Leger sports the seventh-best ERA in the conference at 1.52 and has struck out 21 while walking only one.
 
SERIES AGAINST LOUISIANA
Louisiana leads the all-time series with Little Rock 47-15. The Trojans earned two of those wins last year as they swept the Cajuns in a rain-shortened two-game series at Gary Hogan Field. Little Rock took both games with walk-off hits. This was Little Rock's first season sweep of Louisiana since 2000, which also took place in the Trojans' home park.
 
Little Rock's only series win in Lafayette against Louisiana came in 2001 as the Trojans took two of three against the Cajuns. Prior to last year's series win, Little Rock last won in 2012 as it took two of three against Louisiana
 
ON THE MOUND FOR LITTLE ROCK
Lefty Dylan Slayton (0-0) will make his first start of the season on Friday night. In 12.2 innings of relief work, Slayton sports a 2.84 ERA with 11 strikeouts and has only allowed four runs on ten hits and two walks.
 
Right-hander Cory Malcom (0-3) returns to the mound on Saturday for the Trojans as he continues looking to find the same stride he had in 2015.
 
Freshman right-hander Joe Corbett (2-0) will make his fourth start of the season on Sunday.
 
BEST IN THE NATION
Ryan Scott continues his amazing senior season as he now leads Division I with a .492 batting average. Scott ranks ninth in hits (31), eighth in total bases (54), ninth in slugging percentage (.857), 14th in on-base percentage (.562), 16th in runs per game (1.31), 27th in home runs (5) and 28th in runs (28).
 
In just 16 games, Scott has nearly half of his 63 hits from 2015. He is only three RBIs away from matching last year's total of 21, and he has more home runs this season than all of his first three season combined.
 
Scott has 12 multiple-hit games this season and had 18 in all of 2015. Scott had just three multiple-RBI games last year and has four so far this season.
 
STREAKS IN PROGRESS
Dalton Thomas is currently on the longest hitting streak of the season at 12 games and has at least one hit in 14 of the Trojans' 16 games this season. In half of the 12 games, Thomas had at least two hits. Thomas is tied for the second-most multiple hit games with eight. His 25 hits rank fifth in the Sun Belt while his .385 batting average ranks eighth.
 
Along with Thomas, Scott has reached base in 12 straight games. Ty Gunter has also reached base in nine consecutive games.
 
GETTING HITS
The Trojans have had no problem getting hits this season as they rank fifth in the conference with 157 so far. That's nearly 38 percent of the Trojans' 416 hits from 2015 in just 16 games. Little Rock has had no fewer than seven hits in a game this season and is averaging 9.81 hits per game this season.
 
As a team, Little Rock ranks fourth in the Sun Belt for hitting at .290. The team's 31 doubles rank third in the conference.
 
The key to Little Rock's successful plate appearances lie in its strikeout and walk numbers. Trojan hitters have the third-fewest strikeouts (103) and fourth-most walks (74) in the Sun Belt.
 
A WIN AGAINST LOUISIANA ON FRIDAY WOULD…
…be the Trojans' third straight win against the Cajuns. It would also be the Trojans' 900th win since 1975.
 
TWO WINS AGAINST LOUISIANA WOULD…
…give Little Rock its fifth series win against the Cajuns since the two squads started playing each other in 1986. It would also give Little Rock back-to-back series wins against Louisiana for the first time since the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
 
A SWEEP OF LOUISIANA WOULD…
…be the Trojans' third against the Cajuns in program history. It would also give Little Rock five straight wins over Louisiana, and it would move the Trojans' current winning streak to six games.
 
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES

• Cody Daylor is one strikeout away from his 15th in a Trojan uniform.
• Nik Gifford is one RBI away from his 15th of the year.
• Kyle Kirk is two RBIs away from his 30th and three hits away from his 60th.
• Hayden Martin's next RBI will be his 15th.
• Preston Oberling is two strikeouts away from 20.
• Ryan Scott's next home run will be his 10th. He is two doubles away from 30 and two walks away from 50.

 
ON DECK
The Trojans will return to non-conference action on Tuesday as they host UAPB at 6 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.