Trojans Look to Extend Winning Streak Vs. Oklahoma

Game 24: Little Rock vs. Oklahoma
March 29
Little Rock, Ark. • Gary Hogan Field
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LITTLE ROCK – With its longest winning streak since 2012, Little Rock baseball (12-11) will go for its seventh straight victory when it faces Oklahoma (11-13-1) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.
 
FIRST PITCH

• A win on Tuesday would tie Little Rock's second-longest winning streak in program history.
• Little Rock is 3-0 in midweek games this season and is 9-4 at home for the year.
• The Trojans are 11-3 when outhitting opponents.
• Little Rock has at least seven hits in every game this season and has recorded at least 10 hits in 12 of its 23 games.
• For the second straight week and third time this season, Ryan Scott was named the Sun Belt's Student-Athlete of the Week.
• Scott continues to lead the nation with a .489 batting average and ranks in the top 12 in seven different categories.
• Dalton Thomas' hitting streak of 19 games is the longest for a Trojan since at least 1998.
• Little Rock has won four of the last six meetings with Oklahoma.
• This will just be Oklahoma's second time playing the Trojans in Little Rock.
• Will Hazen will make the start for Little Rock.
• Little Rock ranks third in the Sun Belt with a .301 batting average.

 
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA
The Sooners come into the week on a four-game skid. They were swept on the road at Texas Tech this past weekend and took a loss at Oral Roberts last Tuesday.
 
Little Rock holds the offensive advantage as Oklahoma has hit .251 for the season compared to the Trojans' average of .301. Sheldon Neuse leads the Sooners with a .398 batting average, third-best in the Big 12, and leads the team with 35 hits, eight doubles, three triples, four home runs, 20 RBIs, 61 total bases, a .693 slugging percentage and a .505 on-base percentage.
 
 On the mound for Oklahoma will be right-hander Kyle Tyler (0-0) as he makes his fifth appearance and third start of the year. Tyler has a 2.31 ERA in 11.2 innings and has an opposing batting average of .231.
 
SERIES AGAINST OKLAHOMA
The Sooners lead the all-time series with Little Rock at 23-6, but the Trojans have won four of the last six games against the Sooners.
 
Oklahoma has never played Little Rock at Gary Hogan Field. The only home game for the Trojans against the Sooners took place in 2011 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
 
ON THE MOUND FOR LITTLE ROCK
Left-hander Will Hazen (1-2) will make the start for Little Rock on Tuesday night. Hazen made his last appearance over two weeks ago at South Alabama.
 
ANOTHER WEEKLY AWARD FOR SCOTT
For the second straight week and third time this season, Little Rock baseball's Ryan Scott was named the Sun Belt Conference's Student-Athlete of the Week.
 
Scott had another great week as he went 7 for 15 with seven RBIs, five runs, four walks, a double, a stolen base, a .533 slugging percentage and a .579 on-base percentage. In his first game of the week, Scott went 3 for 5 with a two RBIs and a stolen base against UAPB. In the series opener against Troy, Scott went 2 for 2 with four runs, one RBI and was walked three times. In the final game of the week, Scott went 2 for 5 with four RBIs, a double and a run. Scott also extended his reached base streak to 19 games.
 
Scott still leads the nation with a .489 batting average. He is second in hits (44), fourth in total bases (76), fifth in on-base percentage (.570), sixth in slugging percentage (.844), eighth in RBIs (34) and 12th in runs scored (30).
 
With three weekly honors, Scott now has the most Student-Athlete of the Week awards in program history. The only other Trojan to earn three Sun Belt weekly awards during his career was former pitcher Brad Cherry, who earned three Pitcher of the Week awards during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
 
Scott is just the second Trojan to win back-to-back weekly honors in program history with the first being Sean Bignall in 2012. 
 
On a conference level, Scott is the first three-time Student-Athlete of the Week winner in a single season since Troy's Danny Collins in 2013.
 
STREAKS IN PROGRESS
In addition to Scott's 19-game reached base streak, some other Trojans have built impressive streaks of their own. Junior Dalton Thomas has the longest hitting streak since at least 1998 at 19 games. In Sun Belt rankings, Thomas ranks third for batting average (.400), second in hits (38), sixth in total bases (52), sixth in on-base percentage (.448), seventh in RBIs (19) and eighth in slugging percentage (.547).
 
Also coming in with double-digit reached base streaks are Ty Gunter and Cameron Knight. Gunter currently sits at 12 games while Knight made it 10 games on Saturday. Knight had two hits in all three games against Troy this past weekend and racked up seven RBIs for the week.
 
SWING AWAY
This past weekend's offensive performance pushed Little Rock back over the .300 mark for the season. Now hitting .301, the Trojans rank third in the Sun Belt. Little Rock also ranks first in doubles per game (2.00), second in on-base percentage (.385), second in doubles (46), third in hits (236), third in slugging (.411), third in runs per game (6.4), fourth in runs (147) and fourth in walks (101).
 
Little Rock has at least seven hits in every game this season and has recorded at least 10 hits in 12 of its 23 games.
 
LITTLE ROCK'S RECORD WHEN…
Little Rock is 3-0 this season in midweek non-conference contests. The Trojans have also had quite a bit of success at home this year with a 9-4 record. When Little Rock outhits opponents, its record is 11-3 for the season. When leading after seven innings, the Trojans are a perfect 11-0. The odds are in Little Rock's favor as well when leading after the sixth inning with a 10-2 record. In evening games, the Trojans are 4-1.
 
TEAM WINNING STREAK
With this past weekend's sweep of Troy, Little Rock extended its winning streak to six games, the longest since 2012.
 
A WIN AGAINST OKLAHOMA WOULD…
…would tie the second-longest winning streak in program history at seven games. The Trojans have won seven consecutive games on four other occasions in 1991, 2000, 2003 and 2012.
 
A win would give Little Rock victories against Oklahoma in four of the last five games. A win would also give Little Rock a 2-0 record against Big 12 opponents this season after beating Kansas in the second game of the season.
 
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES

• Cody Daylor's next strikeout will be his 20th.
• Jarrid Garcia is four strikeouts away 70.
• Nik Gifford is three hits away from 30 and three RBIs away from 20.
• Cody McGill's next save will be his fifth.
• Ryan Scott is two RBIs away from 70 and is four hits away from cracking the top eight in program history.
• Dylan Slayton is three strikeouts away from 20.
• Dalton Thomas' next RBI will be his 20th, and he is two hits away from 40.
• Reed Willenborg is three strikeouts away from 40.

 
ON DECK
Little Rock returns to Sun Belt play this weekend on the road at Appalachian State. The series begins at 5 p.m. (CT) on Friday.