Little Rock Dominates Georgia State, Knots Series

LITTLE ROCK – An offensive onslaught and solid work on the mound by Little Rock baseball (14-16, 7-7 Sun Belt) earned it a 15-2 win over Georgia State (15-16, 4-7) and knotted the weekend series at 1-1 on Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.

Sunday's series finale has now been moved up to 11:30 a.m., to accommodate Georgia State's travel schedule.
 
Zach Baker led the way offensively with six RBIs and two doubles as he went 2 for 3 and walked once. Dalton Thomas shook things up as well with four RBIs and a three-home run as he went 2 for 5. Nik Gifford had three RBIs as he went 1 for 4 while walking twice.
 
The Sun Belt's leading hitter, Ryan Scott, went 3 for 6 with a double and three runs.
 
Cory Malcom (2-3) earned his second win of the year as he went 5.0 innings with six strikeouts while giving up just three hits and a walk on 113 pitches.
 
After getting the opening run on the board in the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Baker, Little Rock punched in two more runs in the third. With runners on the corners, Nik Gifford knocked a two-run single to left center to plate Hunter Owens and Scott.
 
Down 3-0 heading into the sixth, Georgia State finally got on the board with a leadoff home run by Darius Sewell.
 
Up 3-1, the flood gates opened for Little Rock in the bottom of the sixth. With a runner on, Dalton Thomas singled through the right side to score Hayden Martin from second. After two walks loaded the bases for the Trojans, Kyle Kirk walked on five pitches to bring another run home. Baker then cleared the bases with a three-run double, giving Little Rock an 8-1 lead.
 
It was more of the same in the seventh as Little Rock put up another five runs on the scoreboard. With runners on the corners, Thomas hit a three-run blast to dead center, earning his fifth home run of the season. After a Georgia State pitching change, a single by Jonathan Davis and another Kirk walk laid the foundation for a two-run double by Baker to give Little Rock a 13-1 lead.
 
With a 12-run lead, the Trojans weren't going to stop there. After a slew of defensive changes by Georgia State, Owens singled and Scott doubled to get the inning started. With one out, Gifford reached on a throwing error as Owens scored. With runners on the corners, Davis hit an RBI single as Scott scored Little Rock's 15th and final run of the game.
 
Down 15-1, Georgia State put a drop in the bucket as it scored one last time. With runners on the corners and two outs, Nick Gatewood grounded out to Trojan pitcher Dylan Slayton as Will Johnson scored. Slayton then put the Panthers away with his third strikeout of the game to clinch his second save and give Little Rock the win.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the team for responding after last night," head coach Chris Curry said. "It's a good club when we do what we're supposed to do and play ball. Pitching, timely hitting and defense is the boring, old formula because it works."
 
Little Rock will look to win its third Sun Belt series of the season tomorrow at 11:30 a.m., at Gary Hogan Field.
 
"It's the biggest game of the year tomorrow because it's the next one, and we need to win this series very badly," Curry added.