Trojans, Bears Set to Clash at Dickey-Stephens Park

Game 49: Little Rock vs. Central Arkansas
May 17
North Little Rock, Ark. • Dickey-Stephens Park
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LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock baseball (25-23, 16-11 Sun Belt) will face Central Arkansas (24-25, 13-14 Southland) in the final game of the Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry at Dickey-Stephens Park on Tuesday night at 6 p.m., in North Little Rock with gates opening at 5 p.m.
 
Tickets for adults are $10, and tickets for children 12 and under are $7. UALR students will receive free admission with a valid student ID. All seats are general admission. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 501.565.8257.
 
Since it is a neutral site contest, the game is not part of the Little Rock baseball season ticket package.
 
Tickets will be available for purchase at the Dickey-Stephens Park box office on the night of the game.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Tuesday's game will be the rubber game of the season-long three-game series between Little Rock and Central Arkansas.
• This will be the first time Little Rock has played at Dickey-Stephens Park since facing Oral Roberts there in 2014.
• Little Rock has won both meetings with Central Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Park.
• Ryan Scott is tied for the all-time doubles record with 41.
• With 83 hits, Scott is just four hits away from breaking the Little Rock single-season record of 86.
• Dalton Thomas is on Scott's coattails with 81 hits for the year.
• Little Rock still boasts the best batting average in the Sun Belt at .299.
• Cory Malcom picked up Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors.
• Hayden Martin leads the Sun Belt and ranks fifth in the nation with 15 sacrifice bunts this season.
• A win against UCA would be the Trojans' 26th of the season, the most since 2013.

 
SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS
The Bears are coming into the final Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry game with back-to-back losses to McNeese this past weekend. Before that, the Bears had won six straight games.
 
Offensively, the Bears are hitting .272 for the season, and they have four hitters hitting over the .300 mark for the year. Chris Townsend leads the club with a .347 batting average in 124 at-bats. Brandon Montalvo, Logan Preston and Tyler Langley have played are hitting .306, .305 and .303, respectively.
 
On the mound for UCA and making his second start of the season will be left-hander Chris Durham (4-5). Durham has 4.26 ERA in 38.0 innings of work with opponents hitting .270 off the lefty in 17 appearances. He threw 4.1 innings, struck out five, allowed just three hits and picked up the win the last time the Trojans and Bears met. As a whole, Central Arkansas has a 4.38 ERA for the year.
 
SERIES AGAINST CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Although Central Arkansas owns the all-time series lead at 40-29-1, the season series is tied at 1-1. Little Rock took the first game of the series at Gary Hogan Field on March 16 with a 6-5 win off big hits from Ryan Scott and Dalton Thomas. Central Arkansas took the second game in Conway by a score of 6-1 after Little Rock walked a season-high 15 batters.
 
The Trojans have had good luck against the Bears when playing at Dickey-Stephens Park as they have won both games played there. Little Rock took a 5-3 win against UCA in 2013 after defeating the Bears 9-8 in extra innings in 2012.
 
ON THE MOUND FOR LITTLE ROCK
Lefty redshirt sophomore Cole Townsend (0-1) will make his fourth start on Tuesday night for Little Rock. Townsend's last start came against the Bears in the April 13 game in Conway. Since then, Townsend has made appearances out of the bullpen against Georgia Southern, Tennessee Tech and UT Arlington. Townsend's last outing against UT Arlington on May 7 was a good one as he threw 2.0 innings and struck out three while allowing one hit and a run on 35 pitches.
 
RECORD CHASERS
Senior Ryan Scott tied Little Rock's all-time doubles record of 41 over the weekend at ULM. Scott hit two doubles in the series finale to tie the 14-year old record set by John Gragg in 2002.
 
Scott is also chasing the Little Rock single-season record for hits set by Greg Taylor in 1996. At 83 hits, Scott is just four hits from making the record his, but he does have some competition in Dalton Thomas, who is just two hits behind Scott at 81. The result is a fun McGwire-Sosa-like competition to see who can break the record first.
 
OFFENSIVE POWER
Little Rock remains the best-hitting club in the Sun Belt with a .299 batting average for the season. The Trojans also rank first for slugging at .412 and on-base percentage at .383. Other notable rankings are third in runs scored (321), third in RBIs (291), third in doubles (94), fourth in hits (493), fourth in home runs (32), fourth in total bases (693) and fourth in walks (205). Little Rock's hitters have the second-fewest strikeouts among Sun Belt schools with 314. The Trojans have accomplished all this while having the second-fewest at-bats with 1,648.
 
SUN BELT PITCHER OF THE WEEK
After throwing a complete-game shutout on Saturday night at ULM, Little Rock baseball's Cory Malcom was named the Sun Belt Conference's Pitcher of the Week.
 
Malcom picked up his fifth win of the year as he threw a career-high 9.0 innings while allowing no runs, three hits and two walks on exactly 100 pitches in the Trojan's 17-0 win against the Warhawks. He also tied a career high with nine strikeouts. Prior to Malcom, the last Trojan pitcher to throw a nine-inning, complete-game shutout was Calvin Drinnen against Oklahoma in 2011.
 
Malcom became the 21st Little Rock pitcher to earn the weekly conference honor and was the first Trojan to win the award since Travis McDonald in 2013.
 
MAKING SACRIFICES
Senior Hayden Martin has been the Trojans' go-to guy for sacrifice bunts this season as he leads the Sun Belt with 15 for the season. His 15 rank fifth in the nation and are a Little Rock single-season record. With 26 for his career, Martin is Little Rock's all-time record holder with 26.
 
A WIN AGAINST CENTRAL ARKANSAS WOULD…
…give Little Rock 26 wins for the season, the most since the Trojans picked up 28 in 2013. A win would also give Little Rock its third straight victory against UCA at Dickey-Stephens Park. A victory would also be the Trojans' first win at a neutral site since defeating the Bears in 2013.
 
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES

• Jarrid Garcia's next strikeout will be his 70th.
• Ty Gunter's next hit will be his 30th.
• Preston Oberling is three strikeouts away from 40.
• Ryan Scott's next game will be his 170th, the third-most in program history.
• Scott's next hit will tie him for fourth all-time at 177, and he is four bases from tying the second-most in program history.
• Dalton Thomas is two RBIs shy of 50.
• Reed Willenborg is three strikeouts away from 50.

ON DECK
Following the Trojans' final non-conference game on Tuesday, Little Rock will wrap up the regular season at home against Arkansas State in a three-game series beginning on Thursday at 6 p.m.