LR Hosts Rival A-State in Regular-Season Finale

Games 50-52: Little Rock vs. Arkansas State
May 19-21
Little Rock, Ark. • Gary Hogan Field
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LITTLE ROCK – Down to its final Sun Belt series of the regular season, Little Rock baseball (25-24, 16-11 Sun Belt) will host rival Arkansas State (25-26, 11-16 Sun Belt) in a three-game series beginning on Thursday night at 6 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.
 
Little Rock will honor seniors Jarrid Garcia, Kyle Kirk, Hayden Martin and Ryan Scott prior to Saturday's series finale.
 
FIRST PITCH

• Little Rock bested the Red Wolves with a series win the last time the series was played at Gary Hogan Field.
• Matt McDowell and Cory Malcom will make their usual weekend starts.
• Malcom is the reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week.
• Ryan Scott and Dalton Thomas are chasing the Little Rock single-season hits record of 86 with 84 and 83 hits, respectively.
• Little Rock is back to hitting .300 for the year.
• Hayden Martin's 15 sacrifice bunts rank fifth in the nation.
• Little Rock can finish as high as second and as low as sixth in the final weekend of conference action.
• A win would give Little Rock 17 Sun Belt wins, breaking the old program record.
• A series win would be Little Rock's seventh in conference play, setting a new program record.
• A sweep would guarantee Little Rock finishes no worse than third in the Sun Belt, setting a new program record for best regular-season finish.

 
SCOUTING ARKANSAS STATE
The Red Wolves come into the final Sun Belt series with a win over No. 6 Ole Miss on Tuesday after taking two of three against Texas State last weekend.
 
Offensively, A-State is hitting .255 for the year as a team. They're led by Joe Schrimpf with a .313 average, 35 runs, 41 RBIs, a .500 slugging percentage and a .442 on-base percentage.
 
On the mound for the Red Wolves will go with right-handers Cody Jackson (2-3) and Peyton Culbertson (4-0) on Thursday and Friday with a pitcher to be named on Saturday. Jackson has a 4.37 ERA in 59.2 innings and has an opposing batting average of .257 in eight starts and 17 appearances. Culbertson comes in with a 4.03 ERA in 38.0 innings and has an opposing batting average of .212 in six starts and 12 appearances.
 
SERIES AGAINST THE RED WOLVES
Little Rock trails Arkansas State 44-72 in the all-time series since 1975. Last season, the Red Wolves snuck into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament after defeating the Trojans in 14 innings in Jonesboro.
 
The last time the Red Wolves visited Gary Hogan Field in 2014, the Trojans won two of three games, all by at least two runs.
 
ON THE MOUND FOR LITTLE ROCK
Right-handers Matt McDowell (3-2) and Cory Malcom (5-4) will make their usual weekend starts for the Trojans. Little Rock's starting pitcher for the series finale on Saturday will be determined at the conclusion of the first two games.
 
McDowell took the loss in last Friday's series opener with ULM after throwing 7.0 innings with three strikeouts while giving up four runs on five hits and a walk. Before that, McDowell had earned two consecutive wins against Tennessee Tech and UT Arlington.
 
Malcom was magnificent in last Saturday's game at ULM as he threw a complete-game shutout and tied a career-high nine strikeouts. Malcom's fifth win tied a career-high for wins in a single season.
 
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.
 
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 84 hits, Scott is just three hits from making the record his, but he does have some competition in Dalton Thomas, who is just one hit behind Scott at 83. 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 .300 batting average for the season. The Trojans also rank first for slugging at .422 and on-base percentage at .383. Other notable rankings are second in runs scored (327), third in RBIs (296), third in doubles (96), fourth in hits (503), fourth in home runs (33), fourth in total bases (708) and fourth in walks (206). Little Rock's hitters have the second-fewest strikeouts among Sun Belt schools with 320. The Trojans have accomplished all this while having the second-fewest at-bats with 1,679.
 
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.
 
SUN BELT RANKINS
Currently in third place entering the final weekend of Sun Belt play, Little Rock has the potential to move to second in the league. The Trojans would first have to win two of its three game against Arkansas State and would have to hope Louisiana is swept by ULM. Little Rock can also get second by sweeping A-State and having the Cajuns lose the series to the Warhawks.
 
However, if things don't go as planned this weekend, Little Rock can finish no worse than sixth in the Sun Belt standings.
 
A WIN AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE WOULD…
…guarantee Little Rock finishes no worse than fifth in the Sun Belt Conference standings. It would also give Little Rock its 17th Sun Belt victory, breaking the old team record of 16 set in 2000.
 
A SERIES WIN AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE WOULD…
…guarantee the Trojans finish no worse than fourth in the Sun Belt Conference standings. A fourth-place finish would tie the best regular-season finish in program history that occurred in 2000. 
 
It would also be the Trojans' seventh Sun Belt series win of the season. That would set a new team record for conference-series wins in a single season.
 
A SWEEP OF ARKANSAS STATE WOULD…
…guarantee Little Rock finishes no worse than third in the Sun Belt Conference standings. It would also be the Trojans' first sweep of the Red Wolves since 2008, and it would be Little Rock's third this season.
 
UPCOMING CAREER MILESTONES

• Jarrid Garcia is two outs shy of 80 innings on the mound.
• Nik Gifford is two RBIs away from 40.
• Cory Malcom's next strikeout will be his 150th and he needs just two outs to have 180 innings on the mound during his three-year career.
• Hayden Martin is two bases shy of 100.
• Preston Oberling is three strikeouts away from 40.
• Hunter Owens is two hits from 50.
• Ryan Scott is three bases away from moving into second all-time at Little Rock.
• Dalton Thomas' next RBI will be his 50th.
• Reed Willenborg is three strikeouts away from 50.

 
ON DECK
After this weekend, Little Rock will once head to San Marcos, Texas, to play in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time since 2013. Hosted by Texas State, the tournament will begin on Wednesday with seedings and game times to be announced after this weekend.