Strong Start Not Enough as Little Rock Falls to Troy

LITTLE ROCK – Despite a strong start, Little Rock baseball ultimately fell 6-3 to Troy in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.
 
Dalton Thomas continued to swing a hot bat as the senior went 2 for 4 with a home run, a double and an RBI. Thomas extended his reached-base streak to 19 games while improving his hitting streak to 11. Riley Pittman had back-to-back days with multiple hits as he went 2 for 4 with two doubles and a run. Nik Gifford also went 2 for 4 with a run. Hunter Owens and Christian Reyes each drove in a run as they went 1 for 4.
 
Little Rock began the game by scoring in three consecutive innings. With runners on the corners in the bottom of the first, Owens hit an RBI single to right center to score Pittman for the game's first run. In the second inning, Reyes drove in Gifford with an RBI single to left. Up 2-0 in the third, Thomas delivered a solo shot to left for his fourth home run of the season.
 
Troy cut the deficit to 3-1 in the top of the fourth with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left field by Joey Denison. Three innings past before Troy's next run came on a solo homer by Mason Rogers in the top of the seventh.
 
The game changed hands in the eighth inning as Troy went up 6-3 with four runs on three hits. With the bases loaded, Trevor Davis gained an RBI on an infield single to short. Chase Smartt then picked up two RBIs with a single to deep center. After a sacrifice bunt moved runners into scoring position, Mack Hathcock hit a sac fly to center for Troy's final run of the game.
 
Reliever Ryan LeMoine (0-2) took the loss in 2.2 innings as he struck out one and allowed three runs on two hits. Starter Cole Townsend (2-0) went 4.1 innings, struck out two and allowed one run on three hits and four walks. Troy starter Austin Crook (3-0) picked up the win as he went seven innings, struck out three and allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk. Closer Marc Skinner earned his fifth save with two innings on the mound, two strikeouts and two hits allowed.
 
"Right now, we're running from the moment and not to the moment," head coach Chris Curry said. "Until that changes, we're going to have the same results. We wait for something bad to happen or have a panic moment before we play with a sense of urgency. That sense of urgency has to start when you arrive at the ballpark."
 
Little Rock will look to avoid the sweep in the series finale against Troy on Sunday at 1 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.