Trojans Fall to Bears in Home Finale

LITTLE ROCK – In its home finale at Gary Hogan Field, Little Rock baseball took a 5-1 loss to Central Arkansas in the finale game of this year's Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry on Tuesday night.
 
The Trojans (21-31) tallied seven hits for the night, but they left eight runners on base. The Bears (29-23) racked up 11 hits and walked six times.
 
Hunter Owens, Riley Pittman, Cameron Knight, Nik Gifford, Christian Reyes, Kale Emshoff and Ty Gunter each tallied a hit while Zach Baker earned the Trojans' lone RBI on a sacrifice fly. Pittman extended his hitting streak to 13 games — the longest by a Trojan this season. Owens and Reyes each extended their hitting streaks to eight games, and Nik Gifford moved his reached-base streak to 11 games.
 
William Hancock went 2 for 5 with two RBIs for the Bears while Brooks Balisterri also went 2 for 5 with an RBI. Keaton Presley and Rigo Aguilar each went 2 for 4 with two runs and a walk.
 
UCA starter Will Brand (4-1) earned the win as he threw eight innings, struck out two and allowed one run on seven hits and a walk. Little Rock starter Carter Brown (3-2) took the loss as he went 3.1 innings, struck out three and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks.
 
The scoring began right out of the gate as the Bears put up two runs on two hits and an error in the very first inning. After Presley began the game with a leadoff triple to left, Hunter Strong hit a one-out RBI single through the left side. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Balisterri as he picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice.
 
After a scoreless second inning, UCA struck again in the third and fourth innings by scoring a run in each. An RBI single by Hancock in the third and an RBI single by Jansen McCurdy in the fourth put the Bears up 4-0.
 
It was the Trojans' turn to score in the bottom of the fifth. Reyes got on base with a leadoff bunt single before advancing to second on a single by Emshoff. Gunter then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Reyes scored from third on a sacrifice fly to center by Baker and cut Little Rock's deficit to 4-1.
 
The Bears scored the game's final run in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Hancock reached on an RBI fielder's choice to put UCA up 5-1.
 
The Trojans let a big opportunity pass them by in the bottom of the seventh. Little Rock loaded the bases with two outs after a single by Gunter and back-to-back fielding errors by UCA's third baseman. However, the big inning didn't come to fruition as a ground out ended the inning. From that point, Little Rock went hitless the rest of the game.
 
"We weren't competitive at all in all three phases of the game in the first three to four innings," Little Rock head coach Chris Curry said. "We mentally weren't ready to play, and by the time we woke up and got after it, it was too little, too late."
 
Little Rock will wrap up the regular season with an important three-game series at rival Arkansas State beginning on Thursday night in Jonesboro.