LITTLE ROCK – A six-game road trip will come to a close this weekend as Little Rock baseball (16-28, 7-14 Sun Belt) travels to Mobile, Alabama, for a three-game series at Sun Belt East Division leader South Alabama (28-17, 15-6) beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The series at Stanky Field will continue on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., and will wrap up on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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All three games can be streamed for free by visiting USAJaguars.com
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This will be the third consecutive year in which Little Rock
has met South Alabama in Mobile. Last year's three-game series was moved from
Gary Hogan Field to Stanky Field after heavy rain swept through the Little Rock area. The Trojans met the Jaguars a total of four times as they once again met in an elimination game at the Sun Belt Conference tournament. The Jaguars come into the weekend with a series lead of 69-13 as Little Rock's last win against South Alabama occurred in 2015 in head coach
Chris Curry's first Sun Belt game.
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The Trojans will throw right-hander
Ryan LeMoine (2-4) on
Friday, right-hander
Cory Malcom (2-5) on Saturday and lefty
Chandler Fidel (2-6) on Sunday. The Jaguars will toss right-hander Randy Bell (4-3) on Friday, lefty Thomas Huston (5-2) on Saturday and right-hander Tyler Carr (3-1) on Sunday.
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- A win against South Alabama would be Little Rock's first since 2015.
- With starts on Friday and Saturday, Zach Baker will have 100 consecutive starts.
- A series win would be Little Rock's first-ever in Mobile and first against the Jags since 2012.
- South Alabama will be the fourth Sun Belt division leader Little Rock has faced in the last five weeks.
- Little Rock's pitchers have recorded 377 strikeouts this season — 61 shy of the single-season record of 438 — and will need more than 5.55 strikeouts per game for the rest of the regular season to break the record.
- Little Rock's pitchers are averaging 8.8 strikeouts per game — third-most in the Sun Belt and 40th nationally.
- Trojan pitchers have the second-lowest opposing batting average in the Sun Belt at .248 and have allowed the third-fewest hits in the league this season with 362.
- The Trojans have tallied 86 doubles this season —second-most in the Sun Belt.
- Hunter Owens and Dalton Thomas are tied for the most doubles in the Sun Belt and rank 67th nationally with 15 each.
- Cory Malcom has struck out 89 batters this season — tied for the most in the Sun Belt and 12th most in the nation.
- Malcom needs to average 6.67 strikeouts in all three of his weekend starts for the rest of the season to break the program's single-season record.
- Malcom's 253 career strikeouts rank third in program history.
- Hunter Owens was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team on Thursday and was the first Trojan since 2006 to earn the honor.
