Trojans Blast Demons With 13-1 Midweek Win

LITTLE ROCK – In its first meeting with Northwestern State since 2006, Little Rock baseball came out on top with a 13-1 victory on Tuesday night at Gary Hogan Field.
 
The win was Little Rock's second consecutive victory in a midweek game and third consecutive win against a Southland Conference opponent. It was the Trojans' 10th non-conference win of the season — the most in head coach Chris Curry's three-year tenure.
 
There was no question who the night's player of the game was as Riley Pittman went yard twice and finished with a career-high six RBIs while going 3 for 4. The last Trojan to record at least six RBIs in a game was Zach Baker in 2016 against Georgia State. Pittman is the second Trojan to record multiple homers in a game this season as Baker hit two against Texas State exactly one month ago.
 
Hunter Owens came up a home run shy of the cycle as he went 3 for 4 with three runs, an RBI, a triple and a double. Also earning a home run for the night was Nik Gifford as he went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. Kale Emshoff tallied three RBIs, a run and a double as he finished the night 2 for 4. Baker went 2 for 5 with two runs and an RBI.
 
The Trojans (18-30) held the Demons (18-29) to just one run and six hits for the night. Little Rock starter Carter Brown (3-1) earned the win as he threw a career-high eight innings and 104 pitches with four strikeouts, one earned run and two walks. McKinley Moore threw one inning of relief and allowed nothing on nine pitches. Northwestern State starter Tim Winders (1-5) took the loss after throwing 2.2 innings, striking out three and allowing seven runs on eight hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
 
"I was really proud of the way the guys competed," head coach Chris Curry said. "Carter Brown shoved pitches in the strike zone, and that's the first key while allowing just two walks all night. Once you have a big lead early in the game, you can sometimes lose your focus, but he kept shoving the ball in the strike zone."
 
Little Rock began the scoring right out of the gate in the bottom of the first. After Baker singled and Owens got hit by a pitch, Pittman delivered his sixth home run of the season over the center field wall.
 
Up 3-0 heading into the bottom of the second, the Trojans struck again with four runs on five hits. With runners in scoring position, Baker drove in a run with an RBI single to right. After Baker stole second, a wild pitch advanced him to third as Christian Reyes scored the Trojans' second run of the inning. Owens then hit his team-leading third triple of the season to score Baker. Pittman rounded out the scoring with an RBI double to left center.
 
Little Rock went up 9-0 in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Pittman's second homer of the game and team-leading seventh of the season. After a one-out double by Owens, Pittman hit a two-run shot to right.
 
The Trojans homered for the second straight inning in the bottom of the seventh. Gifford's leadoff homer and fifth of the season was a moonshot over the scoreboard and gave Little Rock a 10-0 lead.
 
Northwestern State finally broke up the shutout in the top of the eighth. With two on and two outs, Cade Jones hit an RBI single through the right side to score Hunter Uzzle. The inning came to an end as Cale Ridling tossed a laser from right field to third base to throw out the advancing Spencer Goodwin.
 
Little Rock put up runs for the third straight inning in bottom of the eighth thanks to a bases-loaded three-run double by Emshoff.
 
With a 12-run lead entering the ninth, Moore came on for Brown and closed out the game with just nine pitches.
 
"It was a good effort, and it's what you want to see going into a very important conference weekend," Curry said. "It's all about confidence. Guys get up there, and they're able to see themselves doing things well by playing clean defense, shoving it over the plate and making good swings on good pitches."
 
The game was also Curry's first against his former team as he spent two years as the pitching coach at Northwestern State prior to taking the head spot at Little Rock in 2015.
 
"I have the utmost respect for the Northwestern State program and all that they've done for me and my family with the great memories we had there," Curry said. "It was great seeing a bunch of guys that I call friends."
 
Little Rock will play its final home conference games this weekend as Georgia State comes to town for a crucial three-game series. The action will get underway on Friday night at 6 p.m.