Trojans Open 2018 Season at Tennessee Tech

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — Little Rock baseball open its 2018 season on the road against 2017 Ohio Valley Conference champion, Tennessee Tech. Game one of the series begins at 3 p.m. on Friday in Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex. The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m., before wrapping up on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Sophomore left-hander Chandler Fidel will receive the start in the opener on Friday. In 2017, Fidel made 16 appearances with 13 starts as a freshman. He finished 3-7 with a 4.83 ERA and had the second-most strikeouts on the team with 60 in 63.1 innings of work. Red-shirt senior Cole Townsend will be on the mound for Saturday's matchup coming off a 2017 season where he made 13 appearances and started seven of them. He finished the season with a 2-1 record, a 3.70 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. On Sunday, sophomore McKinley Moore will close out the series for the Trojans. Moore made 15 relief appearances for the year and pitched 10.1 innings with 10 strikeouts, an 0-2 record and a 6.10 ERA.
 
• Little Rock is coming off a 21-34 record in 2017 — 15-13 at home and 5-20 on the road.
• In 2017, the Trojans finished fifth in the Sun Belt's West Division with an 11-18 conference record.
• Little Rock was picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt's West Division for 2018
• The Trojans are rostering 23 new faces — 17 junior college transfers and six true freshmen.  
• This series marks the second time these two programs faced each other   — the last being 2017 where Tennessee Tech won the series 2-1.
• Justin Garcia and Chandler Fidel were named to D1Baseball's preseason All-Sun Belt team.
• A win on Friday would be the Trojans first season-opening win on the road since defeating Jackson State in 2004.
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH (0-0)
Tennessee Tech is coming off a strong 2017 campaign where they won the Ohio Valley Conference and then took down College World Series participants, Florida State on the Seminoles home field in the first game of Regionals.
 
Their outlook for their 2018 campaign looks bright while they try to defend their OVC title. The Golden Eagles were picked in the OVC preseason polls to win the conference receiving 15 of the 22 first-place votes with five players picked to the preseason All-Conference team.
 
Key players returning for the Golden Eagles from that dominant offense are third baseman Trevor Putzig (.394, 93 hits, 23 doubles, 52 RBI), first baseman Chase Chambers (.299, 73 hits, 18 homeruns, 61 RBI) and outfielder Kevin Strohschein (.292, 77 hits, 14 home runs, 60 RBI) who was the 2016 OVC Player of the Year. All three selected to the preseason All-OVC Team.
 
Also returning are two key pitchers, Travis Moths and Ethan Roberts, both who were chosen to the preseason All-OVC Team. Moths, who the Trojans will see on Friday, moved into the starting pitcher role this year after going 5-1 last year with a 3.88 ERA, 69 strikeouts, in 19 appearances. Roberts is a stud closer for the team who had a league-best 13 saves for the Golden Eagles in 2017, setting the program-record.