STILLWATER, Okla. – Little Rock's bats came to life in game two of its series against Oklahoma State, defeating the defending Big-12 champions 12-6 at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium Wednesday evening. The win improves the Trojans to 5-4 on the year as Little Rock earns its first win over the Cowboys since 1987.
Seven different Trojans had multiple hits in the game and six different players scored as the Trojans tallied 17 hits on the evening.
Troy Alexander led the team in RBIs with four, which included a three-run homerun in the fifth. Nick Perez was right behind him with three RBIs of his own.
Eldrige Figueroa led the team in hits going 4-for-5 at the plate and getting one run.
Justin Garcia picked up the win for the Trojans after throwing three innings with six strikeouts, upping his strikeout total to 23 on the year.
Little Rock opened the scoring in the top of the first when Marcus Ragan scored off a wild pitch, scoring in similar fashion in the third when Troy Alexander plated a run off Cowboy wild pitch to give the Trojans the 2-0 lead.
The middle innings is where Little Rock did most of their damage scoring seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings. The Trojans jumped to a 5-0 nothing lead going into the bottom of the fourth off an Alexander double and a Nick Perez single, plating Matt Merino and Alexander.
Oklahoma State closed the gap to 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth, thanks largely to a three-run home run. But the Trojans answered immediately with four runs of their own in the top of the fifth and never looked back. Riley Pittman began the scoring with a sacrifice fly, leading into a three-run blast from Alexander to put the game out of reach.
Little Rock added some insurance runs late, scoring one in the eighth and two more in the ninth off a Perez two-RBI double.
Donavin Buck started the game for the Trojans and had a no-hitter through three innings before giving up the four-run fourth. He ended his outing with two strikeouts, two walks and gave up three hits.
Perez entered the game in the eighth inning to close out the game for the Trojans with a 10-4 lead. He gave up a two-run homerun in the eighth but recovered with his two-RBI double in the top of the ninth before striking out the Cowboy side in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
The victory for Little Rock marks its third victory all-time against Oklahoma State, earning a victory in Stillwater in 1983 and one in Little Rock in 1987 when the Cowboys were ranked number one nationally.
Little Rock returns home this weekend to face Northwestern State for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. at Gary Hogan Field. They will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and then finish the series off on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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