| Little Rock vs. Northwestern State |
| Location |
Little Rock, Ark. |
| Stadium |
Gary Hogan Field |
| First Pitch |
Game One - Friday - 3 p.m.
Game Two - Saturday - 2 p.m.
Game Three - Sunday - 1 p.m. |
| Records |
Little Rock (5-4)
Northwestern State (5-3) |
| Watch |
Little Rock All-Access |
| Stats |
TrojanStats.com |
| Demon Preview |
NSUDemons.com |
LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock baseball returns home to
Gary Hogan Field to face Northwestern State for a three-game series this weekend. Game one begins on Friday, March 2 at
3 p.m. followed by a game
on Saturday, March 3 at
2 p.m. The series finale is set for Sunday, March 4 with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Trojans Among the National Leaders:
Outfielder
Troy Alexander continues to dominate at the plate. In 36 at-bats this season, he is hitting .417 with six multiple-hit games. He has driven in 11 runs through nine games, which ranks in the top-90 players in Division I. Alexander has hit six doubles in the nine games, which ranks tied for second nationally, while also ranking in the top-50 in hits with 15 on the year and in the top-30 in total bases with 27. To add to his numbers, he has two home runs on the year.
Right-handed reliever
Justin Garcia has been the strikeout master so far on the season for the Trojans. In 12.2 innings pitched he has recorded 23 strikeouts, which is tied for fourth in Division I, and his strikeout per nine innings sits at 16.34, which ranks 17th nationally.
Chase Coker ranks nationally as well as he is tied for second in triples with three on the year despite playing in just eight of the games.
Marcus Ragan is tied for fifth nationally in stolen bases with seven in the nine games he's played and is ranked 14th in stolen bases per game with a 0.78 average.
Cole Townsend and
Chandler Fidel are two of 22 pitchers in Division I to have thrown a complete game so far on the season. Both of them coming on the same day in a doubleheader versus Fort Wayne on Feb. 25.
Scouting Northwestern State:
The Demons are sitting at 5-3 on the year after going 2-1 against Penn last weekend and then defeating LA Tech in extra innings
on Wednesday. They have also faced Sun Belt West Division leaders ULM, losing 11-6. It will be a reunion of sorts for head coach
Chris Curry, who spent two seasons on the Demon coaching staff.
Northwestern State has two players hitting over .400 on the season, led by Kwan Adkins' .423 average as has been hitting in the nine spot for the Demons with four RBIs on the season. The other is Austin Stegall who is batting .407 on the year with a double, triple and one RBI.
Ridge Heisler has dominated on the mound for the Demons going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 12.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 15 and walked three. The Trojans are slated to face Heisler on Saturday.
Friday, the Trojans are looking at facing Nathan Jones on the mound, who is 1-0 on the season with a 1.42 ERA off of 12.2 inning pitched. He has held opponents to only a .146 batting average on the year.
Sundays matchup is slated to be against Robert Burke. Burke is 0-1 on the season with a 5.14 ERA from 7.0 innings pitched.
Series Against Northwestern State:
The Trojans have gone 17-23 against the Demons in the all-time series as the teams met once in 2017 with Little Rock handily claiming the 16-1 victory. That game ended an 11-year break as the two teams had not met on the diamond since 2006 prior.
Last Time Out:
Little Rock is coming off a huge win over defending Big-12 champions Oklahoma State, splitting the two-game midweek series in Stillwater. Game one only saw six innings played due to rain and field conditions as the Trojans dropped the opener 9-2. In game two, however, Little Rock's bats came alive, scoring 12 runs on 17 hits and defeating Oklahoma State 12-6. The win for the Trojans over Oklahoma State was the third all-time in the series and the first since Little Rock upended the top-ranked Cowboys in 1987.
Promotions:
On Friday Little Rock will host faculty and staff appreciation day where there will be free admission for any faculty and staff that has valid ID.
Saturday will be "Food Truck
Saturday" where the first 250 students will receive vouchers for food trucks.
On Deck:
Following this weekend's series against the Demons, the Trojans will travel to Oxford, Miss. to take on SEC opponent Ole Miss
on Tuesday at Swayze Field at
3 p.m.
#LittleRocksTeam
