Little Rock Opens Sun Belt Conference Play at Troy

Little Rock at Troy
Location	Troy, Ala.
Stadium	Riddle-Pace Field
First Pitch	Friday, Mar. 16 - 6 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 17 - 3 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 18 - 1 p.m.
Records	Little Rock (9-8, 0-0 SBC) Troy (12-5, 0-0 SBC)
Watch	Facebook Live
Stats	TrojanStats.com
Troy Preview	TroyTrojans.com

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock travels to Troy, Alabama where it will open up Sun Belt Conference play in a three-game series against the Troy Trojans starting on Friday at 6 p.m. at Riddle-Pace Field. The series will continue on Saturday with a game two's first pitch at 3 p.m. followed by the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
Trojans To Watch For:
Troy Alexander has been the hot slugger at the plate for the Trojans with a batting average of .377. as he continues to climb up in the statistical rankings for Division I. He is currently tied for 12th in the nation in doubles with eight on the year and tied for 23rd in nation in total bases with 46. Of the 80 runs Little Rock has on the year, Alexander has accounted for 33 of them.
 
Riley Pittman has been big at the plate for the Trojans as well, getting a hit seven of the eight games in March. From those hits, he has produced seven RBI's, including the game-tying run in the ninth inning on Tuesday against Louisiana Tech.
 
On the mound, Justin Garcia continues to impress with his changeup coming out of the bullpen. He has seen action in 10 of the 17 games for the Trojans and holds a 2.33 ERA with 35 strikeouts on the year. In the 19.1 innings he has pitched his strikeout per nine innings ratio sits at 16.29 which ranks him fourth in Division I.
 
Cole Townsend will most likely be the Saturday starter as he will go for his fourth win on the season. He has appeared in four starts and has an ERA of 1.80. He sits in the top-50 of pitchers in strikeout to walks with a 8.00 ratio.
 
Scouting Troy:
Troy has been hot in the month of March, going 7-1 and winning its last six games. They have relied on an explosive offense, scoring five or more runs in 13 of their 17 games and sit in the top-35 in the runs with 118.
 
Redshirt-Senior Joey Denison has been the driving force behind the offensive production, knocking in 26 runs which ranks in the top three nationally. He is batting .379 on the year with seven doubles, one triple and three home runs.
 
Little Rock is likely to see right-handed senior Andrew Crane at some point in the series. Crane was named Sun Belt preseason Pitcher of the Year and was a mainstay on nearly every preseason watch list around the nation.
 
So far, Crane is 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA in the four appearances he has had on the year. He has held opposing hitters to a .280 average but has faced dominant bats against third-ranked Florida State and the best hitting team in the nation, Tennessee Tech.
 
Series Against Troy:
Little Rock is 15-20 in the 35 installments of the Trojan showdown. In the last four years, the two have traded off series wins with Troy winning two of three in Little Rock, preceeded by Little Rock sweeping the series the year before.
 
Last Time Out:
The Trojans faced off in a pitching duel on Tuesday that saw a scoreless game through eight innings against Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs scored a run in the top of the ninth, but Riley Pittman slapped a single over the second baseman's head to score Ragan in the bottom half of the inning to extend the game.
 
After two more scoreless innings, Alexander led off the bottom of the 12th with a double down the right field line. Kale Emshoff then battled the count and eventually roped a single to right-center to score Alexander and end the game.
 
On Deck:
Little Rock will continue Sun Belt Conference play, foregoing a midweek game after the series against Troy. They will host UT Arlington in a three-game series at Gary Hogan Field beginning on Friday at 6 p.m., continuing on Saturday at 3 p.m. before Sunday's 1 p.m. first pitch.
 
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