Little Rocks Welcomes UT Arlington For Weekend Series

Little Rock vs. UT Arlington
Location	Little Rock, Ark.
Stadium	Gary Hogan Field
First Pitch	Friday, Mar. 23 - 6 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 24 - 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 25 - 1 p.m.
Records	Little Rock (11-9, 2-1 SBC) UT Arlington (10-9, 3-0 SBC)
Watch	Little Rock All-Access
Stats	TrojanStats.com
Mustang Preview	UTAMavs.com

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock returns to Gary Hogan Field this weekend for its conference home opening series against UT Arlington. Game one against the Mavericks is set for Friday at 6 p.m. followed by a game two Saturday at 2 p.m. and wrapping up Sunday with a 1 p.m.
 
Trojans to Watch For:
Justin Garcia is coming off three stellar performances that earned him Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week honors. He pitched 8.0 innings while allowing just one run on two hits with 11 strikeouts and two walks, earning a pair of saves in the weekend series victory over Troy. He leads the Sun Belt in strikeouts with 42 and ranks seventh nationally in strikeouts per nine innings with a 15.32 ratio.
 
Cole Townsend will return to action this weekend after being a scratch from the starting rotation last week. He has thrown a team high 25.0 innings and is second on the team in ERA with a 1.80 average. His strikeout-to-walk ratio remains in the top-50 in the country, striking out 24 while only walking three.
 
Matt Merino had a solid performance in the conference opening series against Troy hitting .416 with two runs and an RBI. Troy Alexander continues to lead Little Rock in a handful of statistical categories, batting .354 with 22 RBI, eight doubles and four homers.
 
Chandler Fidel will get the start on Friday for the Trojans, coming off a winning performance a week ago where he threw 7.0 innings in the 3-1 win over Troy and improved his record to 2-2 on the year.
 
Scouting UT Arlington:
The Mavericks are 10-9 overall on the year and started off Sun Belt play 3-0 after sweeping Georgia State last weekend. They are currently on a six game winning streak which started with an 18-inning win over currently #9 ranked Texas A&M in College Station, which also included a 13-5 victory over Minnesota and a 3-0 shutout of Abilene Christian Tuesday.
 
As a team, UT Arlington is batting .247, led by Omar Salinas' .301 average. Noah Vaughan has matched Salinas with 22 hits on the year and leads the team with 15 RBI, registering five triples and five home runs. Will Olson has added 15 RBI on just 12 hits, five of which have left the yard.
 
On the mound for the Mavericks will Brad Vasser on Friday, Trae Patterson on Saturday and Ka'ikepono Anderson. Vasser has a team high 2.86 ERA for UTA while going 2-1. Patterson and Anderson are both 0-1 on the year with a 7.56 and 8.05 ERA, respectively.
 
Series Against UT Arlington:
The Trojans are 5-14 overall against the Mavericks and have yet to win a series over the Mavericks. Last season Little Rock dropped two games in the series in Arlington as the Mavericks took two of three from the Trojans in Little Rock in 2016.
 
Last Time Out:
Little Rock traveled down to Troy last weekend captured a 2-1 series victory in Alabama for their second-straight series win. The Arkansas Trojans won game won 3-1, followed by a 2-0 setback in game two before a 3-1 decision in game three. In Little Rock's last five games, the Trojans have given up just six runs, allowing two or fewer runs in each contest.
 
Looking Ahead:
Following this weekend's series against UT Arlington, Little Rock will host a midweek tilt against Oral Roberts on Tuesday, March 27 at Gary Hogan Field. That leads into another road Sun Belt series, heading to San Marcos to face Texas State March 29-31.
 
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