LITTLE ROCK – Another day, another comeback as Little Rock scores five unanswered runs, rallying past Oral Roberts for a 5-2 victory Tuesday at
Gary Hogan Field. The Trojans improve to 14-10 on the year and have won eight of their last 10.
The win snaps a five-game losing skid to the Golden Eagles as the Trojans earn their first win over ORU since a 9-8 win in Tulsa in 2016. It marks Little Rock's first win over Oral Roberts in Little Rock since a nearly identical 6-2 final score in 1996 when stadium namesake
Gary Hogan was coaching the Trojans.
Every starting position player registered a hit on the day as all five runs were driven in by different Trojans with Little Rock generating 12 total hits offensively.
The Golden Eagles notched a run in the first and one in the fourth before the Trojan rally commended. An RBI single from
James Gann in the bottom of the fourth scored
Kale Emshoff, cutting the deficit in half.
Little Rock swung momentum firmly in its favor in the fifth, plating three runs on four-straight hits. It began with a double from
Chase Coker, followed by a single from
Matt Merino (scoring Coker), a triple from
Troy Alexander (scoring Merino) and a single from Emshoff (scoring Alexander) as Little Rock took the 4-2 lead after five.
The Trojans then added an insurance run in the sixth as
Marcus Ragan drove a hit up the middle to score Gann, who reached on a leadoff double.
Ragan, Coker and Gann all registered multiple hits on the day with
Riley Pittman,
Nick Perez and
Eldrige Figueroa each adding base hits to the Trojan offensive attack.
Five different pitchers teamed up in the victory for Little Rock as starter
Aaron Funk earned the no decision, giving up two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and no walks in 4.2 innings pitched, throwing 92 pitches.
Pablo Ortiz closed out the fifth by retiring the last ORU batter on two pitches and gets credit for the win as he was the pitcher of record when the Trojans registered their three-run fifth.
Hayden Arnold and
Nick Perez combined to pitch three innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five, setting up
Justin Garcia to pitch the ninth and earn his fifth save of the season, adding another strikeout to his total.
Little Rock will round out March back in Sun Belt Conference play as it travels to San Marcos, Texas, to play Texas State in a three-game series at Bobcat Park starting Thursday.
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