Little Rock Faces UCA, LaTech in Mid-Week Showdowns

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock baseball gears up for two midweek matchups starting on Tuesday at Gary Hogan Field at 6 p.m. for game two of the Rock 'n' Roar Rivalry versus Central Arkansas. The Trojans will then turn around and travel to Ruston, Louisiana, on Wednesday to play Louisiana Tech at J.C. Love Field in a 6 p.m. first pitch.
 
The Trojans are currently sitting in first place in the Sun Belt Western division with a 6-3 conference record while posting a 16-11 overall record on the year. Little Rock has won its last two midweek games and has notched extra inning victories against both the Bears and Bulldogs.
 
Little Rock continues to climb in the RPI rankings, ranking 41st as of April 2, the highest ranking in program history. Entering the season the highest the Trojans had ever climbed was 91.
 
Trojans to Watch For:
James Gann and Chase Coker enter the week currently holding seven game hitting streaks each for the Trojans. Coker has had five multiple hit games in that span while knocking in six runs and scoring himself in all seven games. He sits at sixth in the conference in average and second on the team only behind Troy Alexander (.370). Coker is also still looming one hit away from breaking the program record for triples in a single season.
 
Gann's numbers have exploded from his early season slump. 12 of his 21 hits on the season have come in the last seven games where he has seen a spike from sub .200 hitting to now hitting .263. In the current hit streak, Gann has responsible for eight runs-batted-in.
 
Troy Alexander remains in the top-3 in six different statistical categories for the Sun Belt Conference. His batting average is second at .370 while his slugging percentage is fourth at .611. He is tied for the second most hits in conference at 40 while batting in the third most runs tied with 28.
 
Justin Garcia has seen a lot of action for the Trojans pitching in 19 games which ranks tied for the most in the country. Last week, Little Rock handed the ball off to him three times in the ninth inning and all three games, he got the save putting his total to seven. He continues to get strikeouts in his short appearances which has him now third in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings with a 14.94 ratio.
 
Central Arkansas:
The Trojans and the Bears faced off in an extra-inning thriller early in the season in Conway at Bear Stadium. Little Rock jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two before Central Arkansas was able to claw their way back, tying the game in the third. It then wasn't until the 11th inning when Marcus Ragan slapped a single to right-field to score Kale Emshoff for the winning run.
 
This in-state rivalry has seen 76 meetings with the Bears edging out the Trojans 32-43-1. A win this weekend would give Little Rock its first two-win season against Central Arkansas since they did it back in 2007. Last season, the two split the first two games before facing off at Gary Hogan Field, but the Bears took the series with a 5-1 win.
 
Louisiana Tech:
The Trojans took on the sharp pitching Bulldogs team back on March 13, grinding out a 2-1 win in the 12th inning at Gary Hogan Field. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Little Rock tied the game off a Riley Pittman single, then shut down LaTech until the 12th when Emshoff once again delivered the game-winning hit in extra innings, bringing home Alexander in the bottom of the 12th. Now they travel to Ruston, Louisiana to face a pitching staff who ranks third in the nation in ERA with a 2.26 average.
 
Little Rock has only won 25 of the 69 games between the two and the last time the Trojans have won back-to-back games against the Bulldogs was in 2014
 
On Deck:
Little Rock will continue conference play at home this weekend against Georgia Southern starting on Friday at 6 p.m. at Gary Hogan Field. Game two will have its normal 2 p.m. start, but game three will have an early 11 a.m. start time.
 
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