Trojan Bats Come Alive in 10-4 Win Over Mountaineers

BOONE, N.C. - Three Trojans knocked in multiple runs to help lift Little Rock to a 10-4 victory over Appalachian State in game one of the series at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium on Friday night.
 
Little Rock holds its spot on atop the Sun Belt West Division, improving to 11-7 in conference while upping its overall record to 22-18. Appalachian State remains sixth in the East Division with a 3-16 conference record and 11-30 overall.
 
"The theme coming into tonight was 'answer,' as we needed to answer after a disappointing game on Tuesday," said head coach Chris Curry. "The key tonight was that after we jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and they cut it down to 7-4, we came back and scored two more to push the game out to 9-4 and then we shut them down. The combination of Buck, Perez and Garcia was outstanding. Danny Mitchell Jr. and Christian Reyes have waited their turn and the game is rewarding them. I'm really happy for those guys for a great job tonight."
 
The night belonged to Danny Mitchell Jr., who dominated at the plate exploding for four hits and driving in two runs. Mitchell Jr. finished 4-for-5 as he now ranks second on the team with a .306 average.
 
Matt Merino and Riley Pittman each knocked in a pair of runs while Troy Alexander and Christian Reyes each registered two hits on the night, driving in a run apiece. Merino, Reyes and Marcus Ragan each crossed the plate twice for the Trojans as well.
 
The game started quiet for the first three innings as both starting pitchers found their grooves and held each other scoreless the first time through the order.
 
Little Rock then opened up the scoring with a big four-run fourth inning, starting with Matt Merino and Kale Emshoff hitting back-to-back singles to give Riley Pittman two runners on with one out. Pittman knocked a single of his own to score Merino from second and move Emshoff to second. It was followed up by a Nick Perez walk to load the bases for Troy Alexander.
 
Alexander blooped a hit to shallow left-field just out of reach of the third baseman's head that scored Emshoff and Pittman while moving Perez to third. The Mountaineers saved a run as Perez tried to take home on a bouncer, but was caught stealing and advanced Alexander to third. Reyes laid down a perfect bunt down the right side that gave Alexander the opportunity to score and put the Trojans up 4-0.
 
Little Rock extended that lead to 7-0 in the fifth, beginning with a Marcus Ragan walk and a double from Mitchell Jr. The two of them easily trotted home as Merino crushed a triple to right, as he would then score two batters later when Pittman reached on an error by the second baseman.
 
Appalachian State pulled to within three in the bottom half of the fifth, scoring four runs of their own to cut the deficit to 7-4. Little Rock added two more in the top of the sixth off RBI singles from Ragan and Mitchell Jr. The impressive night for Mitchell Jr. continued in the eighth as the North Little Rock native registered his fourth hit and second RBI, singling to right to bring Ragan home for the second time and securing the 10-4 win for the Trojans.
 
Starter Chandler Fidel picked up the win, improving to 6-3 on the year while giving up four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. Little Rock's bullpen then slammed the door on the Mountaineers as the trio of Donavin Buck, Nick Perez and Justin Garcia held App State hitless with just one walk and five strikeouts over the final 3.2 innings.
 
The weekend series resumes Saturday at 2 p.m. CT when the Trojans and Mountaineers meet in game two. The game will stream live on ESPN3.
 
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