LITTLE ROCK – After falling in an early 4-0 hole, Little Rock stormed back with five runs in the seventh and eighth innings, pulling even with rival Arkansas State at 6-6. But a costly error allowed the Red Wolves to score the game-winning run in the ninth, claiming a 7-6 win at
Gary Hogan Field Thursday night.
Both teams finished with 11 hits on the night, but three errors for the Trojans, coupled with four home runs for the Red Wolves, helped lead Arkansas State to the victory.
Little Rock (26-25, 14-13 SBC) found itself trailing 5-1 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when the comeback started, beginning with back-to-back singles from
Nick Perez and
Troy Alexander.
Riley Pittman then came into the game as a pinch-hitter and delivered his first triple of the year, clearing the bases to make it a 5-3 ball game.
Marcus Ragan followed suit with a single of his own to score Pittman and bring the game within one, trailing 5-4 after seven complete.
Arkansas State (19-30, 10-18 SBC) answered in the eighth inning with a solo home run, extending its lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth.
Kale Emshoff swung on the first pitch of the inning and smashed a home run to left-center cutting the deficit to 6-5.
Ryan Benavidez and
James Gann kept the momentum by getting a single each to put runner on first and second with no outs. Little Rock then loaded the bases when Pittman drew a 3-2 walk with two outs, followed by Ragan singling to second to bring Benavidez home as the tying run.
Ragan slapped a chopper to second and put the wheels on and beat out the throw to score
Justin Garcia entered the game in the ninth for his 33 appearance on the year, tying his own program record for appearances in a season. In the first batter he faced, Garcia struck out the Red Wolves' Drew Tipton with a ball in the dirt, but the relay throw from Emshoff after the strikeout was high, pulling Pittman off the bag, leaving Tipton safe at first..
After a sacrifice bunt moved Tipton to second, Arkansas State went on top for good with a double to left, bringing him around to give the Red Wolves the 7-6 lead.
Little Rock's final chance came with a two-out single from Benavidez, putting the tying run on base, but a strikeout to
Danny Mitchell Jr. ended the threat and gave the Red Wolves the series-opening victory.
Arkansas State began the scoring in the second with a two-run home run from Tobias Johnson off of starter
Chandler Fidel after Perez booted a grounder to him to put a runner on. The Red Wolves added two more runs in the fifth with another two-run shot over the right-field wall from Kyle MacDonald to put Arkansas State up 4-0.
Little Rock answered in the bottom half of the fifth as Benavidez led the inning off with a double to the right-field wall. Gann hit a grounder to short to advance Benavidez and then Perez hit a sacrifice fly to right to put the Trojans on the board.
Arkansas State's Kyle MacDonald then hit his second home run of the game in the top of the seventh, accounting for the 5-1 lead that sparked the Trojan rally.
Benavidez led all hitters for the Trojans going 3-for-5 on the night with two runs scored and a double while Ragan went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Starter
Chandler Fidel lasted six innings, giving up four runs, three of them earned, off of eight hits with two hit batters. He struck out five, upping his strikeout total to 86 on the year and moving into eighth all-time for strikeouts in a single-season.
Garcia is credited with the loss, putting him at 3-4 on the year, as
Hayden Arnold and
Donavin Buck each saw action for the Trojans out of the bullpen with each allowing one run on one hit with a combined four strikeouts.
The rivalry will continue Friday with another 6:00 p.m. first pitch at
Gary Hogan Field.
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