Trojans Defeat No. 14 Arkansas in First-Ever Meeting

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- In the first ever meeting between Little Rock and Arkansas, the Trojans came out on top, grabbing a 17-7 win over the No. 14 Razorbacks at Baum Stadium Tuesday night.
 
A fifth-inning grand slam from Troy Alexander gave Little Rock the lead that they would not relinquish. Ethan Daily was fantastic in relief, tossing five innings while only allowing one run to earn the marathon save. Ty Gordon would earn the win as the Trojans would take the lead when he was in the game.
 
A season-high seven Trojans finished with multi-hit nights. Christian Reyes, Riley Pittman, Nick Perez, Alexander, Ramon Padilla and Eldridge Figueroa and Chase Coker each tallied at least two hits on the night. Little Rock rallied for 13 unanswered runs. The Trojans posted a season-high in runs (17) on this very historic night.
 
Garrett Scott notched the first hit of the day with a solid single up the middle after falling behind 0-2. Scott would be left stranded, however, and McKinley Moore would come out for his first inning of work. The junior, making his third start of the season, hit 98 mph on the radar gun and made it out of the first inning unscathed despite the Razorbacks bringing runners to the corners.
 
Arkansas would take the lead in the bottom of the second by bringing two runs to the plate with a bases-loaded double.
 
Little Rock rallied to take the lead in the top of the third. Pittman scored Coker who led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch to cut the lead in half. Then Perez entered the game, filling in for an injured James Gann, and picked up his first hit of the season when he blooped in a doubled to score two runs and give the Trojans a 3-2 lead.
 
Moore's day would come to an end after tossing two innings, allowing three runs on three hits. Dillon Delgadillo took the ball in the third as the first pitcher out of the Trojan bullpen.
 
The Razorbacks regained the lead in the home half of the third when some defensive miscues kept the rally going for the hosts. Troy Alexander ended the inning with a great diving catch in left field, but not before Arkansas pushed four runs across to take a 6-3 lead.
 
Gordon was the new hurler in the fourth inning and managed to maneuver around a bases-loaded jam.
 
A walk by Scott and back-to-back hits from Pittman and Perez set the table for Alexander in the fifth. The senior stepped up to the plated and blasted a line drive over the right field wall to give the Trojans a 7-6 lead. This grand slam would go down as the Houston, Texas native's sixth home run of the season.
 
In the sixth inning, Daily's number was called in a bases-loaded situation with no outs. The left-hander showed extreme composure to get out of the jam by getting a strikeout, fly out and ground out to preserve the Trojan lead.
 
Little Rock got the bats going again in the seventh with a five-run inning to push their lead to six runs. Alexander led things off with a double to left-center and was scored by Ramon Padilla. Chase Coker laid down a beautiful bunt single to keep the rally going and then Reyes slapped a double down the right-field line to score two more runs. Benavidez brought Coker to the plate with a groundout and then Pittman scored Reyes with a sacrifice fly. The Trojans would take a 12-6 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
 
Daily continued his groove in the seventh, picking up a huge strikeout to get out of the inning once again.
 
The Trojans tacked on two more runs in the eighth, using from Padilla and Figueroa to kick start the rally. After Coker reached on an error, Reyes ripped his second double of the night down the left-field line to bring home Figueroa. Pittman notched his third sacrifice fly of the night to score Coker and make it a 10-run lead for Little Rock.
 
Reyes picked up his third hit of the night to score Coker and push the lead back to 10 runs.
 
Daily would get the final three outs in the ninth to complete the historic victory over host Arkansas.
 
Little Rock will continue Sun Belt play on Friday, April 5 when they travel to UT Arlington for a three-game set.
 
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