Little Rock Pitching Staff Struggles in Game Two Loss

LITTLE ROCK- Little Rock's pitching staff struggled in their 11-5 loss to Troy Saturday afternoon, allowing nine earned runs, three homers and 11 hits on the day.
 
"I don't think we came to the park ready to go," said Head Coach Chris Curry. "I think Troy came ready to play and that was the difference from the very beginning of the game. We were careless on the mound on a day where the park was playing very offensive. We responded in the fifth inning, but it was too little, too late. We challenged ourselves to show up tomorrow with the right mindset."
 
Little Rock fell to 20-22 (12-7 Sun Belt) while Troy improved to 22-21 (10-10 Sun Belt).
 
Hayden Arnold had a rough day on the bump, suffering his first loss of the year after his 4-0 start.
 
Little Rock had some bright spots at the plate as four Trojans--Ryan Benavidez, Riley Pittman, Eldrige Figueroa and Chase Coker--turned in multi-hit performances. Troy Alexander launched his eighth home run of the season.
 
Trouble for the hosts began on the first play of the game when an error would kickstart a Troy rally that would see four runners cross the plate, giving the visitors a quick 4-0 lead. A three-run home run from Troy's Logan Cerny would break things open in the first.
 
Troy would continue to pour it on in the third inning, hitting their second home run of the day in a three-run inning to make it 7-0.
 
A run in the fourth and fifth innings respectively would make it 9-0 in the fifth inning. Little Rock was held hitless until the fifth when Figueroa lined a single into right field to give the Trojan offense some life. In the next at-bat, Coker roped a ball off the right-field wall to plate Figueroa and get his team on the board. Later in the inning, Garrett Scott slapped a solid single to left to score Coker and make it 9-2.
 
In the seventh, Benavidez led things off with a double off the wall in center. Pittman then traded places with him after ripping a line drive double through the right-center gap.
 
Troy hit their third home run of the day to push their lead to 11-3 in the eighth inning, but Alexander would respond with a home run of his own, a solo shot to center field, to get things started in the bottom half. Christian Reyes scored Figueroa with a sacrifice fly inning the inning, but the visitors would hang on to their 11-5 lead to take the second game of the series.
 
The rubber match will take place tomorrow, first pitch set for 1 p.m. at Gary Hogan Field with a series victory on the line.
 
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