Trojans Use Hot Bats to Earn Fifth Consecutive Win

ARLINGTON, Texas- Little Rock earned their fifth consecutive victory Friday night, as their bats got hot in their 13-3 victory over UT Arlington in the series opener.
 
Chandler Fidel got the nod for the contest, posting a solid line of six innings-pitched, allowing only two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Zach Ours was exceptional in his relief outing, throwing three innings to finish the game. The senior allowed only one run while scattering two hits and punching out four Mavericks on the night.
 
Every single Trojan tallied a hit in Friday night's contest and the team was led by Riley Pittman who went 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI. Christian Reyes created havoc in the leadoff spot, drawing three walks and scoring three of the four times he reached base during his 1-for-4 night.
 
Reyes led the game off with a walk in the first at-bat of the game, setting the tone for a big first inning. Ryan Benavidez would single to move Reyes over to third before a hit-by-pitch from Garrett Scott and a walk by Pittman brought the first run home. Ramon Padilla launched a sacrifice fly to score Benavidez. Eldridge Figueroa followed by drawing the fourth walk of the inning to score Scott. Chase Coker knocked in the fourth run of the first inning by slapping a single to right to score Pittman.
 
UT Arlington would respond with one run in the first but Fidel would eventually settle down to hold the Mavericks scoreless for the next three innings.
 
Troy Alexander rolled a base hit through the right side to score Scott who led the inning off with a base hit to center to make the score 5-1. UT Arlington pushed another run across in the bottom half of the inning to make it 5-2 in favor of the Trojans.
 
Little Rock would eventually rally for eight runs in the final three frames to put things away in the series opener. Pittman's two-run shot in the ninth put an exclamation point on Little Rock's victory as Ours would retire the Mavericks in the ninth to clinch the victory.
 
The Trojans get back to action tomorrow at 6 p.m., an adjusted start time to due to expected rain in the Arlington area.
 
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