Trojans Clinch Series Win Over Bobcats on Senior Day

LITTLE ROCK- The Trojans clinched a series victory over conference-leading Texas State with a 9-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. Chase Coker's seventh-inning bases-clearing triple broke the game open to propel Little Rock to their third straight win.
 
Little Rock improves to 24-25 (15-10 Sun Belt) while Texas State falls to 33-17 (17-9 Sun Belt).
 
Prior to the contest, 12 seniors were honored during a Senior Day ceremony for their hard work and dedication to the Little Rock baseball program. Troy Alexander, Ryan Benavidez, Donavin Buck, Chase Coker, Ethan Daily, James Gann, Mason Leeming, Pablo Ortiz, Zach Ours, Nick Perez, Riley Pittman and Christian Reyes received recognition for their accomplishments both on and off the field.

"We believe right now," said Head Coach Chris Curry. "They believe in themselves, they believe in each other and they think they're not out of it. Coker is at the bottom of our order but he's not a bottom-of-the-order caliber hitter. He's capable of changing the game, he's got power, he's got speed, he's got a lot of things. I think Chase wants to win more than anybody in this ballpark."
 
Hayden Arnold earned the start for the Trojans and threw 4.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits. Dillon Delgadillo came on in relief and was brilliant, tossing 2.2 innings without allowing a hit to eventually earn the win. Donavin Buck threw the final two innings of the game, allowing just one hit while putting up two important zeroes to clinch the win.
 
Nick Perez had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate against his former team, scoring two runs and drawing a walk. Ramon Padilla also reached base every time he came to the plate, going 2-for-2 with two walks on the day. Coker got the big hit, driving in four runs in game two of the series.
 
The Bobcats were first to get on the board in Saturday's contest, scoring one run in the first inning to take the lead.
 
Little Rock answered to tie the game in the bottom half of the first when Padilla knocked one through the left side to score Alexander from second base.
 
The Trojans took a 3-1 lead in the third, using a Benavidez hit-by-pitch and a Pittman double to get things started. Gann brought Benavidez home with a ground out and then Pittman came around to score on a wild pitch.
 
Benavidez extended the Little Rock lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning when his bloop single over the second baseman's head scored Reyes who set the table with a line-drive double to left field.
 
Arnold ran into some trouble in the fifth inning as the Bobcats roughed him up for four runs to take a 5-4 lead. Delgadillo came on to get two strikeouts to stop the bleeding and end the inning.
 
Little Rock evened up the score at 5-5 when Coker's ground out scored Nick Perez from third base.
 
Coker then provided the big hit that the Trojans were looking for when he stepped up to the plate with the bases-loaded and launched a deep fly ball off the centerfield wall to plate all three runners and give his team an 8-5 lead. Eldrige Figueroa then added another insurance run with a ground out to score Coker from third base, making the score 9-5.
 
Buck then slammed the door shut in the final frame, clinching the series over the conference-leading Bobcats.
 
The series finale takes place tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the final game at Gary Hogan Field this season.
 
 
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