LITTLE ROCK – Clutch hitting and timely defense ruled the day for Little Rock, pacing the Trojans to a series sweep of preseason Sun Belt West Division favorite Texas State with a 7-4 decision Sunday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field.
The win is the fourth-straight for Little Rock, its longest since a five game winning streak at the end of the 2019 regular season. It marks the first series sweep in league play since taking three-straight against rival Arkansas State on May 16-18 of 2019 as Little Rock has now won three-straight Sun Belt series and eight of its last nine, dating back to the 2019 season.
Little Rock also logged its second series sweep of Texas State, improving to 16-7 all-time against the Bobcats. Since Texas State joined the league in 2014, it still has never won a series against Little Rock as the Trojans are now 9-3 all-time against the Bobcats at Gary Hogan Field.
After scoring just one run in 20 innings of play, Texas State came out aggressive in the top of the first, tagging starter
Jack DeCooman for two early runs to build a 2-0 lead. But DeCooman was able to find his groove and allowed just two hits over the next five innings, striking out three.
The Trojans had opportunities to score and finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth, beginning with a leadoff home run from
Miguel Soto to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
Kobe Barnum then registered a first pitch double to right, which was followed two pitches later by a double to center from
Kenny Rodriguez, bringing Barnum home to tie the game at 2-2.
Little Rock would add three more in the seventh, all of which came with two outs. A two-out walk to Rodriguez, followed by a steal put him in scoring position, and he was brought home with a single from Figueroa to give the Trojans the 3-2 lead.
Nathan Lyons would reach back after being hit by a pitch on a 1-2 count, putting two on for
Jorden Hussein who ripped a triple over the head of the centerfielder, bringing both runners home to up Little Rock's lead to 5-2.
On the mound, freshman
Jacob Weatherley replaced DeCooman with one out in the sixth and allowed just two hits with a strikeout in two innings of work, leaving with one out in the eighth to earn the victory for Little Rock, his second of the season.
But it didn't come easily as Texas State took advantage of walks and a single in the eighth to load the bases. A two-out single to left scored a pair and cut the Trojan lead to 5-4, bringing in
Aaron Barkley to try and get the final four outs despite pitching four innings on Friday to earn the win.
Barkley's first pitch went awry, hitting the Bobcat batter to once again load the bases, but he got out of it with a 3-2 groundout to Lyons, ending the Texas State threat.
Little Rock responded with a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases behind a
Noah Dickerson single and walks to Soto and Barnum and bringing Rodriguez to the plate. For the second-straight Sunday, Rodriguez delivered with the bases loaded, sending a single through the left side to bring a pair home and up the Trojan lead to 7-4.
Texas State threatened once again in the top of the ninth, getting runners at second and third with just one out off a walk and a double off the wall in center field that Williams looked like he had pulled it, but lost control once he slammed into the wall. But Barkley responded with a strikeout and a ground out to earn the save and preserve the series sweep.
Little Rock's offense tallied 11 hits on the day with Hussein, Williams and Rodriguez each recording a pair. Rodriguez led the way with three RBI on the afternoon with Hussein drove in a pair while Soto scored twice.
With the opening weekend of Sun Belt play in the books, Little Rock sits in sole possession of first place in the West Division at 3-0, one game better than ULM at 2-1. UT Arlington is at 1-2 while Texas State and Arkansas State are both at 0-3. Louisiana has yet to play a league game.
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