| GAMES 21-23 | ARKANSAS STATE |
| Dates |
Thursday, Apr. 1 - Saturday, Apr. 2 |
| Times |
Thursday, Apr. 1 - 6 p.m.
Friday, Apr. 2 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Apr. 3 - 1 p.m. |
| Location |
Jonesboro, Ark. |
| Field |
Tomlinson Stadium |
| Records |
Little Rock (12-8, 3-0 SBC)
Arkansas State (5-14, 0-3 SBC) |
| Watch |
ESPN +
Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast
Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Twitter |
@LittleRockBSB |
| Notes |
Little Rock | Arkansas State |
LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock continues its Natural State stretch with the trip to Jonesboro, returning to Sun Belt play with the rivalry showdown with Arkansas State. The Trojans and Red Wolves will meet Thursday, April 1 and Friday, April 2 at 6 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium with the series finale scheduled for Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m.
Rivalry Renewed
Little Rock and Arkansas State resume one of the longest standing rivalries in the Sun Belt Conference, having met 127 times leading into this weekend. Arkansas State holds the series edge at 78-49, but Little Rock has won four-straight, including a sweep in Jonesboro in 2019. Head coach
Chris Curry is 6-8 against the Red Wolves during his six seasons in Little Rock as the Trojans are 26-46 all-time in northeast Arkansas.
Last Time Out
Little Rock closed out the month of March with a 7-2 win over Pine Bluff at Gary Hogan Field Wednesday afternoon. After falling behind 1-0 in the first, the Trojans scored four times in the first and three more in the fourth, then used pitching and defense to close out the win. Little Rock turned three inning-ending double plays, improving to 6-2 at home this season.
Natural State Swing
Little Rock's series at Arkansas State continues a six-game stretch against teams from the state of Arkansas, coming off the 7-2 win over UA Pine Bluff Wednesday at Gary Hogan Field. Little Rock has won 11-straight against in-state foes, defeating UA Pine Bluff and Central Arkansas this season after going 8-0 against Arkansas opponents in 2019. Following the three-game series in Jonesboro, Little Rock heads to Fayetteville for a two-game midweek series against the Razorbacks.
Playing With the Lead
Little Rock has taken advantage of being in front as the Trojans are 12-1 this season in games in which they have held a lead at any point in the game. Little Rock's lone loss in which it held a lead was the 10-7 defeat to 22nd-ranked Southern Illinois on Mar. 26 as the Trojans have only surrendered the lead three times on the season - Feb. 27 vs. Eastern Illinois and Mar. 26 and 28 at Southern Illinois.
Scouting the Red Wolves
Arkansas State enters the weekend at 5-14 on the year and 0-3 in Sun Belt play, losing a series at Appalachian State Mar. 19-21 before taking one of three last weekend at Illinois State. The Red Wolves are 3-2 at home on the year, including a pair of midweek wins over Missouri State Mar. 9-10. As a team, Arkansas State is batting .255 with a .419 slugging percentage and have three players batting .300 or better, led by Liam Hicks' .410 average and Tyler Duncan batting .347 with 22 RBI. On the mound, the Red Wolves have a 9.51 ERA over 154.1 innings pitched as the pitching staff has combined for 114 strikeouts and 131 walks with an opposing batting average of .313.
Weather Forecast
The weather in Jonesboro is looking to be cool but pleasant for the three game series between the Trojans and Red Wolves. Thursday and Friday's games look to be cool for the 6 p.m. first pitches with highs for the days in the low 50s, dipping down to the low 40s as the games progress. Saturday looks to be a stellar day for baseball with highs in the mid 60s and sunny skies.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. With the weekend sweep of Texas State March 19-21, head coach
Chris Curry sits at 76 Sun Belt Conference wins, moving him into a tie with Hall of Fame coach Gary Hogan for the most conference victories in program history. Curry is 76-73 all-time in league play as his .510 conference winning percentage is the highest in program history as well.
2. The series win over 22nd-ranked Southern Illinois vaulted the Trojans in the latest RPI poll as Little Rock jumped 90 spots with the series win, going from number 148 to number 58 over the weekend. The Trojans currently sit at number 57 in the latest RPI rankings leading into their games this week with UA-Pine Bluff and Arkansas State.
3. Little Rock began to find its groove in the month of March, finishing the month with a 10-4 record, its most wins in a month since going 11-4 in April of 2019. As a team, Little Rock batted .304 during the month of March with a .455 slugging percentage while the pitching staff posted an ERA of 3.48, limiting the opposition to a .240 average with 119 strikeouts.
4. Little Rock enters the weekend third in the Sun Belt in batting average (.293), aided by a handful of individual performances.
Jorden Hussein leads the conference in batting average at .431, ranking in the top-35 nationally, with
John Michael Russ third at .388 and
Tyler Williams eighth with his .350 average. Hussein is second in the conference in on base percentage at .486, with Russ right behind in fourth at .474.
5. Sophomore
Tyler Williams continues to show why he is the Sun Belt's top prospect for 2022, batting .350 on the year while leading the team in slugging percentage (.650), at bats (80), hits (28), doubles (8), triples (2), home runs (4), RBI (22), total bases (52) and stolen bases (5). Williams has reached base safely in all 20 games of 2021 and carries an eight game hitting streak into the weekend series at Jonesboro.
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