LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock once again made the most of the fifth inning, plating four runs to take the lead, and stellar pitching performances from
Aaron Funk and
Aaron Barkley shut the door on South Alabama in a 4-2 victory for the Trojans Saturday evening at Gary Hogan Field.
The win secures the series victory over the Jaguars as Little Rock improves to 14-13 overall and 5-3 in Sun Belt play, sitting in sole possession of second in the West Division. The Trojans also improve to 8-2 at home this season, winners of eight-straight at Gary Hogan Field.
South Alabama once again took an early lead off a solo home run, sending a pitch over the right field wall with one gone in the second to take the 1-0 lead. But Funk would settle in and retire 18 of the next 22 batters he faced, registering nine strikeouts.
Little Rock's bats were having a hard time against South Alabama starter Matt Boswell through the first four innings, tallying just one hit as 12 of 13 Trojans were retired through the first four innings. That would change in the fifth as
Kenny Rodriguez drew an 11-pitch walk to lead off the fifth, setting the stage for
Noah Dickerson to belt a two-run shot to right, putting the Trojans on top 2-1.
Miguel Soto followed that up with a single to left center and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Kobe Barnum sent a shot down the right field line for a double, allowing Soto to score to make it 3-1. A fly out from
Eldrige Figueroa advance Barnum to third for the first out, and he was driven home by an RBI single from
Nathan Lyons, putting Little Rock on top 4-1.
Funk pitched his longest outing of the season, lasting 7.1 innings and struck out his ninth batter to begin the eighth. But a single and double by the Jaguars put runners at second and third with one out, making a call to the bullpen for Barkley for the second-straight night.
The second out of the inning was a diving snag off a hard grounder to the left of second, resulting in a big throw to first for the second out and saving a pair of runs. One Jaguar did score on the play from third and the second runner advanced to third, but a Barkley strikeout ended the eighth, and ultimately, the South Alabama threat.
Barkley sent the Jaguars down in order in the ninth, picking up his fourth save of the season after 1.2 innings and allowing no hits with two strikeouts. Funk earned his first win of the season, giving up just five hits and two earned runs with the nine strikeouts on 104 pitches.
Little Rock finished with six hits on the night as six different Trojans scattered the hits. The home run from Dickerson and the double from Barnum were the only extra base hits for Little Rock as Dickerson now has three homers on the year and Barnum upped his double total to five.
Defensively, the Trojans were solid against the Jaguars, turning two more double plays to up their Sun Belt-leading count to 25 on the year. There was one Little Rock error by Figueroa, but he more than made up for it with a pair of strong defensive plays, including sprinting to the wall in foul territory to make a backhanded catch in the fifth.
The Trojans will now try for their second consecutive home Sun Belt sweep Sunday afternoon in the final game of the series against South Alabama.
Sawyer Smallwood will get the start for Little Rock in a 1 p.m. first pitch at Gary Hogan Field.
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