LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock begins a five game road swing - and a stretch of 12 of the next 15 away from Little Rock - heading to Conway for the second showdown of the year with Central Arkansas Tuesday at 6 p.m. The game for Little Rock will be its 10th in the last 14 days while Central Arkansas is taking the field for the first time since April 3.
The game against UCA will stream on Bear Nation Network with Trey Schaap handling the radio broadcast on 920 AM the Sports Animal, getting underway at 5:30 p.m.
Sweeping the Jags
Little Rock earned its first-ever series sweep of South Alabama over the weekend, defeating the Jaguars 7-3, 4-2 and 9-8 at Gary Hogan Field April 9-11. The Trojans trailed in all three games, but had one big inning in each that shifted the scales and put Little Rock in front. The most dramatic inning came in the final one as the Trojans trailed 8-4 entering the bottom of the ninth Sunday and scored five runs, capped by a two-run walk-off by
Kenny Rodriguez, to complete the sweep.
Surpassing Hogan
With the weekend sweep of South Alabama, head coach
Chris Curry became the program's all-time leader in conference victories, sitting at 79 wins in Sun Belt play. That surpasses the 76 conference victories by Hall of Fame head coach Gary Hogan as Curry's .510 winning percentage in league play (79-76) also ranks first in program history.
Governor's I-40 Showdown
Tuesday's game will be the second of two meetings this year between Little Rock and Central Arkansas as part of the Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield Governor's I-40 Showdown. Three points will be up for grabs in the final meeting of the year across all sports between the Trojans and Bears with UCA holding a 20-15 advantage heading into Tuesday's game in Conway. Little Rock won the earlier meeting this season, defeating Central Arkansas 5-3 at Gary Hogan Field to earn three points for the Trojans.
Scouting the Bears
Central Arkansas enters Tuesday's game with an overall record of 9-16 and are 6-10 in Southland Conference play, having lost five-straight. The Bears will be playing their first game since April 3 as COVID positives resulted in a pause to the season for UCA. As a team, Central Arkansas is batting .239 with a .316 slugging percentage, led by Coby Potvin's .338 average with 13 RBI. On the mound, the Bears have a 6.19 ERA with 194 strikeouts opposed by 90 walks with opposing teams batting .290 against the staff.
Series History
Tuesday's game marks the 50th all-time meeting between the Trojans and Bears with Little Rock holding a 30-19 edge in the all-time series, including a four-game win streak. Little Rock is 10-8 all-time in Conway, winning it's last two games at Bear Stadium, while head coach
Chris Curry is 7-7 all-time against the Bears.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW:
1. Little Rock has taken advantage of being in front as the Trojans are 15-2 this season in games in which they have held a lead at any point in the game. Little Rock's lone losses in which it held a lead was the 10-7 defeat to 22nd-ranked Southern Illinois on Mar. 26 (Trojans led 3-0 in the 2nd) and at Arkansas State on Apr. 1 (Trojans led 1-0 in the 1st and 2-1 in the 2nd).
2. Little Rock enters the week as one of the nation's top double play-turning teams, leading the Sun Belt with 25 on the year. The Trojans' 25 double plays rank 16th nationally and they rank 23rd in double plays per game (0.89), logging a season-high three at Southern Illinois on March 27 and again against UA Pine Bluff on March 31.
3. Little Rock has used a big inning to help jump start rallies as the Trojans have scored three or more runs in 22 innings through the 2021 season. Little Rock has scored five or more runs on six separate occasions, including Sunday's ninth inning against South Alabama, scoring at least four runs in an inning in each of the victories over the Jaguars this season.
4. Since entering the lineup in the final game of the Auburn series, Kenny Rodriguez has been an offensive spark for the Trojans. He is batting .328 and is second on the team in both slugging percentage (.569), RBI (19) and walks (14) and is tied for second with four home runs. Rodriguez drove in four in the 9-8 come-from-behind victory over South Alabama Sunday, including the two-run walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to clinch the series sweep.
5. Aaron Barkley continues to be a force out of the bullpen for the Trojans this season, posting a 5-1 record with four saves in 33.0 innings pitched over 12 appearances. Barkley's five wins ranks 16th nationally while his walks per nine innings ratio of 0.82 is ninth nationally and tops in the Sun Belt.
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