LITTLE ROCK – Trailing by two with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Little Rock once again staged a dramatic walk-off to defeat Louisiana 4-3 Saturday evening at Gary Hogan Field. The win clinches the series for the Trojans, who improve to 18-17 on the year and 9-5 in Sun Belt play, holding a full game lead for first in the West Division.
It marks the third walk-off win for Little Rock this season, joining the 2-1 10-inning win over Texas State on March 19 and the 9-8 victory over South Alabama on April 11. It is also the 11th-straight home win for Little Rock, tying the second-longest streak in program history, set in 2006.
After conceding the lead in the eighth, Little Rock fell behind 3-2 in the top of the 10th and needed another dramatic finish.
Jake Wright drew a one out walk, followed by a two-out walk drawn by
Nathan Lyons to give the Trojans runners at first and second for
Jorden Hussein.
Hussein hit a hard grounder to the Louisiana third baseman on a 1-0 count, but his relay throw to first to end the game sailed wide, allowing Wright to score from second and Lyons from first and cap the dramatic finish.
It was a game that fit the definition of a pitcher's duel through the first seven innings as Trojan starter
Aaron Funk went 7.0 innings and allowed just four hits with no runs, two walks and eight strikeouts on 109 pitches. He retired 12 of 13 batters faced from the second through the sixth to earn the no decision.
Little Rock struggled offensively against Louisiana starter Connor Cooke, who gave up just two hits to the Trojans through 6.1 innings pitched, including retiring 15-straight Little Rock batters. One of the two hits he did give up was a two-run home run to
Kobe Barnum in the bottom of the second, crushing a shot to right to score himself and
John Michael Russ to give the Trojans the 2-0 lead.
Louisiana threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings, advancing a runner to third in each, but was unable to bring them home. The Ragin' Cajuns finally got on the board in the eighth loading the bases with two outs behind a walk and a pair of hit-by-pitches. A single to center bounced just over Hussein's glove, allowing two Cajuns to score and even the game at 2-2 before
Jacob Weatherley came on to finish the threat with a strikeout.
Louisiana threatened once again in the ninth, getting a runner to third with two outs, but a huge defensive play by
Tyler Williams kept the Cajuns off the board. Little Rock threatened itself in the bottom of the ninth, getting Williams and Rodriguez on base with back-to-back singles, but a ground out and strikeout pushed the game to extra innings.
Two errors by the Trojans in the top of the 10th gave the Ragin' Cajuns runners at second and third with one out, getting the go-ahead run across the plate off a squeeze play at home to take the 3-2 lead with one out. But the damage was limited as a fly out to left tallied the second out, followed by Rodriguez throwing a strike from left to throw out the runner at home to end the inning, setting up the dramatic 10th inning finish.
Little Rock managed just four hits against the Ragin' Cajun pitchers, but they were timely ones from Barnum, Williams, Rodriguez and Russ. Lyons had his 11-game hitting streak snapped, but extended his on-base streak to 14 games, drawing the key two-out walk that would lead to him being the winning run.
Dillon Delgadillo earned the win for Little Rock after registering the final two outs of the 10th. He was the sixth Trojan pitcher of the night as the contingent combined for 11 strikeouts on the evening, including two from
Luke Wallner and another from Weatherley to complement the eight from Funk.
With the series secured, Little Rock tries for the weekend sweep of Louisiana, as well as a program-tying 12th-straight home win Sunday afternoon.
Jack DeCooman is slated to get the start for the Trojans with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
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