| GAMES 44-46 | APP STATE |
| Dates |
Friday, May 14 - Sun., May 16 |
| Times |
Friday, May 14 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 15 - 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 16 - 12 p.m. |
| Location |
Little Rock, Ark. |
| Field |
Gary Hogan Field |
| Records |
Little Rock (19-24, 9-9Â SBC)
App State (16-27, 7-8 SBC) |
| Watch |
ESPN+
Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast
Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Twitter |
@LittleRockBSB |
| Notes |
Little Rock | App State |
LITTLE ROCK - After playing 17 of its last 23 on the road, including the last seven, Little Rock returns to Gary Hogan Field for the final time this season for a three-game weekend series against App State. Game one against the Mountaineers is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, followed by a 6 p.m. first pitch Saturday and an early 12 p.m. start time on Sunday. All three games will stream on ESPN+.
Weekend Honors
With the final home stand of the season upon us, Little Rock will have a pair of weekend honors for members of the baseball team. With Saturday marking the official graduation date at UA Little Rock, the Trojans will recognize spring and summer graduates
Cal Beardsley,
Tim Dixon,
John Michael Russ and
Austin Smith prior to Saturday's first pitch. Sunday will be senior day with
Aaron Barkley,
Dillon Delgadillo and
Eli Sievert, the three Trojans exhausting their eligibility, honored prior to the game.
Wild Wild West
The Sun Belt's West Division is shaping up to be quite the battle as we head down the stretch of the regular season. Little Rock is currently in a three-way tie for second at 9-9 with Louisiana and Texas State with UT Arlington sitting atop the division standings at 11-7. Arkansas State is a game back at 8-10 with ULM just a game and a half back at 9-12.
Home Sweet Home
Little Rock is eager to return to Gary Hogan Field where the Trojans are 11-3 in home games to date in 2021. Little Rock won 11-straight home games, dating from Feb. 27 through April 25, and is 8-1 against Sun Belt foes at home this season. The Trojans are assured their fifth-straight winning season at Gary Hogan as head coach
Chris Curry is 86-69 all-time in home games.
Barkley Among Stopper of the Year Watchlist
Aaron Barkley continues to be a force out of the bullpen for the Trojans this season, posting a 6-3 record and a Sun Belt-best 1.75 ERA with six saves in 51.1 innings pitched over 19 appearances as opponents are batting just .198 against him. The grad transfer ranks 11th nationally in WHIP (0.86) and 21st in ERA (1.75), including a 1.40 ERA in Sun Belt play, and was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year watch list.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Appalachian State enters the week with a 16-27 record and is 7-8 in the Sun Belt, currently sitting fourth in the East Division standings. The Mountaineers head to Little Rock on a six-game skid, coming off a weekend sweep at Miami, and have lost 11 of their last 12. As a team, App State is batting .242 with a .350 slugging percentage, averaging 4.8 runs per game. On the mound, the Mountaineers have a team ERA of 7.15, striking out 352 batters as opposed to 209 walks with the opposition batting .285 against the staff.
Series History
Little Rock has a limited history against Appalachian State, going 7-5 all-time against the Mountaineers since App State joined the league in 2015. The Trojans are 4-2 all-time against the Mountaineers at Gary Hogan Field, earning a series victory in 2015 with a three-game sweep before dropping two of three in 2017. This will be App State's third all-time trip to Little Rock and the first since 2017.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
1. Friday starter
Hayden Arnold looks to continue to move up the Trojan record book. He enters the weekend seventh in career strikeouts with 212, inching closer to sixth-place Randall Clayton, who tallied 230 from 1986-90. Arnold also surpassed the 200 innings pitched mark at Sam Houston on May 7, sitting at 204.0 and ranking ninth in program history, needing 4.1 to match eighth-place Adam Champion's 208.1 from 2007-10.
2. Little Rock enters the weekend as one of the nation's top double play-turning teams, leading the Sun Belt with 36 on the year and ranking 30th nationally. The Trojans are 34th in double plays per game (0.84), leading the conference in both categories, with
Jorden Hussein sitting atop the Sun Belt, taking part in 30 of those twin killings.
3. Sophomore
Jake Wright entered the starting lineup on April 20 and has been a major addition for the Trojans. He is currently on a team-best 12-game hitting streak and a five-game hitting streak, throwing out 12 of 22 stolen base attempts.
4. The one-two pitching duo of
Hayden Arnold and
Aaron Funk is starting to heat up as the conference race gets tighter. In Sun Belt play, the duo has combined for a 2.67 ERA over 73.0 innings with 76 strikeouts and just 19 walks. Arnold has tallied seven quality starts in his last nine outings with Funk adding four more, combining for a 9.37 strikeouts per nine.
5. Little Rock has 26 "big" innings this season of scoring three or more runs, scoring four or more 15 times. It's last occurrence was the three-run ninth at Sam Houston on May 9.
