Little Rock Closes Regular Season With Weekend Series at Georgia State

GAMES 47-49 | GEORGIA STATE
Dates	Thurs., May 20 - Sat., May 22
Times	Thursday, May 20 - 5 p.m. CT Friday, May 21 - 3 p.m. CT Saturday, May 22 - 11 a.m. CT
Location	Decatur, Ga.
Field	GSU Baseball Complex
Records	Little Rock (20-26, 10-11 SBC) Georgia State (15-35, 10-11 SBC)
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Thursday | Friday | Saturday
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Notes	Little Rock | Georgia State

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock will close out the 2021 regular season on the road, traveling to Atlanta for a weekend series at Georgia State with all sorts of Sun Belt tournament implications on the line. Shifted to the customary Thursday-Friday-Saturday series to prepare for the Sun Belt tournament, Little Rock and Georgia State will get things underway at 5 p.m. CT Thursday, May 20, followed by a 3 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday, May 21 and an 11 a.m. CT start time on Saturday, May 22.

Wild Wild West
The Sun Belt's West Division is shaping up to be quite the battle as we head into the final weekend of the regular season. Little Rock is currently third at 10-11, two games back of UT Arlington  (12-9) and one behind Louisiana (11-10). Right below the Trojans is a three-way tie for fourth with ULM, Texas State and Arkansas State all at 9-12, meaning the entire division is separated by just three games with tournament seedings up for grabs.

One-Two Punch
Hayden Arnold and Aaron Funk put together a pair of solid pitching performances in the series against App State as the duo combined to throw 15.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on nine hits while striking out 19 and allowing just three walks. Arnold is second in the league in Sun Belt ERA at 1.70 while Funk is 10th at 2.88 with Aaron Barkley joining the contingent with a 1.91 league ERA, ranking fourth.

Arnold Record Watch
Friday starter Hayden Arnold looks to continue to move up the Trojan record book. He enters the weekend seventh in career strikeouts with 220, 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 211.0 and ranking eighth in program history, needing 4.1 to match seventh-place Cameron Allen's 215.1 from 2012-15. His 9.38 strikeouts per nine innings is eighth in program history.

Scouting the Panthers
Georgia State enters the weekend with an overall record of 15-35 and 10-11 in Sun Belt play, entering the final weekend of play fifth in the East Division. The Panthers are coming off a sweep at Texas State, outscoring the Bobcats 23-13 in the three game series. As a team, Georgia State is batting .247 with a .370 slugging percentage, averaging 4.4 runs per game with 40 homers. The Panther pitching staff holds a 6.25 ERA, striking out 377 batters on the year as opposed to 238 walks and limiting the opposition to a .270 batting average.

Series History
Little Rock is 12-4 all-time against Georgia State and has won nine-straight over the Panthers, dating back to a 15-2 win in Little Rock on April 9, 2016. This is just the second time the Trojans will have played the Panthers in Atlanta, going 1-2 in a 2015 series. Head coach Chris Curry is 10-3 all-time against Georgia State, including a 2-1 win in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the opening round of the 2018 Sun Belt tournament.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

1. Little Rock enters the weekend as one of the nation's top double play-turning teams, leading the Sun Belt with 40 on the year and ranking 17th nationally. The Trojans are 21st in double plays per game (0.87), leading the conference in both categories as Little Rock turned four in the series against Appalachian State, including three in the 4-2 win Saturday night.

2. Aaron Barkley continues to be a force out of the bullpen for the Trojans this season, posting a 6-4 record and a 2.00 ERA with seven saves in 54.0 innings pitched over 21 appearances as opponents are batting just .198 against him. The grad transfer ranks 12th nationally in WHIP (0.87) and 23rd in ERA (2.00), including a 1.91 ERA in Sun Belt play, and was named to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year watch list.

3. The trio of Noah Dickerson, Eldrige Figueroa and Tyler Williams have been one of the best when it comes to extra base hits this season. The trio has combined for 38 doubles on the season, including 13 each for Dickerson and Williams as they are tied for ninth in the league rankings.

4. The trip to Atlanta will be a homecoming for sophomore Tyler Williams, who is from nearby Lilburn and played at Redan High School, just 11 miles from the GSU Baseball Complex.

5. Little Rock heads back on the road for the final weekend of the 2021 regular season, a place it has become quite familiar with. Since April 1, the Trojans will have played 20 of 29 games away from Gary Hogan Field over the final two months of the season with Georgia becoming the eighth different state Little Rock will have played in this season.

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