ATLANTA, Ga. - A career-high five RBI from
Miguel Soto and another solid start for
Hayden Arnold propelled Little Rock to a 7-3 victory over Georgia State Thursday evening at the GSU Baseball Complex.
The win improves the Trojans to 21-26 on the year and 11-11 in Sun Belt play with two games left in the regular season. With Louisiana's loss Thursday evening, Little Rock moves into a tie for second in the Sun Belt West Division and currently holds the number two seed in the west.
Soto's five RBI came in clutch situations, beginning with a three run home run in the fourth and a two-RBI single in the eighth. He finished the day 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and seven total bases.
Little Rock's bats were clutch all evening as all seven of the Trojans' runs came with two outs, going 9-for-18 (.500) with two outs, compared to 2-for-11 (.182) for Georgia State. Little Rock was 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position (.333) with the Panthers batting just .091 (1-for-11), stranding nine runners.
The Trojan scoring began in the third with Soto getting a one-out double to left. After a fly out for the second out of the inning, a back-to-back single from
Jorden Hussein and a double from
Kobe Barnum brought a pair of runs home to give Little Rock the 2-0 lead.
Little Rock added on in the third, opening the frame with a single from
Tim Dixon and a walk from
Jake Wright to put a pair of runners on. After a foul out and fly out put two outs on the board, Soto hit his second home run of the season over the left field wall, upping the Trojan lead to 5-0.
Meanwhile, Arnold was doing what he has done all season on the mound, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out five in 5.0 innings. Arnold retired the final nine batters he faced to earn his seventh win of the season and lower his ERA to 2.85.
Dillon Delgadillo came in and gave two strong innings for the Trojans, allowing three hits but no runs with a strikeout in the sixth and seventh.
Holding a 5-0 lead, Little Rock extended that in the eighth as after the first two batters were retired,
Jake Wright reached on a throwing error and
Nathan Lyons and
Tyler Williams tallied back-to-back singles, loading the bases for Soto. He came through again, ripping a single through the left side to give a pair of insurance runs and up the lead to 7-0.
Georgia State responded with three runs in the bottom of the eighth, narrowing the deficit to 7-3. But
Aaron Barkley came out of the bullpen and shut the door on a Panther rally attempt to preserve the victory for the Trojans.
Dixon and Williams both joined Soto with a multi-hit night, each adding a pair as Little Rock finished with 12 hits on the night. Eight different Trojans registered at least one hit with
Eldrige Figueroa and Wright adding doubles as well, giving Little Rock six extra base hits against the Panther pitching staff.
The win snaps a three-game road losing skid for the Trojans as Little Rock improves to 13-4 all-time against Georgia State, winning its 10th-straight game over the Panthers. It was Little Rock's first win in Atlanta since a 4-2 victory on April 5, 2015.
Little Rock will look to clinch the series Friday afternoon and maintain its spot in the West Division standings.
Aaron Funk will take to the mound for the Trojans in a 3 p.m. CT first pitch from the GSU Baseball Complex.
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