| GAMES 40-42 | SAM HOUSTON STATE |
| Dates |
Friday, May 7 - Sunday, May 9 |
| Times |
Friday, May 7 - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 8 - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 9 - 1 p.m. |
| Location |
Huntsville, Texas |
| Field |
Don Sanders Stadium |
| Records |
Little Rock (18-21, 9-9 SBC)
Sam Houston (20-18, 16-11 SLC) |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast
Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Twitter |
@LittleRockBSB |
| Notes |
Little Rock | Sam Houston State |
LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock returns to the Lone Star state, stepping outside of Sun Belt play for a weekend series at Sam Houston State in Huntsville. The Trojans and Bearkats will play a three-game series at Don Sanders Stadium, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on Friday, May 7. Saturday's first pitch has been pushed back to 7:30 p.m. to help accomodate an FCS football semifinal playoff game Sam Houston is hosting that afternoon with the final game of the series set for Sunday, May 9 at 1 p.m.
Road Warriors
Little Rock is getting use to playing away from Gary Hogan Field as this week's series at Sam Houston State continues a seven-game road swing and is part of a tough stretch where the Trojans will play 12 of 15 away from Little Rock. From March 5 through May 11, Little Rock is scheduled to play 26 road games with just 10 home dates at Gary Hogan Field during that stretch.
Texas Two Step
Little Rock returns to the Lone Star state looking for a better result from the last weekend where it suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of UT Arlington. The Trojans were no-hit in Saturday's 1-0 11-inning game, which saw a pair of remarkable pitching duels, then fell 5-4 and 3-0 in the Sunday doubleheader in a pair of hard-fought pitching performance.
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 league standings at 10-5. The Trojans own the tiebreaker against both the Ragin' Cajuns and Bobcats, winning their respective series.
Arnold Record Watch
Entering the weekend, senior
Hayden Arnold ranks seventh in program history in career strikeouts with 204, inching closer to sixth-place Randall Clayton, who tallied 230 from 1986-90. He also enters the weekend with 198.2 innings pitched, needing 3.1 innings to match Scott Deremer's 202.0 from 1995-96 for ninth all-time in program history.
Scouting the Bearkats
Sam Houston State enters the weekend at 20-18 overall and 16-11 in the Southland Conference, sitting third in the league standings. The Bearkats are 11-6 at Don Sanders Stadium in 2021 and have victories over TCU and Texas A&M. As a team, Sam Houston is batting .270 with a .417 slugging percentage, hitting 35 home runs with 195 RBI. On the mound, the Bearkats boast a team ERA of 4.99 over 324.1 innings pitched, striking out 296 as opposed to 121 walks with opponents hitting .267.
Series History
Little Rock and Sam Houston State have met just once previously with the Bearkats earning a 9-2 decision in a neutral site game played in Shreveport, Louisiana, on March 10, 2002. The Trojans are 91-123 (.425) all-time against current members of the Southland Conference and are 1-1 against the league in 2021, splitting a home-and-home series with Central Arkansas.
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 33 on the year and ranking 29th nationally. The Trojans are 31st in double plays per game (0.85), leading the conference in both categories.
2. 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 eight outings with Funk adding four more, combining for a 9.37 strikeouts per nine.
3.
Aaron Barkley continues to be a force out of the bullpen for the Trojans this season, posting a 5-3 record and a 1.89 ERA with six saves in 47.2 innings pitched over 18 appearances. Barkley boasts a 1.40 ERA in Sun Belt play as the grad transfer ranks sixth nationally in WHIP (0.80), 16th in walks per nine (1.13), 26th in ERA (1.89), 34th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.67) and 39th in saves (six).
4.
Jake Wright enters the weekend with a team-best nine game on-base streak, reaching base safely at least once in all nine games he has played for the Trojans.
Tyler Williams is second on the team with a six game streak.
5. There will be a reunion of sorts this weekend between Little Rock pitching coach
R.D. Spiehs and Sam Houston State head coach Jay Sirianni. The two were teammates at Nebraska in 1999 as Spiehs and Sirianni were both part of the pitching rotation that helped the Cornhuskers go 42-18 and reach the NCAA Super Regionals.
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