LITTLE ROCK – The Trojans collected two bout wins in front of a record-breaking wrestling crowd at the Jack Stephens Center this evening against #4 Oklahoma State, headed by victories by decision by
Joseph Bianchi and
Triston Wills. Little Rock brought in 1,524 fans to showcase the improving program, helping the Trojans turn in the best result yet against the Cowboys in their now three-match series.
The 1,524 broke the previous mark of 1,453 from Little Rock's first-ever dual in 2019, while the final score of 6-35 was the closest margin between the Trojans and the Cowboys yet as the home team earned two match wins, compared to last season's 4-36 team score and singular bout win at home and 45-0 loss in Stillwater.
"I'm so proud," said head coach
Neil Erisman of the new attendance record. "The people that worked behind the scenes to get this done worked hard to get a lot of people in the stands. You'd be hard pressed to find too many duals with 1,500+ people in the stands cheering on their team in college wrestling right now. There's only a handful of programs that do it consistently. Thank you to everyone that came out!"
Joseph Bianchi picked up the first win of the night with a 5-0 decision at 149 pounds over Oklahoma State's Sanchez, in a rematch from the Southern Scuffle. His performance was an improvement from last weekend's 4-2 result, thanks to a takedown and tilt in the first period and a tough two-minute ride in the second. The victory moves the redshirt sophomore's record up to 10-4 to lead the team.
Triston Wills also added to the Trojan win column, taking out Harper from the Cowboys in a 7-1 decision. The first period was scoreless before Wills turned up the heat in the second period, starting down for the reversal and subsequent four-point near fall.
In addition to the two wins, both
Jayden Carson and
Tyler Brennan held two top-10 Cowboys to decisions. Carson kicked off the night with the first takedown of the dual, finishing with an 8-3 loss to #9 Mastrogiovanni. Later in the evening, Brennan added a late takedown to his score to close the gap against #5 Wittlake, who came away with the 9-4 decision.
"Outside of one or two matches, we kept fighting even when it didn't look like it," added Coach Erisman. "They kinda just beat us up a little bit. But this is why we wrestle the schedule that we do. We have an incredibly tough dual schedule. When you win here, it's for real. We're wrestling top teams in the country."
Little Rock will now hit the road for the next five duals, beginning with a West coast swing at Pac-12 opponents Oregon State and Stanford next weekend. Be sure to mark your calendars for the next time the Trojans wrestle at home on January 30th at 10 a.m.
RESULTS vs. #4 Oklahoma State
125: #9 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OKST) DEC
Jayden Carson, 8-3
133: #2 Daton Fix (OKST) TF
Jaylen Carson, 17-2 (5:34)
141: #20 Carter Young (OKST) MD
Conner Ward, 14-4
149:
Joseph Bianchi DEC Joey Sanchez (OKST), 5-0
157: #13 Wyatt Sheets (OKST) TF
Austin Keal, 15-0 (5:56)
165: #5 Travis Wittlake DEC
Tyler Brennan, 9-4
174:
Triston Wills DEC Jalin Harper (OKST), 7-1
184: #11 Dakota Geer (OKST) TF
Tanner Mendoza, 18-0 (2:17)
197: #1 AJ Ferrari (OKST) F
Brooks Sacharczyk, 2:39
HWT: #31 Luke Surber (OKST) MD
Josiah Hill, 10-2
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