| GAMES 1-3 | EASTERN ILLINOIS |
| Dates/Times |
Friday, Feb. 18 - 3 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 19 - 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 20 - 1 p.m. |
| Location |
Little Rock, Ark. |
| Field |
Gary Hogan Field |
| Records (2021) |
Little Rock (21-30, 11-13 SBC)
Eastern Illinois (25-23 14-16 OVC) |
| Watch |
None |
| Live Stats |
StatBroadcast
Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Twitter |
@LittleRockBSB |
| Series |
Little Rock leads, 4-3 |
LITTLE ROCK – After a long offseason, Little Rock finally returns to the turf at Gary Hogan Field, opening the 2022 season with a weekend series against Eastern Illinois. Game one is set for Friday at 3 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start Saturday and 1 p.m. first pitch Sunday.
Year Eight For Curry
2022 marks the eighth season at the helm of the Little Rock baseball program for head coach
Chris Curry, who enters the year looking to climb up the all-time Trojan coaching marks. Curry currently ranks fourth in program history in career wins, notching his 150th in the 7-3 win at Georgia State on May 20, and is the program's all-time leader in conference wins with 84. Curry enters the season trailing only Brian Rhees (190), Jack Fulmer (202) and Gary Hogan (274) in all-time wins as Little Rock's head coach.
Home Sweet Home
After playing just 17 home games at Gary Hogan Field in 2021, Little Rock will nearly double that mark in 2022 as the Trojans are scheduled to play 32 home games, the most for the program since 2010. Gary Hogan Field has proven to be an advantage for the Trojans as Little Rock is 87-68 (.561) at home under coach Curry, posting a winning record at home in each of the last five seasons.
Return of the King
Little Rock heads into the 2022 season with something very few teams across the country can boast as the Trojans return reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year
Hayden Arnold. The Rison native will return for his fifth season on the mound for the Trojans and has a chance to solidify his name among the program's all-time greats, ranking in the top-10 in program history in seven statistical categories. Arnold was tabbed a preseason All-Sun Belt selection after leading the league in ERA and innings pitched while ranking third in strikeouts in conference games in 2021.
Experienced Core
Experience is the name of the game heading into the 2022 season as the Trojans will return starters at every position from the 2021 campaign. The eight returning position players combined for 308 starts in 2021, led by 51 from
Nathan Lyons, 50 from both
Eldrige Figueroa and
Tyler Williams and 49 from
Noah Dickerson.
Scouting the Panthers
Eastern Illinois heads to Little Rock coming off a 25-23 record in 2021, including a 14-16 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference, finishing seventh. The Panthers head to Little Rock boasting the conference's preseason Pitcher of the Year in Cameron Doherty, who finished last season with a 3.45 ERA over 75.2 innings, leading the team in appearances (15), saves (five) and strikeouts (71). Doherty is slated to start Saturday's game for Eastern Illinois. The Panthers also return preseason all-conference selection Logan Eickhoff, who boasted a .435 batting average with a .514 slugging percentage before suffering a mid-season injury.
Series History
Little Rock and Eastern Illinois have met seven times previously heading into this weekend with all seven meetings taking place in Arkansas' capital city. The Trojans hold a 4-3 edge in the all-time series, but the Panthers took two of three last season at Gary Hogan Field, winning game one 12-6 and earning a convincing 17-1 victory in game two of a doubleheader before the Trojans salvaged the finale with a 6-5 win.
Projected Starters
The expected pitching rotation for this weekend's series is as follows:
•
Friday, February 18: RHP
Hayden Arnold (LR) vs. RHP Blake Malatestinic (EIU)
• Saturday, February 19: RHP
Jacob Weatherley (LR) vs. RHP Cameron Doherty (EIU)
• Sunday, February 20: RHP
Erik McKnight (LR) vs. RHP Hayden Birdsong (EIU)
Five Things to Know:
• The series with Eastern Illinois will be a preview of a new conference rivalry as Little Rock is set to join the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2022, making the meeting between the Trojans and Panthers a yearly occurrence.
• This weekend's series will feature a unique storyline seeing a pair of conference Pitchers of the Year on the mound. Little Rock's
Hayden Arnold is the 2021 Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year and will get the Opening Day start while Eastern Illinois' Cameron Doherty is the Ohio Valley's 2022 Preseason Pitcher of the Year and will start Saturday.
•
Tyler Williams will be the Trojans' top returning offensive threat as the junior led the team in nine statistical categories in 2021, including slugging percentage (.512), home runs (eight), runs batted in (42) and stolen bases (10). Williams was tabbed as the number five prospect in the Sun Belt for the 2022 Major League Baseball draft by Perfect Game.
•
Eldrige Figueroa returns for his fifth season at Little Rock and will enter the 2022 season as the most experienced Trojan, playing in 125 games with 115 career starts. He is one of three Trojans that enters the season with at least 70 career starts, joined by
Nathan Lyons (79 starts in 95 games) and
Miguel Soto (71 starts in 79 games).
• The 2022 team will have quite the hometown feel as Curry's roster boasts 15 players that hail from the Natural State. 11 different Arkansas cities are represented on this year's roster, including Little Rock (
Asher Hastings,
Andrew Pickering,
Cole Somers), Benton (
Aidan Garrett,
Tristan Hawkins), Bentonville (
Nathan Lyons), Bryant (
Jake Wright), Conway (
Jack Stroth), England (
Traejon Blake), Greenbrier (
Jaxson Anderson), Hope (
Austin Stubber), Jonesboro (
Zane Neves,
Jacob Weatherley), Rison (
Hayden Arnold) and Texarkana (
Graydon Martin).
#LittleRocksTeam
