LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock dominated both offensively and on the mound as the Trojans earn a convincing 16-1 victory in game three over Western Illinois Sunday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The win completes the weekend sweep over the Leathernecks and improves Little Rock's win streak to five games.
Little Rock ups its season record to 5-1, its best start through six games in a season since going 5-1 to start the 2014 season. The Trojans improve to 12-4 all-time against Western Illinois, winning their fifth-straight series against the Leathernecks.
The Trojans pounded out 22 hits on the afternoon with 11 different player registering at least one hit. The surge was paced by
Noah Dickerson,
Nathan Lyons,
Miguel Soto and
Jack Stroth each tallying three hits on the afternoon as the quartet combined to go 12-for-18 with 10 runs batted in.
Stroth continued his hot start at the designated hitter position, going 3-for-5 with two more doubles and a team-high four RBI. Dickerson finished 3-for-4 with two RBI, including his team-best fourth home run of the season, a shot down the right field line in the fifth.
Lyons was 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI while Soto went 3-for-6 with a pair of doubles, driving in two with a stolen base.
Six different Trojans drove in at least two runs, led by the four from Stroth and two each from Dickerson, Lyons and Soto.
Tyler Williams had a pair of RBI, as did
Jake Wright, who finished 2-for-4.
Jorden Hussein went 2-for-3 while Aidan Garret went 2-for-2 with an RBI in his collegiate debut.
Jaxson Anderson also had his first collegiate hit, going 1-for-3 in his first collegiate game.
On the mound,
Erik McKnight put together a solid performance over five innings, allowing just three hits with one walk and four strikeouts to earn the victory.
Austin Smith,
Calvin Hunt,
Joey Martin and
Evan Vanek each pitched one inning in relief, combining to allow just one Leatherneck run on two hits, combining for four strikeouts and two walks.
Little Rock's bats proved to be opportunistic all afternoon as nine of the Trojans' 16 runs came with two outs. Little Rock batted .529 (9-of-17) with two outs, compared to 0-for-10 for Western Illlinois, and was .455 with runners in scoring position. Little Rock got the leadoff man on seven of the eight innings, scoring at least one run in six of their eight at-bats.
The tone for the day was set in the first when McKnight threw just eight pitches in the top of the first, including a strikeout, and Little Rock responded with a pair of runs in the home half. Figueroa led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a pickoff attempt that went awry, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Williams.
Dickerson reached on a walk and advanced on a wild pitch, driven home by an RBI single from Lyons to put the Trojans on top 2-0 after one.
After a scoreless second, Little Rock scored three times in the third, courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Lyons, an RBI double from Soto and an RBI single from Wright in back-to-back-to-back at bats, upping the lead to 5-0. The Trojans extended the lead to 6-0 in the fourth behind an RBI ground out from Williams, scoring Hussein who reached on a single and advanced on another error on a pickoff attempt.
Dickerson started the fifth with his fourth homerun of the season, a 369-foot blast that settled just inside the right field foul pole. Back-to-back singles from Lyons and Soto gave the Trojans two on, followed by an RBI single from Stroth to push the lead to 8-0.
Western Illinois got one across in the top of the sixth, but Little Rock then used a six-run sixth to leave no doubt on the scoreboard, beginning with Williams being hit by a pitch and Anderson getting his first career hit. Dickerson then send a blooper the opposite way to left to score Williams, upping the lead to 9-1.
A single from Lyons loaded the bases as a sacrifice fly from Wright brought Anderson home to make it 10-1. Stroth and
Christian Bernabe then had back-to-back doubles with Stroth driving in two and Bernabe bringing him home to make it 13-1. Garrett then tallied the first hit and RBI of his collegiate career, sending a shot to right to bring Bernabe home to up the lead to 14-1.
A one-two-three inning for Hunt in the seventh, including a strikeout, led into another offensive inning for Little Rock as RBI doubles from Soto and Stroth pushed the lead to 16-1. Martin would strike out one in the eighth and Vanek recorded a pair of Ks in the ninth, including getting the final Western Illinois batter looking to seal the win.
For the weekend series against the Leathernecks, Little Rock batted .356 as a team, scoring 30 runs with a team slugging percentage of .545 as 14 of the Trojans' 36 hits were for extra bases. The Little Rock pitching staff was solid as well, allowing just three earned runs for a weekend ERA of 1.00, allowing Western Illinois to bat just .188 with 26 strikeouts.
Little Rock will now prepare for another key weekend series at Gary Hogan Field, welcoming Southern Illinois for a three game series, getting underway Friday, March 4, at 3 p.m.
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