LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock battled second-place Georgia Southern even through the first six innings, but the Eagle bats came alive down the stretch, scoring 11 times over the final three innings to hand the Trojans a 13-2 loss in game one of the weekend series at Gary Hogan Field.
The loss was the fourth-straight for Little Rock , who falls to 21-23 on the year and 9-15 in Sun Belt play, remaining in eighth-place in the league standings a game and a half ahead of ninth-place App State.
It was an old fashioned pitchers dual through the first four innings between
Hayden Arnold, making his final start at Gary Hogan Field, and Georgia Southern's Ty Fisher as the duo combined to allow no runs on three hits through four.
The Eagles responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth off a sacrifice fly and a RBI single to take the 2-0 lead. But Little Rock responded in the home half with back-to-back singles from
Canyon McWilliams and
Miguel Soto to put a pair of runners on, driven home with a two-RBI double from
Jake Wright to even the score at 2-2.
It was another scoreless inning in the sixth before the Eagle bats caught fire in the seventh, scoring seven in the seventh, one in the eighth and three more in the ninth, breaking the game open at 13-2 to had the Trojans the loss.
Little Rock managed just five hits on the night, two of which came off the bat of McWilliams, who finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Wright had the two RBI double following the Soto hit in the fifth and
Tyler Williams had the other hit for Little Rock, an infield single in the sixth.
Arnold took the loss in his final game at Gary Hogan Field, allowing four runs on eight hits with a pair of strikeouts in 6.1 innings pitched, throwing 101 total pitches. He was one of four Trojan pitchers on the night, including four that came to the hill in the decisive seventh inning.
Little Rock will look to bounce back in game two of the series Saturday afternoon.
Hoss Brewer is slated to get the start for the Trojans with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. There will be no ESPN+ feed of the game due to UA Little Rock commencement ceremonies going on at the same time.
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