Little Rock's Postseason Quest Begins Tuesday Against App State

GAME 51 | APP STATE SUN BELT FIRST ROUND PLAY-IN
Date/Time	Tuesday, May 24 - 3:30 p.m.
Location	Montgomery, Ala.
Field	Riverwalk Stadium
Records	Little Rock (24-26, 11-18 SBC) App State (19-32, 10-20 SBC)
Watch	ESPN+
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Series	Series tied, 9-9
Notes	Little Rock | App State

LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock's final Sun Belt Tournament appearance is set to begin Tuesday at Montgomery's Riverwalk Stadium as the number eight seed Trojans face ninth-seeded App State in a first round play-in game. First pitch has been moved up to 3:30 p.m. to try and avoid possible inclement weather Tuesday evening as Hayden Arnold will get the start on the mound for the Trojans. 

Postseason History
Little Rock will be making its 13th and final appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament this week in Montgomery, compiling a 10-21 all-time mark in the conference tournament. The Trojans have qualified for the postseason in five of head coach Chris Curry's eight seasons, with the 2020 tournament canceled due to the pandemic. Little Rock has one tournament title, going 4-0 in 2011 en route to its first NCAA postseason appearance.

All-Conference Honors
Little Rock placed a pair on the All-Sun Belt team as starting pitcher Hayden Arnold and outfielder Noah Dickerson were both named second team selections. Arnold led the league in innings pitched (90.0) and is among the nation's best in strikeout-to-walk ratio (34th nationally) while Dickerson has made his mark at the plate, ranking ninth in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage and 10th in RBI.

Big Bat Canyon
Little Rock first baseman Canyon McWilliams has made his mark on the Sun Belt this season, heading into the conference tournament fourth in batting average (.383), eighth in slugging percentage (.638), sixth in hits (72) and eighth in RBI (48). McWilliams batted a team-best .462 against the Mountaineers earlier this season, going 6-for-13 with three RBI.

Outing For The Ages
Little Rock starter Hayden Arnold had one of his best performances in the series opener against Louisiana, going 9.0 innings for the complete game shutout, allowing the Ragin' Cajuns to just five hits with no walks, striking out a career-high 12 to become the first Trojan to surpass 300 career strikeouts.

Starting Consistency
Heading into Montgomery, eight of Little Rock's starting nine position players have started at least 45 games this year. Canyon McWilliams, Miguel Soto, Tyler Williams and Nate Lyons have each started all 50 games this year, followed by 49 from Jorden Hussein, 47 from Eldrige Figueroa and 45 each from Noah Dickerson and Jake Wright. Those eight players have combined for 386 of the Trojans' 400 starts this season, accounting for 96.5% of starts in the field.

Among National Leaders
As a team, Little Rock heads into the weekend 33rd nationally in doubles per game (2.18) and 45th in double plays per game (0.82). Individually, Hayden Arnold is 24th in walks per nine (1.40), 33rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.79) and 42nd in WHIP (1.03) while Sawyer Smallwood is 35th in appearances (28), Noah Dickerson is 37th in doubles per game (0.40) and Canyon McWilliams is 47th in batting average (.383).

Scouting the Mountaineers
App State heads into the Sun Belt Tournament in Montgomery at 19-32 on the year and 10-20 in league play, earning the number nine overall seed. The Mountaineers are batting .253 as a team, slugging .358 with 28 home runs on the season as 119 of their 443 hits have been for extra bases. On the mound, App State has a team ERA of 6.03 with the opposition batting .280 with a combined 408 strikeouts.

Series History
Little Rock and App State have split the previous 18 meetings with the Trojans going 6-6 in Little Rock and 3-3 in Boone. This will be the first neutral site meeting between the two teams.

Last We Met
App State took two of three from the Trojans in the three-game series held earlier this season at Gary Hogan Field. The Trojans and Mountaineers battled for 14 innings in game one, eventually won 5-2 by App State, followed by a 7-4 Little Rock win in game two. The Trojans raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of game three, but the Mountaineers scored 10 unanswered to take the series with a 10-5 win in the finale.

Five Things To Know

• Little Rock continues its "Last Trip Around the Sun," playing its 31st and final season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference with an overall record of 300-514.

• Little Rock enters the tournament with a number of impressive steaks, including Canyon McWilliams riding a 15-game hitting streak, the longest on the team this season. Three different Trojans have reached base in at least 13-straight games, led by McWilliams' 15-game streak.

• Sawyer Smallwood has made 28 appearances this season with a 3.93 ERA. Smallwood is tied with Bubba Cooper (2012) for ninth in a season, one shy of matching Travis Trammell (2003) and Keegan Whitfield (2016).

• Eldrige Figueroa has now played in 174 games in a Trojan uniform, ranking fifth all-time, with starts in 162 of those games. A start Tuesday would move him into a tie for third with Ryan Scott (2013-16) and Riley Pittman (2016-19).

• Little Rock is 2-1 in the state of Alabama this season, taking two of three from Troy April 1-3, and is 5-6 in the Yellowhammer State in the past two seasons.

#LittleRocksTeam