Little Rock Opens 2023 Season Hosting the Jackrabbits

GAMES 1-3 | South Dakota State
Dates/Times	Friday, Feb. 17 - 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 - 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 - 1 p.m.
Location	Little Rock, Ark.
Field	Gary Hogan Field
Records   (2022)	Little Rock (24-27, 11-18 SBC) SDSU (22-23, 13-9 Summit)
Watch	None
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Series	Little Rock leads, 4-2
Game Notes	None

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. –Little Rock baseball will return to the turf at Gary Hogan Field this Friday, opening the 2023 season with a weekend series against South Dakota State. 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 Nine for Curry
2023 marks the ninth season at the helm of the Little Rock baseball program for head coach Chris Curry. The Little Rock native has just signed a contract extension that will keep him with the program through the 2027 season. During his first eight seasons with the program, Curry has notched 174 victories, good for the fourth most by a head coach in program history. He also holds the program record for most conference victories with 95.
 
Home Sweet Home
The Trojans have yet another home-heavy schedule slated for the 2023 season. Gary Hogan Field is expected to host 32 Little Rock baseball games, which is tied with the 2022 season for the most since 2010. Last season the Trojans played to a 20-11 (.645) record in the friendly confines. The first four weekend series of the year will be held in the Capital City, and the Trojans won't travel outside of the state of Arkansas for competition until March 17, when they head to Northwestern State for a weekend series against the Demons.
 
New Faces
Nineteen of the 35 players on the 2023 roster are in their first year at Little Rock. The Trojan coaching staff has hit the recruiting trail to bring in a mix of experienced transfers and true freshman to boost the depth of the team and provide production immediately. Already, some of these new faces have received preseason honors as sophomore pitcher Jackson Wells has been tabbed as a preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. In addition, freshman utility player Ty Rhoades has named the preseason OVC Freshman of the Year by publications such as Perfect Game and D1Baseball. There have also been changes to the coaching staff with the hiring of Brady Cox as the pitching coach for the Trojans.
 
New Places
With Little Rock officially joining the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2022, a new set of conference opponents are here, some of which the Trojans have never seen before on the diamond. Newcomers to Division I Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, as well as Morehead State, will be unfamiliar opponents to Little Rock. Last season the Trojans prepared for their OVC arrival by scheduling Eastern Illinois in the first series of the year, winning two of three against the eventual fourth place finishers. Still, over one third of conference opponents are never before seen by Little Rock.
 
Scouting the Jackrabbits
South Dakota State is coming off of a 2022 season which saw them finish with a 22-23 record, including going 13-9 in Summit League play, finishing third in the seven-team conference. The Jackrabbits have been projected to end the year in fourth place for the 2023 season as picked by the league's head coaches and had two players tabbed as players to watch. First, senior shortstop Luke Ira, who tallied a career best slugging percentage last season (.508) while batting .290 and shared the team lead in home runs (10). Second, Ryan Bourassa was a first-team all-Summit League selection as a relief pitcher in 2022. He posted a 2.13 ERA over 43.1 innings last season and limited opposing batters to a .145 batting average.
 
Series History
Little Rock and South Dakota State have met just six times, with all of the previous matchups being held in the Capital City. The Trojans hold the all-time series lead at a mark of four wins and two losses. The two programs saw each other last when the Jackrabbits were in town in 2019 for a four-game set with each team winning two matchups. Offenses have clashed in a big way in the previous games with the teams scoring a combined 108 runs in just six prior matchups, which averages out to nine runs per team per game.
 
Projected Starters
The expected pitching rotation or this weekend's series is as follows:

• Friday, February 17: RHP Jackson Wells (LR) vs. RHP Blake Kunz (SDSU)
• Saturday, February 18: RHP Preston Davis (LR) vs. RHP Dane Toman (SDSU)
• Sunday, February 19: TBA (LR) vs. RHP Nic McCay (SDSU)  

Three Things to Know:

• Senior Jake Wright will return as the primary backstop for the Trojans in 2023 after starting in 46 games in the previous season. The Bryant, Arkansas native finished third on the team last season with six home runs while also throwing out 17 would-be base stealers during the Trojan campaign. Wright will help to acclimate the seven new hurlers on Little Rocks team to Division I baseball with his veteran presence behind the plate.
• Center fielder Tyler Williams is back for his senior season and is one of two primary starting position players returning from 2022 along with Wright. Last year Williams played a significant role in the Trojan offensive and defensive effort. Playing with a stellar glove and awe-inspiring range at a premium position in the outfield as well as swinging to a .302 batting average and stealing a team-high 21 bases at an impressive 87.5% success rate (21 of 24 attempts).
• The Trojans will try to win their third opening day game in the past four seasons this Friday when Little Rock takes the field behind starter Jackson Wells. In 2020 and 2021 the Trojans won the first matchup of the year before dropping last season's opener to Eastern Illinois. The last opening day win against a Summit League opponent was in 2021 when the Trojans traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma and defeated Oral Roberts by a score of 4-3.

 
For the latest information on Little Rock Baseball, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockBSB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
Get the latest Trojan news – including the weekly Trojan Report – delivered to you direct to your inbox by signing up for Little Rock Trojan E-News here.
 
#LittleRocksTeam