Little Rock Set to Host Grambling in Weekend Series

GAMES 11-13 | Grambling
Dates/Times	Friday, Mar. 10 - 5 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 11 - 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 12 - 1 p.m.
Location	Little Rock, Ark.
Field	Gary Hogan Field
Records	Little Rock (6-4, 0-0 OVC) Grambling (3-9, 0-0 SWAC)
Watch	Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Series	Little Rock leads, 24-20
Game Notes	N/A

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Coming off of a midweek win against in-state rival Central Arkansas, the Trojans will now turn their attention to a weekend series against Grambling. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday at Gary Hogan Field.
 
Last Time Out
Little Rock won a close contest at home against UCA to open up the 2023 Governor's I-40 Showdown series, improving the Trojans record to 6-4 on the season. The 3-2 victory came courtesy of a walk-off walk that was issued to Ben Harmon in the bottom of the ninth. Bullpen arms Austin Stubber and Jacob Weatherley were instrumental in keeping the Bears offense subdued through the middle and late innings of the game combining for seven strikeouts, and only allowing two hits in five innings pitched while not giving up a run. Harmon, Alex Seguine and Tyler Williams drove in one run each which is all the Trojans needed for the afternoon.
 
Scouting the Tigers
Grambling enters the weekend series with a record of 3-9 and is coming off of a midweek loss at the hands of the Patriots of Dallas Baptist. The Tigers have already traveled to the state of Arkansas this season, dropping a close contest to the Razorbacks by a score of 7-9 after leading for much of the game. Redshirt freshman Kyle Walker has had an impressive start to the year for the club, hitting .351 with a .538 on base percentage and has been successful on six of seven stolen base attempts. Cameron Bufford and Trevor Hatton have also been good for Grambling so far this season, each is hitting at a clip over .300 and combined have hit eight of the Tigers 10 homeruns. Grambling has struggled on the bump so far in 2023, an opponent batting average of .323 as well as more total base on balls than strikeouts (79 to 74) seem to be the leading factors that have contributed to a 9.64 team ERA through twelve games.
 
Series History
The Trojans and Tigers have a series history dating all the way back to 1977, when Little Rock defeated Grambling by a score of 6-5. The games this weekend will be numbers 45, 46, and 47 in the series with Little Rock holding the all-time lead at 24 wins to 20 losses. Little Rock is also riding a five game winning streak in the series that dates back to March 21, 1994. The two teams last met in the COVID shortened 2020 season in a midweek contest held at Gary Hogan Field. Little Rock won the game 6-4 on the back of a strong pitching performance which saw the Trojan pitching staff strike out 19 batters that afternoon.
 
Brewer Back on the Bump
After missing some time to start the 2023 season, junior right-handed pitcher Hoss Brewer made his season debut last Sunday in the Trojans 18-8 win in the series finale against Valparaiso. Brewer pitched three innings of no-hit baseball before turning over a comfortable lead to the Little Rock bullpen to finish out the game. In 2022 the Canton, Texas native made 10 starts for the Trojans and threw 56.1 innings over 19 appearances. He finished 2022 with a 3-2 record and pitched one of two complete games for Little Rock while also being one of five pitchers on last season's staff to pick up at least one save.
 
Walk-off Winner
Little Rock beat UCA in walk-off fashion last Tuesday by a score of 3-2 at Gary Hogan Field. This win puts the Trojans up one to nothing in the three game season long series against the Bears dubbed the Governor's I-40 Showdown, which will conclude on May 16 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. The last time that the Trojans walked off the Bears was all the way back on May 7, 2013, with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the twelfth at Dickey-Stephens. Little Rock is now on a two game winning streak against UCA dating back to May 17, 2022, a 9-6 Trojan victory in Conway.
 
Three Things to Know

• Little Rock currently sits atop the Ohio Valley Conference in both batting average as well as slugging percentage at marks of .286 and .477 respectively, leading second place Eastern Illinois by 12 points in batting average and 18 in slugging.
• The Trojans offense continues to be a force early in games as the squad struck for 15 runs in the first four innings of Sunday's contest against Valparaiso, a game that Little Rock eventually won via run-rule 18-8.
• Senior Jake Wright was named to the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year watch list prior to last weekend's series against Valparaiso and hit his first two homeruns of the season during the weekend, the second of which was a grand slam in the 18-8 route in Sunday's matchup.

 
Projected Starters
The expected pitching rotation for this weekend's series is as follows:

• Friday, March 10: RHP Hoss Brewer (LR) vs. RHP Lorenzo Petersen (GRAM)
• Saturday, March 11: RHP Jackson Wells (LR) vs. LHP Connor Rudy (GRAM)
• Sunday, March 12: RHP Preston Davis (LR) vs. TBA (GRAM)

 
Weather Watch
The weather in the Little Rock area is forecasted to be less than ideal for this weekend's series with chances of rain throughout the weekend. Any changes to the schedule will be first made available on the Little Rock Baseball Twitter account (@LittleRockBSB) with updates posted at LRTrojans.com.
 
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.
 
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