Trojans Travel to No. 5 Arkansas for Pair of Midweek Games

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – After a brief home stint that saw the Trojans sweep OVC foe UT Martin and currently riding a four game winning streak, Little Rock will now head north to Fayetteville to take on the Razorbacks in a pair of midweek games. Game one will be Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and first pitch for Wednesday's game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium.
 
Last Time Out
The Trojans carried the momentum from Tuesday's midweek win over ULM into Easter weekend, defeating UT Martin in all three games of the series to improve to 17-11 overall and 6-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play. This was Little Rock's second series sweep in the first three weekends of the conference schedule and the Trojans currently sit in third place. Game one of the series was full of drama, after taking the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning the Trojans were protecting a one run lead heading into the ninth. The Skyhawks were able to strike for a pair of runs to take the lead in the top of the frame, but senior Jake Wright led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot and Little Rock would go on to walk-off the game with an RBI single from Nico Baumbach. The Trojans won convincingly on Friday, outhitting the Skyhawks 14 to two in an 8-3 win to clinch the series. Saturday was a closely contested game that didn't see any scoring until the fifth inning when UT Martin jumped out in front 1-0. Little Rock responded immediately with three runs to take the lead for good and eventually completed the sweep with a 4-2 win.
 
Scouting the Razorbacks
Arkansas enters the midweek series ranked as the number five team in Division I baseball and has an overall record of 25-6. The Razorbacks are coming off of a series that saw them win two out of three on the road at Ole Miss, splitting a doubleheader on Friday before coming out on top in Saturday's rubber match by a score of 6-4. Arkansas has gotten off to a fast start in Southeastern Conference play, going 8-4 through the first four weekends and is sitting at first in the SEC West division. The Razorbacks have been impressive at home this season, winning games at a mark of .909 (20-2), with one loss coming Little Rock's fellow OVC member Eastern Illinois, who the Trojans will face off against in the upcoming weekend series, back on February 26. Grad transfer Jared Wegner has been fantastic for Arkansas so far this season, hitting at a clip of .351 with twelve homeruns and has started all of Arkansas 31 games in 2023. Out of the bullpen, redshirt sophomore Dylan Carter is pitching well for the Razorbacks. Over 13 appearances the Bentonville, Arkansas native has thrown 28.2 innings with a 4.40 ERA and has a batting average against of just .248.
 
Series History
After beating Arkansas in the first ever matchup between the two programs on April 2, 2019, by a score of 17-7, Little Rock has since lost three straight games spanning two full seasons as the Razorbacks lead the all-time series 3-1. In the most recent contest on March 29, 2022, Little Rock jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first two and a half innings and held the advantage until Arkansas was able to pull even at seven in the bottom of the fifth, going on to win the game by a score of 16-8. In that game, senior backstop Jake Wright went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBI including doubling in the first.
 
Three Things to Know

• Nico Baumbach stood out in a week where the Trojans went 4-0, collecting multiple base hits in each game including a 4-for-4 performance on Saturday against UT Martin, scoring three times. The Euless, Texas native improved his season batting average by 49 points over the course of the week, moving up to second on the team at .350. He now has walked more than stuck out this season (17-14) and improved that mark this week with two base on balls and no strikeouts.
• Hoss Brewer pitched the final five innings of Tuesday's midweek game at Louisiana-Monroe, in that time he did not allow a run to cross the plate and allowed just two hits, striking out five while walking none and also earning the win in the process. He then followed up that performance by pitching the final two innings of Sunday's game against UT Martin. Protected a two run lead while allowing just one hit and earned the save in the game.
• All three of the Trojans starting pitchers last weekend gave quality starts on short rest against the visiting UT Martin squad. Jackson Wells, Preston Davis, and Noah Burkey pitched a combined 19 of 27 total innings going five, seven, and seven innings respectively. In addition, each pitcher went over 100 pitches in their individual starts and gave up only five earned runs combined for an ERA of 2.37. 

Junior left-handed pitcher Chance Vaught is in line for the start for Tuesday's game with Wednesday still to be announced.
 
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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