Following Big In-State Win, Little Rock Returns to OVC Action

GAMES 31-33 | Eastern Illinois
Dates/Times	Friday, Apr. 14 - 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 15 - 1 p.m. Sunday, Apr. 16 - 1 p.m.
Location	Charleston, Ill.
Field	Coaches Stadium
Records	Little Rock (18-12, 6-3 OVC) Eastern Illinois (17-12, 1-5 OVC)
Watch	Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Thursday | Friday | Saturday
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Series	Little Rock leads, 6-4

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Trojans remain on the road for a little while longer following a midweek series at No. 5 Arkansas, this time heading up to Charleston, Illinois looking to continue a hot start to conference play against the Panthers of Eastern Illinois. First pitch of game one of the series will be Friday at 3 p.m. with 1 o'clock games to follow on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Last Time Out
After a conference sweep of UT Martin last weekend that saw the Trojans play two close games, including one that required a walk-off, Little Rock headed up to Fayetteville for a two game midweek series against Arkansas. Tuesday's game did not go the Trojans way, after scoring two runs in the top of the first inning the Razorbacks answered with nine in the bottom half of the frame. Misfortune continued throughout and Little Rock found itself on the wrong end of a lopsided scoreboard. Wednesday's game was a far different story, this time it was Arkansas that got out to an early lead after clubbing two homeruns in the bottom of the second to go up 3-0. Little Rock answered back immediately and tied up the game in the top of the third with an RBI single, ROE, and sac fly and didn't look back. While Trojan pitchers kept the Razorbacks off the scoreboard for the next six innings, the offense took advantage and built an insurmountable lead striking for three in the sixth, four in the seventh, and one more for good measure in the eighth. The scoring was highlighted by a two run homerun by Jake Wright that put Little Rock up by seven runs at the time. Jacob Weatherley pitched the final 4.2 innings, striking out six and allowing just one run to earn the win for Little Rock against a top ranked Arkansas squad, improving to 18-12 on the season.
 
Scouting the Panthers
The Panthers enter the weekend with an overall record of 17-12 but have gotten off to a slow start in OVC play despite being picked to finish one place above Little Rock in the preseason poll at third place. Eastern Illinois is just 1-5 through the first three weekends, having already had their non-conference weekend series in the conference season, losing two of three to UT Martin before being swept on the road this past weekend by SIUE. However, the Panthers did pick up wins in their two midweek games this week, beating Lindenwood in a non-conference game 3-1 in extra innings and blowing out Western Illinois 14-0 on Wednesday. EIU sits at the top of the conference along with the Trojans in both team batting average (2^nd place, .279) and team ERA (1^st place, 4.64) so far this season as both teams have been impressive on the stat sheet. When looking at conference stats only however, the team batting average for EIU drops to .219, which is worst in the conference, and an ERA of 6.06, sixth place in the conference. This is also the first OVC series that the Panthers will be able to play on their home field and just their fifth through seventh home games of the season, EIU is currently sitting at a 2-2 record in 2023 home contests.
 
Series History
Little Rock and Eastern Illinois have a brief, but more recent history than many of the Trojans opponent this season. The Panthers have visited Gary Hogan Field each of the past two seasons early on in the year, taking two of three from Little Rock in 2021 before the Trojans turned the tables and won two out of three the following season in the opening weekend of play. Overall, Little Rock holds a 6-4 advantage over the panthers in the all-time series with all games having been played on the Trojans home turf. This will be the first time that Little Rock will travel up to Charleston, Illinois to play the Panthers as well as the first meeting the two programs will face off as conference foes.
 
Three Things to Know

• Wednesday's win over Arkansas was the second time that the Trojans have defeated the Razorbacks at Baum-Walker Stadium since Arkansas began playing in-state competition in 2019. Little Rock remains the only program in the Natural State to have beaten the Razorbacks and have now done it twice.
• After homering just twice in his first 19 games, senior Jake Wright has now hit two homeruns in the span of the last five games, both coming in big situations. Last Thursday against UT Martin, Wright homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth, tying the game at 4-4 and sparking a rally which ended in a walk-off win for Little Rock. He then hit another on Wednesday at Arkansas to extend the Trojan lead and nearly put the game out of reach.
• Little Rock pitching has been excellent so far in OVC play, the Trojans are pitching to a team ERA of just 3.64, best in the conference, through the first nine games as opponents are batting just .254 against the staff. The Trojans have only allowed four homeruns which is tied for best and struck out 69 batters in 76.2 innings pitched. 

Projected Starters
The expected pitching rotation for this weekend's series is as follows:
 
Friday, April 14: RHP Jackson Wells (LR) vs. RHP Tyler Conklin (EIU)
Saturday, April 15: RHP Noah Burkey (LR) vs. RHP Ky Hampton (EIU)
Sunday, April 16: TBA (LR) vs. RHP Blake Malatestinic (EIU)
 
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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