Chance Vaught Strikes Out Twelve in Saturday Defeat

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Tennessee Tech struck for seven runs with two outs in the top of the first inning and despite the Trojans best efforts, were unable to mount a comeback as the game ended with a final score of 9-5 in favor of the Golden Eagles. The loss drops Little Rock's record to 28-19 on the year and 13-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play, the winner of tomorrow's game will determine the winner of the series.
 
Little Rock was able to answer back fairly quickly after the big first inning by TTU, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Christian Bernabe that scored Nico Baumbach and single by Ty Rhoades that brought Noah Brewer across the plate.
 
Chance Vaught, who had entered the game in the second inning and escaped a first and third jam with back to back strikeouts, continued his strong performance with two more Ks in the third to get the Trojans back in the dugout.
 
Tyler Williams began the inning with a towering blast to left field that cleared the wall for his ninth homerun of the year, bringing the Trojans within four runs although no other Little Rock batters reached base in the inning.
 
Vaught carried on in the fourth, working around a leadoff walk with a strikeout and inning ending 4-6-3 double play to face the minimum in the inning. Brewer began the bottom of the frame with a double and came around to score on the next batter when Bernabe sent a single to left field, but the Trojans were unable to draw closer than the three run deficit.
 
In both the fifth and sixth innings Vaught would strike out two and retired the Golden Eagles in order to maintain the 7-4 score. Only in the seventh inning after a series of unfortunate events including a walk, error and infield hit to load the bases with no outs would TTU be able to score again. A single to center scored two but Vaught would bounce back to strike out the next three and avoided further damage.
 
Malcolm Brown took over in the eighth and struck out two in a scoreless inning before a Baumbach solo homer in the bottom of the frame brought Little Rock back to within four runs. Calvin Hunt entered with two runners in scoring position and one out in the ninth and stuck out the first batter he saw before completing a play at the plate for the final out after a ball found its way to the backstop.
The Trojans hopes for a rally in the ninth were dashed and the game finished with a final score of 9-5, evening the series at one win apiece.
 
This was the first OVC game that the Trojans have lost at home all season after going perfect in the previous 10 matchups.
 
Vaught had a career day with 12 strikeouts, shattering his previous career high of five. The junior left-hander allowed just two hits and one earned run across 5.2 innings of work out of the bullpen today.
 
Brewer was the sole Trojan to collect multiple hits on the day in a 2-for-4game that saw him double and score twice.
 
Bernabe drove in two runners with a 1-for-3 performance that included an RBI single and sacrifice fly.
 
Sunday's rubber match will take place at 1 p.m. tomorrow and is the final home game for Little Rock this season, Camden Sargent is expected to get the start for the Trojans. A pregame ceremony will take place to honor two graduating members of the program, Austin Stubber and Tyler Sanders.
 
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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