Trojans Return to Dickey-Stephens Park for First Time Since 2019

GAME 49 | Central Arkansas
Dates/Times	Tuesday, May 16 - 6 p.m.
Location	North Little Rock, Ark.
Field	Dickey-Stephens Park
Records	Little Rock (29-19, 14-6 OVC) UCA (21-29, 12-15 ASUN)
Tickets	Tuesday
Live Stats	StatBroadcast Tuesday
Twitter	@LittleRockBSB
Series	Little Rock leads, 33-23

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Trojans and Bears will play the final game of the 2023 Governor's I-40 Showdown series on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. Little Rock has already clinched the series, winning the previous two matchups this season and will look to sweep the year.
 
Last Time Out
Over the weekend Little Rock won two out of three games against Tennessee Tech in the final home series of the year, improving to 29-19 on the season and moving into first place in the OVC with a record of 14-6. Friday saw Jackson Wells pitch a gem where he came within two outs of his second complete game shutout of the season, going 8.1 innings and not allowing a run while striking out a career high 11 batters. It was a complete game where the Trojans excelled in pitching, hitting and defense and cruised to a 7-0 victory. On Saturday, Little Rock found themselves in a hole early, down 7-0 after the top of the first inning. Though the comeback attempt was strong as the Trojans pulled within three runs at one point, the early deficit was too much to overcome and Little Rock fell in game two 9-5 setting up a rubber match for Sunday. A highlight from Saturday's game came from junior Chance Vaught, who struck out a career high 12 batters out of the bullpen and helped to keep the Little Rock arms fresh for Sunday by eating up innings. Sunday was a back and forth battle that saw several lead changes and ended in a Little Rock walk-off victory in the tenth inning. Skyler Trevino played the role of hero as he knocked in the game winning run with a single and Luke Pectol standing on second base, he also hit a two run homerun earlier in the game which at the time put the Trojans up by four runs. Jacob Weatherley gave everything he had on a muggy day with a heat index well into the 90's, pitching 5.1 innings out of the bullpen and not giving Tennessee Tech anything through the middle part of the game.
 
Scouting the Bears
Central Arkansas enters Tuesday's midweek game with an overall record of 21-29 and are currently on a five game losing streak. Last week the Bears fell in a midweek game at Dallas Baptist by a final of 12-5 before being swept on the road in ASUN conference play by Jacksonville State. UCA is currently tied for 10^th place in the ASUN with a record of 12-15 in conference. Junior Connor Flagg has been solid for the Bears this season, hitting to a tune of .338 with three homeruns and 23 hits in just 68 at bats. The Greenbriar, Arkansas native has also walked more than her has struck out this season, 14 base on balls to eight strikeouts. On the mound Mason Griffin has been solid out of the bullpen with an ERA of 4.09 in 16 appearances with 22 innings pitched. The junior right-hander has struck out 30 batters and opposing batters are hitting just .232 against him.
 
Series History
The Trojans lead the all-time series against UCA with a record of 33-23 and are currently on a winning streak of three games dating back to May 17, 2022. This season Little Rock has already won the series, taking the first two matchups by scores of 3-2 and 8-2. In the most recent game, the Trojans jumped out to an early lead, scoring four in the first and three in the third to lead it 7-0 after two and a half innings. Little Rock pitching held the Bears to just four hits in the game and the two runs that UCA scored were both unearned. In the history of the series five games have been played between the programs at Dickey-Stephens Park with Little Rock coming out on top in four of those contests. The last time the two met in North Little Rock as well as the last Trojan victory was on May 14, 2019, a game Little Rock won 5-1, pulling away with three runs in the eighth for the win. Ramon Padilla was 2-for-4 in that game with a triple and two RBI double in the eighth and also scored once as the catcher in the matchup.
 
Three Things to Know:

• The 2022-23 Governor's I-40 Showdown that considers results from events in every sport between Little Rock and Central Arkansas during the school year is currently tied a 20-20. The winner of Tuesday's game will take home bragging rights for the next year as it is the final event between the universities until the fall.
• Jackson Wells dropped his season ERA to 1.35 with his performance on Friday, allowing him to retake the national lead with just one week left in the season. His efforts also netted him his second OVC Pitcher of the Week honor of the 2023 season.
• With the Trojans win on Sunday in conjunction with a Southeast Missouri loss, Little Rock has taken over the top spot in the OVC, leading SEMO and Morehead State by half a game. If Little Rock were to sweep the final weekend of play, then there is no situation in which the Trojans do not finish in first place.

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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