LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock wrestling team is back in action this weekend, with arguably their toughest pair of duals remaining in the regular season: two Pac-12 matches which also happen to be two top-25 duals, both on the road as the Trojans go on a quick trip to the West Coast.
On Friday, Little Rock will wrestle #16 Oregon State at 6 p.m. PST at Liberty High School in Hillsboro, Oregon. There will be no live stream, but fans can follow along on TrackWrestling and following the Trojans on social media. A quick turnaround will have Little Rock headed to Palo Alto, California where #17 Stanford will host a 3 p.m. PST dual. The Stanford match will be
featured on the Pac-12 Network.
Coach's Corner
"It's been a good week after a big win," said head coach
Neil Erisman, noting the atmosphere in the room after
the Trojans earned their first-ever ranked team win over Arizona State last weekend. "Our guys have taken it in stride and kept a level head about it. They're really showing maturity through everything."
With a challenging road swing ahead, the plan is simple for the Trojans - stick to the plan. "Our game plan has to stay the same," said Coach Erisman. "We need to hyper focus on the things that make us, us. We need to continue to score points and wrestle through every position."
"We have two really tough opponents this weekend," admitted Coach Erisman. "Overcoming the travel and the past weekend's success is key. Instead, we have to stay the course and practice the discipline it takes. We have to show up with our best, when we do, we will be happy with the outcome regardless."
Conference Rivals
The Trojans have never defeated either Oregon State or Stanford since the program's inaugural season in 2019, going 0-4 over the stretch. The Beavers have shut out Little Rock twice, with the most successful outing coming in the team's second year where they picked up two bout wins. Last year, only
Joseph Bianchi came away with an indiviual win, then at 149 pounds. Oregon State holds a record of 5-3, with losses to Iowa, Penn State and Oklahoma State.
Little Rock matches up better against Stanford, historically. The past two years, the Trojans have lost the dual by just five team points or less, only allowing the Cardinal a 14-19 victory last season. This year, Stanford holds a record of 7-2, with losses to Virgina Tech and Missouri.
Several ranked bouts will be highlighted in both matches this weekend as well. Eight of the ten weight classes in Oregon State's lineup are ranked via InterMat - all but 157 pounds and 165 pounds. Meanwhile, Stanford will feature seven ranked guys, all but 133, 184, and heavyweight. All probables are listed below.
Ranked and Ready
Little Rock has
seven wrestlers featured in the first NCAA Coaches Rankings that came out this week, including six ranked across various weekly publications.
Stephen Little boasts the highest ranking via InterMat, coming in at #11, while
Nasir Bailey and
Tyler Brennan also check in within the top 20 at #13 and #18, respectively. Brothers
Joseph Bianchi and
Matty Bianchi are both in as well at #26 for the older and #27 for the younger.
Triston Wills is not ranked on InterMat, but is listed as #33 on FloWrestling, and
Josiah Hill makes an appearance in the first NCAA Coaches Ranking at #30. All seven have more than 10 wins apiece, led by Bailey's 17-2 record and the highest winning percentage on the team.
Little Rock wrestling is also highlighted in several national media polls. The team is 25th on FloWrestling's Dual team rankings and 29th on their Tournament team rankings. Little Rock also checks in at 30th on InterMat's Dual team rankings and 24th on The Open Mat's Dual team rankings, while sitting 23rd within WIN Magazine's Dual team rankings and 25th on their Tournament team rankings.
All are well-deserved, as the team has risen to the top 25, in the shortest amount of time out of any start-up program. Read more about the team's first NWCA Coaches Poll ranking
here and learn more about how exactly the Trojans got to this point in less than five years of competition
here.
Little Rock Probables
125:
Jeremiah Reno or
Reid Nelson
133: #13
Nasir Bailey
141:
Brennan Van Hoecke or
Cael Keck
149:
Kyle Dutton
157: #27
Matty Bianchi
165: #26
Joseph Bianchi
174: #18
Tyler Brennan
184:
Triston Wills
197: #11
Stephen Little
285:
Josiah Hill
Oregon State Probables
125: #15 Brandon Kaylor or Maximo Renteria
133: #28 Gabe Whisenhunt
141: #18 Cleveland Belton
149: #18 Nash Singleton or Ayden Garver
157: Isaiah Crosby
165: Kekana Fouret
174: #13 Matthew Olguin
184: #4 Trey Muñoz
197: #28 Justin Rademacher
285: #17 Boone McDermott
Stanford Probables
125: #19 Nico Provo
133: Dom LaJoie
141: #32 Jason Miranda
149: #22 Jaden Abas
157: #11 Daniel Cardenas
165: #27 Hunter Garvin
174: #22 Lorenzo Norman OR Thor Michaelson OR Tye Monteiro
184: Jack Darrah OR Abraham Wojcikiewicz
197: #18 Nick Stemmet
285: Peter Ming
All rankings via InterMat
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out
LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWRES on
Facebook,
Instagram, and
Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
