LITTLE ROCK - The #18 nationally ranked Little Rock wrestling team will compete for the final time at home this season on Sunday, February 11, hosting CSU-Bakersfield and SIUE with the first Little Rock dual beginning at noon. The Trojans will also conclude the conference slate for the 2023-24 season with their match against fellow Pac-12 members CSU-Bakersfield.
CSU-Bakersfield and SIUE will wrestle each other at 10:30 a.m., while the Little Rock vs. CSU-Bakersfield dual is scheduled for 12 p.m. The final dual of the day will feature Little Rock and SIUE, estimated to start around 1:30 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased online
here or at the door. For those unable to make it, the dual will be streamed on the
Little Rock Sports Network. Trojans fans can also follow live tweets via the team page
@LittleRockWRES.
Coaches Corner
"We're rounding out our home dual schedule with a couple of tough matches," said head coach
Neil Erisman. "It's important for us to finish strong in conference matches as we look for our guys to stay solid and prepare themselves for the Pac-12 Tournament."
While this weekend marks the final conference dual and last home matches, there is only one road dual at Lindenwood later this month that separates the Trojans and the conference tournament, meaning that although the schedule is winding down, every match still counts.
"We also have a great non-conference matchup in SIUE, a team that has been tough for us," added Coach Erisman. "We are looking to avenge losses against them and come out on top. We can have a great weekend if we compete hard and focus on scoring points like we have been focusing on all year."
SIUE and Little Rock have met three times in the program's young history, with the Cougars coming out on top each time. The past two meetings have been separated by just eight team points each time.
Battle for the Pac-12
The race for the regular season title is still on the line. Little Rock is 3-1 in the Pac-12 this season, the first year that they have ever collected more than one win within the conference. They took down #24 Arizona State three weeks ago 18-15, then hit the road to split duals. The Trojans bested #16 Oregon State 20-17 but fell to #17 Stanford, 15-24. Little Rock added another win against #23 Cal Poly last weekend, defeating the Mustangs 21-12. That leaves only CSU-Bakersfield this weekend.
CSU-Bakersfield is the only team in the Pac-12 that is not ranked, and is also the only team in the conference that has only has one more dual left to determine their place in the standings. The Roadrunners were shut out by Oregon State and Arizona State, but picked up three team points against Cal Poly and nine against Stanford.
Meanwhile, Trojan fans should keep an eye on Stanford, the only team that Little Rock was unable to take out. The Cardinal has only faced Little Rock and CSU-Bakersfield this year so far, and will host Cal Poly this weekend before battling Arizona State and Oregon State the following weekend for a tough close to their regular season. Any slip-up on Stanford's part could lead to Little Rock securing the Pac-12 Conference regular season title.
Who's Hitting the Mat
The probables for this Sunday's duals features not just the several Trojans that have had success this year, which includes the program-high seven Little Rock wrestlers ranked simultaneously in the first Coaches Rankings:
Nasir Bailey,
Joseph Bianchi,
Matty Bianchi,
Tyler Brennan,
Stephen Little,
Josiah Hill, and
Triston Wills. There are other faces that may appear in the lineup to give Little Rock flexibility as they strategize with two matches back-to-back.
Bailey currently ranks fifth in the nation with nine technical falls over D1 opponents. Both he and Little only have two losses on the season, respectively, as the pair both rank within the top 10 in the nation according to InterMat's weekly poll. Three Trojans in
Joseph Bianchi,
Tyler Brennan and
Josiah Hill are just outside the top 20, while
Matty Bianchi checks in within the top 33, which is the number of wrestlers per weight class that will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
While CSU-Bakersfield has no ranked wrestlers, SIUE lists just one in their roster, #20 ranked Caleb Tyus at 149 pounds. View the full probables below.
#18 Little Rock Probables
125:
Jeremiah Reno or
Reid Nelson
133: #7
Nasir Bailey or
Josh Sarpy
141:
Cael Keck
149:
Brennan Van Hoecke
157: #31
Matty Bianchi or
Chase Tebbets
165: #24 Joey Bianchi or
Bilal Bailey
174: #23
Tyler Brennan or
Kodiak Cannedy
184:
Triston Wills or
Brooks Sacharczyk
197: #9
Stephen Little
285: #22
Josiah Hill or
Matthew Weinert
CSU-Bakersfield Probables
125: Richard Castro-Sandoval
133: Santino Sanchez
141: Luis Ramos
149: Brock Rogers
157: Devyn Flores-Che or Jacob Peralta
165: Guillermo Escobedo
174: Ryder Dearborn
184: Braden Smelser
197: Ryan Arrington or Khristan Dove
285: Jake Andrews
SIUE Probables
125: Davian Guanajuato
133: Marcel Lopez or Gavin Alexander
141: Eric Almarinez
149: #20 Caleb Tyus or Caine Tyus
157: Brock Woodcock
165: Bradley Gillum
174: Dominic Lopez or Hayden Trezek
184: Deron Pulliam
197: Nick Nosler or Ryan Yarnell
285: Bryson Buhk
*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,
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Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
