Skipper
Chris Curry and the Trojans have four games left to prepare for their first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season series with Tennessee Tech in two weeks.
The Trojans (7-10) travel to UT Arlington for a three-game series which begins Friday at 6 p.m., at Clay Gould Ballpark. The Trojans play the Mavericks at 2 p.m., Saturday and wrap up the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
UTA (4-9) is riding a three-game losing streak, including a 7-4 loss at No. 11 Texas Tuesday night. The Mavericks dropped two of three games at Louisiana-Monroe last weekend. Little Rock beat ULM 5-3 last month in a single mid-week game.
UTA, who was picked to finish 7th in the WAC by the coaches, owns the most difficult schedule in the league according to warren.com. The Mavs don't return much from a team that finished 22-34 last spring. There are five true freshmen sprinkled on the roster with 23 newcomers.
Sophomore pitcher Caylon Dygart takes the mound for the opener. He is 2-2 with a 7.00 ERA this season. Sophomore Nicholas Robb gets the nod for Game 2. He is 1-3 in four starts with a 5.82 ERA. Senior Joe Steeber is the Sunday starter and has compiled a 1-1 record in two starts with four total appearances. He owns a 5.82 ERA.
Junior first baseman Tyce Armstrong leads the Mavs at the plate with a .302 batting average. He also is the team leader in home runs with three and RBI (14). Junior infielder Xavier Melendez hits .302 and has 6 RBI. Junior outfielder Xander McAfee is No. 2 on the team in RBI with 8 and hits .286.
Little Rock starts is regular weekend rotation pitching of
Jackson Wells,
Brody Bunting and
Jack Cline. Cline got some good work in Wednesday in relief as he pitched the final two innings in a 7-5 win, which avenged a road loss on Tuesday. Cline gave up just two hits to the Golden Lions and held them scoreless. The senior Little Rock native is 3-1 on the season with a 2.59 ERA.
Ty Rhoades has stood out at the plate this week hitting home runs in back-to-back games against UAPB and collecting three hits and four RBI in the win Wednesday. The junior Jonesboro native leads the Trojans with three dingers.
Senior outfielder
Reed Willbanks leads the team in hitting with a .333 average. Junior college transfer
Ryan Geck has a team-leading 10 RBI and is batting .288 which is third on the team right behind junior
Cooper Chaplain, who hits at a .298 clip.
Little Rock's final tune-up before TTU is interstate rival Central Arkansas in the annual Governor's I-40 Showdown at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Gary Hogan Field.
