Little Rock head coach
Chris Curry has been disappointed with his team's offensive consistency so far this spring. That wasn't a problem Tuesday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The Trojans (9-12) pounded out 21 hits in a 23-9 win against Central Arkansas in in seven innings in the Governor's I-40 Showdown presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
"I was pleased even after we got down 6-0 in the first inning," Little Rock head coach
Chris Curry said. "We got three in the first and cut the lead in half, and then we got seven in the second. I saw our bats starting to come alive at [UT Arlington] on Saturday, but we shot ourselves in the foot with five errors. But on Sunday, we jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and I think what you saw today was an extension of that. The guys have been working really hard, and all of the coaches have been working with the offense. This was the kind of day they needed for confidence."
The 23 runs was the most scored by Little Rock since 2004 and is the most ever scored in the UCA series surpassing the 19 runs the Trojans ran up on the Bears in 1987.
Ty Rhoades continued to stay hot as he was 4-for-5 with a grand slam and 6 RBI hitting in the cleanup position in the order.
"I'm just hitting the fastball outside, and if he leaves it up, I am swinging," Rhoades said. "That's pretty much it. I am just seeing red up at the plate."
Jayce Blalock, who was 3-for-3,
Ryan Geck and
Angel Cano all homered.
Cade Martin was 3-for-5 with four RBI and
Cooper Chaplain was 3-for-4 with an RBI. The wind was blowing out fiercely all day.
"We talked about [the wind], but I wasn't trying to [hit a home run]," Blalock said. "I was using my two-strike approach and just trying to get a base knock and get an RBI. He left it inside, and I smashed it."
Gage Haley came out of the bullpen to pitch 4.2 innings taking the win giving up five hits and striking out five. He only gave up one earned run.
It didn't look good early for the Trojans as UCA (6-12) scored six runs knocking starting pitcher
Seth Cooper from the game. However, Little Rock got three of those runs back in the bottom half of the frame. Rhoades notched his first RBI of the day on a base hit and
Alex Seguine drove in two of his three runs of the day to make it 6-3.
Little Rock put the game away in the second inning with seven runs. They added 5 runs in the third and 8 in the sixth. Rhoades' grand slam was the big blow in the sixth which invoked the run rule.
The win was the sixth in the past seven games of the series for the Trojans. The teams meet twice more this season. Little Rock moves into Ohio Valley Conference play with a three-game series with Tennessee Tech which begins Friday at 6 p.m., at Gary Hogan Field.
