Trojans Open OVC Play with Tennessee Tech Friday

Little Rock faces a steep test in its first Ohio Valley Conference series of the season this weekend at Gary Hogan Field. Tennessee Tech (15-7) owns the top record as OVC play begins. Preseason favorite Southeast Missouri has a 12-9 mark. Little Rock and Lindenwood are next at 9-12.

The series kicks off with a 6 p.m., start on Friday and continues at 4 p.m., on Saturday and 1 p.m., Sunday. All of the games can be streamed on ESPN+ with Max Coltrane on the call.
The Golden Eagles haven't played the strongest schedule so far, but the slate does include a 16-3 loss at No. 12 Vanderbilt and series with Southern Illinois and Mercer. The Salukis are 13-6 and took two of three games from TTU. Mercer is 15-7 and also won their series against the Golden Eagles. 

TTU started the season with a four-game sweep of LaMoyne College, who is 4-12, and they also swept Purdue Fort Wayne, who owns just one win, and UIC, who is 3-16.
Tennessee Tech features one of the better pitchers statistically in the OVC. Jaxon Pease is 3-1 in five starts with a 3.16 ERA. TTU is No. 2 in the OVC in team ERA with 5.05.
The Golden Eagles are ninth out of 10 teams in hitting with a .249 team batting average. 

Mack Whitcomb is second in the OVC in RBI with 21. He has smacked four doubles and 6 homers.
TTTU head coach Matt Bragga has been at the school since 2004. He's been named the OVC Coach of the Year four times and in 2018 led the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Super Regionals. The 53-12 overall record that season was his career-best at the school. The past few seasons have been challenging as TTU was 23-29-1 in 2021, 30-27 in 2022, 21-34 in 2023 and 29-26 in 2024. 

The Trojans have spent the nonconference slate trying to shore up their offensive production. The past two games are a step in the right direction as they beat UT Arlington 10-6 and Central Arkansas 23-9. Little Rock head coach Chris Curry is hopeful is team will be more consistent at the plate the rest of the season. 

Ryan Geck leads the team in hitting with a .309 average. He also has 16 RBI. Ty Rhoades is the hottest Trojan with a team-leading four homers and 21 RBI. In Tuesday's win over UCA, he was 4-for-5 with 6 RBI and a grand slam homer. 

The pitching has been steady for Little Rock, and Sunday starter Jack Cline is 4-1 with a 2.64 ERA. Jackson Wells gets the start Friday and Brody Bunting on Saturday.