Aiden McGinnis and
Cade Martin hit their first home runs of the season and
Blake Van Cleve threw five innings of quality relief Friday during Little Rock's 6-3 loss to Belmont in the opening game of a three-game set at Gary Hogan Field. The Trojans will try to even the series Saturday when the teams meet for a 12 pm contest.
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Both long balls came in the seventh inning, which the Trojans entered trailing 5-1. McGinnis crushed a 1-1 pitch to right center that hit the light pole, and Martin sent his first collegiate homer to left center, bringing Little Rock within two runs. The Trojans (5-8) had four extra base hits in the contest, with
Zach Henry adding a double and
Cooper Chaplain roping a triple to right in the opening stanza.
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"The way you dig out of these scenarios is to look at the little wins. We knew we were facing a tough pitcher … we saw him last year and he went nine innings. There were much better swings to the fastball. McGinnis … home run … fastball … hitter's count. Cade Martin … home run … hitter's count. Henry hit some good pitches. We had a triple from Cooper. We turned some double plays. Right now, we're trying to pile up these small wins that we know if we group them together will get us to a win. Van Cleve did a great job of keeping the game right where it was, an outstanding outing by him." — Little Rock head coach Chris Curry
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Van Cleve replaced starter
Jackson Wells (0-1) to start the fourth and scattered four hits across five innings while allowing just one run and two walks with a pair of strikeouts. Wells gave up seven hits and five runs while fanning seven.
Seth Cooper entered in the ninth and pitched a perfect frame on just eight pitches.
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Belmont (3-11) struck first in the first frame, scoring on a double and a single. Little Rock cut to 2-1 in the bottom half on a single from
Ryan Geck that scored Chaplain. The Bruins added three runs on four hits in the third for a 5-1 lead before the two Trojan homers made it 5-3 in the seventh. Belmont added an RBI single in the eighth.
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