LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The bats stayed hot for Little Rock in Friday's second game of a three-game conference tilt with Western Illinois, finishing with 17 hits – including four home runs and four doubles – and 11 runs in an 11-7 win over the Leathernecks at Gary Hogan Field that pushed the Trojans' win streak to eight games – the longest by the program in the past 35 years. Little Rock will look to complete the series sweep Saturday with a 1 pm contest that can be streamed on ESPN+.
Jayce Blalock went yard twice, driving in five runs,
Ty Rhoades homered for one of his four hits, and
Cooper Chaplain smoked a ball to dead center during the Little Rock hit barrage, helping the Trojans (18-19, 7-6 OVC) overcome an early 4-0 deficit.
Alex Seguine,
Angel Cano, and
Reed Willbanks each added a pair of hits for good measure.
Zach Busick earned the win in relief, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and just two hits, and
Hunter Royal picked up his second save in as many days with two innings of work allowing just one hit, one run and striking out one.
Jack Cline started for the Trojans but gave up four runs – three earned – and eight hits over the first three frames.
Western Illinois (10-24, 4-10) started fast, pinning a run on the board in each of the first two innings, then hitting home runs on consecutive pitches in the third for a 4-0 lead. Little Rock erased it in the fourth with a five-run frame that included an RBI double by
Cade Martin, a two-run single from Cano, and finally a two-run blast to left center by Blalock.
The Trojans added to their lead in the fifth on Chaplain's RBI single, then made it 9-6 in the seventh when Blalock went to dead center for a three-run shot, his second homer of the day. After WIU got within three, Rhoades and Chaplain hit back-to-back homers to make it 11-6. The Leathernecks added the final run in the ninth, but fell well short of threatening.
Little Rock's win streak has helped the Trojans vault up the OVC standings, as they currently sit fifth after Friday's contest, one game behind Tennessee Tech for fourth and 1.5 games behind Eastern Illinois in third. A tightly contested conference has the Trojans just two games behind leader SEMO. The top seven teams are separated by just 2.5 games.
