MARION, ILL. – The road to the OVC championship could be a long one for the Trojans. With the No. 8 seed, Little Rock opens with No. 5 seed Southern Indiana at 9 a.m., Wednesday at Mountain Dew Ballpark.
If the Trojans beat USI, they will play No. 4 seed SEMO at 4 p.m., that day. If the Trojans can get to the quarterfinals, the format then becomes double-elimination.
All tournament games will be streamed on ESPN+ with Graham Doty and Max Thoma on the call.
The Trojans (19-32) dropped two off three games to the Screaming Eagles (27-28) at Evansville, Ind., at the end of March. They won the first game 2-1 and then lost 10-0 and 8-7.
Little Rock is 6-3 all-time against USI and didn't start playing them before they entered the Ohio Valley Conference in 2023. Little Rock won six of the first seven meetings. In the only meeting in the OVC Tournament, USI scored a 2-0 win last May.
Southern Indiana hasn't had problems at the plate runs this spring. They lead the OVC in hitting with a .313 team average. Cole Kitchens leads the OVC in average (.372), RBI (63) and hits (84). Kannon Coakley is No. 9 in batting average in the league with a .344 mark. Khi Holiday is 10
th at .343.
On the flip side, USI is 9
th out of 10 teams in pitching with a 6.73 ERA. Jake Porter will start the game for the Screaming Eagles. He is 4-5 with a 5.18 ERA. In an 8-7 win over Little Rock, Porter came out of the bullpen with his team trailing 6-1. He pitched three scoreless innings, giving up four hits and striking out six. He made way for Ian Anderson, who pitched four innings and notched the win.
Senior
Jackson Wells, who graduated Monday, gets the starting nod on the mound for the Trojans. He earned his first win of the season in that 2-1 victory at USI. He pitched six scoreless innings giving up five hits, striking out four and walking two.
Blake Van Cleve was brilliant in that game coming out of the bullpen giving up one run on two hits with four Ks and one walk.
For more information on the OVC Tournament and the complete bracket go
HERE.
