MARION, Ill — For the second time Wednesday, Little Rock jumped out to a sizeable lead during the opening day of the 2025 Ohio Valley Baseball Championship. But this time, the Trojans had to hold off their opposition in the final innings of a 9-7 elimination game victory over Southeast Missouri at Mountain Dew Park.
Little Rock became the first 8-seed to advance past the single elimination portion of the tournament since the OVC adopted the current format in 2022. The Trojans will be one of four remaining teams when they face regular season champion Eastern Illinois on Thursday at 11 am.
Four different players drove in a pair of runs and five had a pair of hits as the Trojans (21-32) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one frame and 9-4 after seven before holding off the charging Redhawks (30-25) over the final two innings. After sweeping the Trojans in a conference series less than a week ago, the defending tournament champions saw their season come to an abrupt end.
Little Rock put up a 5-spot in the first inning thanks to an RBI from
Zach Henry, then two-run homers from both
Ty Rhoades and
Cooper Chaplain. SEMO got on the board with a long ball in the third to make it 5-2, but the Trojans responded with another RBI from Henry in the fourth and a run-scoring single from
Kade Goeke in the fifth for a 7-2 advantage.
SEMO got two runs in the fifth to get within 7-4 before the Trojans posted a pair in the seventh on an RBI by Goeke and a fielder's choice by
Reed Willbanks. The Redhawks put together three runs in the eighth but left two runners stranded in the ninth.
Jack Cline got the win, tossing five strong innings with four strikeouts and allowing just four hits and four runs.
Hunter Royal pitched two innings of relief and
Blake Van Cleve got the final six outs to pick up the save. Rhoades finished with two hits and two RBIs, as did Chaplain, who also scored twice. Goeke also had two hits, two RBIs and reached base four times while stealing a base.
