MARION, Ill — Little Rock Baseball entered the Ohio Valley Conference Championship like a freight train Wednesday, taking down two higher seeds in single elimination play, and the train kept rolling Thursday with a win over OVC regular season champion Eastern Illinois in a 9-8, 10-inning affair at Mountain Dew Park. The Trojans advance to the semifinals on Friday at 2 pm, against either SIUE or Lindenwood.
Even with their new signature early lead – a 6-0 advantage in the second that chased EIU starter Tyler Kapraun – the Trojans (22-32) needed some late magic to knock off the top-seeded Panthers (29-21) in the first game of the double elimination bracket. That magic came in the form of
Sammy Harris – who roped a pinch-hit, RBI double to left center that scored the go-ahead run – and also
Brody Bunting, who had seen limited action in the last two months but entered in the 10th to get the save and shut the door on EIU.
"We could not be more proud of the fight and spirit these guys are showing. We've never had a doubt that they had this in them all year long and we knew the talent was there … we just needed to put it together and execute. It's fun baseball in the postseason and this is what happens when a team with this talent wakes up and believes and plays like they can. We're looking forward to our opportunity tomorrow in the semifinals." — Little Rock head coach Chris Curry
Little Rock has won its first three games of the OVC tournament, the first time the lowest seed has done so in the neutral site era, which began in 2001.
Four Trojans had multiple hits, including
Cooper Chaplain, who hit a home run in the fifth and finished with two RBIs and two runs.
Ryan Geck hit a three-run blast early to give Little Rock a 6-0 lead, and
Alex Seguine drove in a pair of runs.
Cade Martin also doubled and knocked in a run.
While Bunting picked up the save,
Hunter Royal earned the victory with 2.1 innings of relief, giving up just two hits and one run.
Gage Haley ate up more than three innings with a pair of strikeouts while starter
Noah Burkey and
Blake Van Cleve combined for 3.1 innings and two strikeouts.
