Little Rock kept its winning ways going in Sunday's series finale against West Georgia, battling through a pitchers' duel in the first five innings before the offense finally broke through for a 6-1 victory at Gary Hogan Field to complete a series sweep of the Wolves.
The Trojans (6-1) — winners of five straight — allowed a run in the opening frame as West Georgia (1-7) grabbed an early lead. But the visitors were held scoreless over the final eight innings.
Zach Busick struck out six over 4.1 innings in the start, and the bullpen combination of
Brett Gastman,
Malcolm Brown,
Luke Schimmels,
Brayden Walls, and
Trent Jordan covered the final 4.2 innings with scoreless relief. The group allowed just one hit, issued no walks, and struck out five.
"Great job by the guys to get a sweep. It's hard to sweep anybody in baseball. I give a lot of credit to West Georgia — I thought they battled all weekend in three hard-fought games," head coach
Chris Curry said. "This one was close until
Ty Rhoades had the big swing. I was really proud of the guys because it started in the worst way. Great job by Busick — he really settled in after that first inning."
Angel Cano singled to tie the game in the sixth, and later in the inning, with two on, Rhoades delivered a 365-foot home run over the wall in right field on a blustery day, putting the Trojans ahead by three.
Ryan Geck added a pinch-hit RBI double, and
Cooper Chaplain contributed a run-scoring single in the eighth to provide insurance.
The Trojan bullpen proved pivotal Sunday. Gastman entered in a high-leverage situation with runners on second and third and responded by striking out the next two batters to end the threat. He fanned all three hitters he faced.
"At one point, they stacked three lefties against us, and we wanted Gastman there. He came in and punched them out," Curry said. "Malcolm came in and did his thing … Walls and Schimmels were solid, and it was great to see Trent out there. He works fast, throws strikes with a lead, and he's a clubhouse favorite."
Brown retired three straight hitters, Schimmels recorded two outs before allowing a weak single to right, and Walls worked a clean eighth inning. Jordan handled the ninth, striking out the first batter before inducing a pair of groundouts to end the game.
Little Rock remains at home Tuesday for a 3 p.m. midweek matchup against Memphis. The teams meet just one week after the Trojans earned a thrilling 12-11 victory in Memphis.
NOTABLE
• Little Rock's 6-1 start is its best since 2022, when the Trojans also won six of their first seven games.
• Rhoades has driven in 13 runs in seven games this season.
• Gastman has faced four batters in two appearances — striking out all four.
• The Trojans are 5-0 when holding opponents to five runs or fewer.
•
Cade Martin has hit safely in all six games he has played and leads the team with a .500 batting average.
