Little Rock fell behind early in Wednesday's contest against Oral Roberts and was unable to claw its way back, resulting in an 11–1 loss at Gary Hogan Field.
The teams split the rare two-game midweek series, with each side winning by the same score.
"I knew Oral Roberts would come in today and respond after getting run-ruled yesterday, and they jumped on us early," head coach
Chris Curry said. "Our command was a bit elevated today, and offensively, we pulled a lot of pitches on the ground, and that's not our approach. We were trying to pull the ball a bit too much."
As is common with midweek contests, the Trojans (11-10) utilized several players on the mound and at the plate, and there were some bright spots despite the run-rule result.
"
Josh Beezley got us out of a jam with the bases loaded.
Preston Davis was really good for us today, and he's a guy we can use in high-leverage situations because of his stuff. Both of those guys are high-leverage arms," Curry said. "There were some bright spots on offense, too:
Kade Smith with two hits,
David Stanley off the bench, and
Lance Anderson filled in nicely at shortstop."
Nic Bronzini started for the Trojans and took the loss. Little Rock used a total of eight pitchers on Wednesday, including
Brody Bunting,
Russ Martin,
Trent Jordan,
Hunter Royal, and
Brett Gastman.
Little Rock's streak of three consecutive games with 12 or more hits was snapped by the Golden Eagles (11-10), who held the Trojans to a season-low five hits.
Nolan Freund doubled,
Ty Rhoades hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the Trojans' lone run, and Anderson added a single to go along with Smith's two-hit day.
David Stanley also contributed a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning.
Little Rock hits the road Thursday, traveling to Cookeville, Tenn., where the Trojans will open Ohio Valley Conference play Friday in a weekend series against Tennessee Tech. Friday's opener begins at 6 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday's games are scheduled for 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. All three contests will be available on ESPN+.
