LITTLE ROCK — A strong pitching performance on a scheduled bullpen day, combined with a late offensive surge, carried Little Rock to a 7-1 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday at Gary Hogan Field.
Making his first Division I start, Brayden Walls earned the victory after tossing 4.2 innings of shutout baseball. He struck out four and allowed just four hits. Trent Jordan and Malcolm Brown combined for the next 2.1 innings, holding the Golden Lions scoreless, before Gage Haley worked the final two frames to secure his fourth save.
Kade Smith, Easton Roe, and Jerdy Lopez each recorded two hits for the Trojans (15-10), who extended their winning streak to four games. Little Rock returns to Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against Southern Indiana.
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The Trojans took time to find their rhythm offensively against UAPB (9-17), breaking through in the third inning of a scoreless game. Lopez led off with a double down the left-field line and later scored on Roe's single to center. Ryan Geck added to the lead with a fielder's choice that brought home Smith to make it 2-0.
Neither team scored again until the eighth inning, when the Golden Lions pushed across a run to cut the deficit to one. Little Rock responded emphatically in the bottom half.
Cooper Chaplain, who reached on a pinch-hit double, scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. Lopez then delivered the decisive blow, clearing the bases with a triple off the left-field wall to score Jack Bilski and Blake Simpson. Smith followed with an RBI single to plate Lopez, and later came around to score when Nolan Freund reached on an error.
Haley allowed two runners to reach in the ninth but sealed the win by catching the final batter looking at a called third strike.
