LITTLE ROCK —
Brigden Parker delivered seven shutout innings Saturday, and Little Rock backed him with plenty of offense in a 6-0 win over Southern Indiana at Gary Hogan Field, evening the Ohio Valley Conference series at one game apiece.
The teams will meet Sunday in the rubber match, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Parker (2-2) allowed just three hits over seven scoreless frames while striking out six on 86 pitches.
Brayden Walls handled the final two innings to complete the shutout.
Little Rock (16-11, 4-1 OVC) collected 12 hits and drew 10 walks. Southern Indiana (17-10, 3-2) suffered its first shutout loss of the season, while the Trojans notched their second — both started by Parker.
Nolan Freund led the offense with three hits and two RBIs.
Trey Hill and
Michael O'Brien each added two hits and an RBI, while
Easton Roe also had two hits.
Nico Baumbach drove in a run as a pinch hitter.
The Trojans gave Parker early support in the first inning when Freund singled to left-center to score
Jerdy Lopez. Little Rock added three more runs in the second to take a 4-0 lead. O'Brien tripled to score Hill, then Lopez and O'Brien executed a double steal, with O'Brien scoring. Freund followed with another RBI single to plate Lopez.
Little Rock tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth. Baumbach lifted a sacrifice fly to score Freund, and Hill's infield single later brought home
Jack Bilski.
Parker worked out of multiple jams, stranding a runner at third with a strikeout in the second and escaping a runners-on-the-corners threat with another strikeout in the fifth. He also induced an inning-ending double play in the sixth to keep Southern Indiana off the board.
