EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Little Rock battled throughout but came up just short, falling 3-2 to SIUE in Sunday's series finale at Simmons Baseball Complex.
The Trojans (20-16, 8-4) were limited to four hits but stayed within striking distance behind a strong overall pitching effort.
Nolan Freund provided the offensive spark, delivering a two-out solo home run in the third inning to put Little Rock on the board.
SIUE (19-16, 10-2) built its advantage early, scoring three runs while capitalizing on five walks to create opportunities.
Little Rock chipped away in the sixth, using a pair of hits to plate a run and cut the deficit to 3-2. The Trojans had chances late but were unable to find the equalizer as SIUE retired nine of the final 10 hitters to secure the win.
"I thought it was a really hard-fought series, and a 3-2 game on Sunday afternoon is an indication of how well each team played and how close each team was," head coach
Chris Curry said. "On a day where the wind was blowing out 20 mph to left-center field, for our pitching staff to hold that offense to three runs on six hits is outstanding.
"We only wanted three innings out of [
Nic Bronzini] making his first conference start on short rest, and he gave that to us.
Gage Haley came in in a bases-loaded jam and only gave up one run.
Tag Andrews did a good job coming in and giving us every opportunity offensively to score."
Freshman
Tag Andrews provided a strong effort out of the bullpen, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out three to keep the Trojans within a run late.
Blake Simpson and
Trey Hill each recorded a hit, while
Jerdy Lopez added a run scored and a stolen base.
"Moving forward, we need to make some offensive adjustments and give our pitchers more run support," Curry said. "But I think a lot of that had to do this weekend with the conditions and how well the SIUE staff pitched."
Little Rock finished with nine strikeouts on the mound but couldn't overcome the early deficit in a tightly contested finale.
"We're excited to get home next weekend after a really tough matchup at Louisiana Tech on Tuesday," Curry said.
