A WEEKEND WAR: BASEBALL V. SIUE

Gary Hogan is open for Friday evening baseball as the Trojans look to avenge their in conference appearance after some tough losses to Eastern Illinois on the road. The first of 3 games after saw Jackson Wells starting on the mound. Wells showcased a great rhythm by holding the Cougars to just a single run despite 8 hits. This display was so dominant that Coach Curry kept him on the mound throughout all nine innings, which coincidentally was the same amount of strikeouts he tallied.

This unconscious performance would earn Wells the honor of being named the OVC’s pitcher of the week. On the other hand, the Trojans offense proved tenacious as they converted 7 hits into 2 runs courtesy of Ty Rhodes batting in Alex Seguine and a solo shot homer from Noah Brewer.

In game 2, Austin Stubber, took the mound and was welcomed with a solo home run from SIUE’s Brennan Orf, but the Trojans worked back in the bottom frame to take a 3-1 lead with patient at bats leading to a walk and then a 2 RBI double from Tyler Williams.

Speaking of the senior center fielder, he displayed otherworldly speed and effort on the basepaths as he would single later in the game to tally 305 total bases in his career.

This achievement made him only the second Trojan to have 300+ bases, a record that has stood for over 22 years. The Cougars would collect 4 more runs including a 3 run homer bringing in Orf in the 5th, and then another 1 run blast in the following inning. While the Trojans found their fire, their opponents were just heating up and on a balmy Sunday afternoon, it would come to a boil.

The Trojans set out the red carpet for The Cougars by serving up 4 runs in the first inning and only allowing 2 as a response.

After two half innings of radiosilence from both sides, Little Rock seared Edwardsville with 6 runs in the 3rd inning.

ENJOYING THE RIDE: BASEBALL V. ULM

There gifts were from Nico Baumbach, Skylar Trevino, and Jake Wright with 3 consecutive home runs leaving many in the crowd salivating for a 7th inning mercy rule. While already having let blood seep into the water, SIUE would patch things up with a 5th inning grand slam stunning all of Gary Hogan’s attendees. They would add 4 more runs thereafter and fall short by 3 in the top of the 9th. Through utter domination, grit, and moments for the history books, SIUE fought a valiant effort, but couldn’t match the ferocity of the Little Rock Trojans.

A nice warm day in the capital city treated a packed Gary Hogan Field to a rollercoaster of a matchup. The Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe were looking to snap their two-game losing streak onset by Southern Alabama.

The Trojans returned home after a lengthy road trip where they escaped Baum-Walker stadium with a split of their 2 games against #5 Arkansas along with a single victory over Eastern Illinois in a 3 game series.

a double play. Noah Brewer struck one into the gap for a double and Graydon Martin would single to right to bring him home. Tyler Williams welcomed a new pitcher to the game with an RBI single pushing the lead to 2 runs.

BY JOHN REED

The offense in both of their prior series was on fire with 24 total runs prior to the early game thrashing they had prepared for the Warhawks. The action kicked off in the 2 inning with ULM loading the bases before being gifted a run via a walk from Camden Sargent. It was a grueling at bat before the count ran full and a fast ball went just above the zone. UALR would escape the top of the second before setting ULM on fire in the bottom frame. Skylar Trevino turned a 1-2 count into a first class flight out to center field and over the wall to tie the game. Ty Rhodes worked a full count walk to first before a ground ball to short would result in

UALR anchored down at the top of the next inning before adding gasoline when the inning flipped over. Ty Rhodes returned to the plate for a first pitch ambush over the wall in left field bringing in Nico Baumbach who reached on a single earlier. ULM would bring in their 3rd pitcher only to have Alex Seguine send a blooper to center field bringing in 2 more runs. At this point, everyone in Gary Hogan could all but taste a mercy rule that would never arrive. The next three innings were a stalemate with the Trojans breaking it in the 7th with a single run. ULM scraped 3 runs onto the board in the 9th before LR would force a flyout to secure the midweek victory ahead of their return to OVC play against SIUE just a couple days later. Two runs from the home squad proved useful as without them, the Warhawks would’ve caused more of a scare.

BY JOHN REED