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Little Rock baseball notches 4-3 opening day victory at Oral Roberts

The Trojan offense finished with 11 hits as eight different Little Rock batters registered a hit, led by three from Eldrige Figueroa and a pair from Noah Dickerson
Credit: Mark Wagner

TULSA, Okla. — Little Rock jumped out to an early lead, then withstood an Oral Roberts threat in the bottom of the ninth to earn the opening day 4-3 victory over the Golden Eagles at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The Trojan offense finished with 11 hits on opening day as eight different Little Rock batters registered a hit, led by three from Eldrige Figueroa and a pair from Noah Dickerson. Figueroa, Miguel Soto and Nathan Lyons each had doubles on the afternoon as well.

On the mound, Aaron Funk was solid in his first start of the season, getting a no decision after allowing just one hit with no walks and five strikeouts in five innings of work. Hayden Arnold earned the win after closing out the final four innings, allowing three runs on four hits with six strikeouts.

Little Rock raced out to the early lead, getting on the board in the top of the first off an RBI single from Dickerson, allowing Prentiss to score from third after he had stolen second, the first stolen base of the season for the Trojans.

Pitchers then took over for the next six innings as neither team was able to push a run across until the sixth when a sacrifice fly for the Golden Eagles tied the game at 1-1.

Little Rock would respond in the seventh, getting Canyon McWilliams to third and John Michael Russ to second with just one out. Tyler Williams would lay down the textbook sacrifice squeeze, rolling it past the outstretched pitcher to allow McWilliams to slide home and reclaim the lead at 2-1.

The Dickerson-Prentiss combination struck again in the eighth as another RBI single from Dickerson allowing Prentiss to score again and up the lead to 3-1.

A solo home run by Oral Roberts in the bottom of the eighth cut the lead to 3-2 heading to the ninth where the Trojans would strike again. Lyons would reach on a fielders choice for the second out of the inning, setting the table for a double to the wall from Figueroa, allowing Lyons to score from first to make it 4-2 in what would prove to be a valuable run for Little Rock.

Oral Roberts made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth, loading the bases with just one off a pair of singles and a walk. Arnold was able to get a key strikeout for the second out, but a walk brought in another run for Oral Roberts to make the score 4-3. Arnold completed the win, getting the final ORU batter to fly out to Soto in left to preserve the win.

Figueroa, Dickerson and Williams each tallied RBI on the afternoon while Prentiss notched a pair of runs in his Little Rock debut.

Little Rock and Oral Roberts will meet again on Monday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. at J.L. Johnson Stadium. Live video and stats are available at LRTrojans.com.

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