HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Noah Dickerson drove in three runs and Little Rock withheld a ninth-inning rally attempt by Sam Houston to secure the 5-3 win over the Bearkats at Don Sanders Stadium. The win snaps the Trojans’ six game road losing skid, improving to 19-21 on the season.
After three scoreless innings dominated by pitching to open the game, Little Rock broke through in the fourth, getting a pair of runners on by way of walks to set the table for Kenny Rodriguez. The senior singled to second, which was enough to allow John Michael Russ to score from third off a throwing error by the Bearkat second baseman, giving Little Rock the 1-0 lead.
The Trojans would extend that lead in the fifth off a two-run home run by Noah Dickerson, sending a shot to left center and driving in Nathan Lyons, who led off the inning with a single up the middle, pushing the Little Rock lead to 3-0.
The lead was maintained by a strong start from Hayden Arnold, who through the first five innings of the game retired 15 of the first 16 batters he faced, allowing just one hit with no walks and eight strikeouts.
But Arnold ran into some trouble in the sixth, giving up three-straight one-out singles to load the bases for Sam Houston and bring Aaron Barkley out of the bullpen. Barkley surrendered a hit and a fielders choice, which brought three runs across for the Bearkats, but ended the bleeding with a strikeout.
Little Rock then responded in the seventh, getting a double from Eldrige Figueroa, a double from Tyler Williams and a single from Dickerson in consecutive at bats to drive in two, reclaiming the lead at 5-3.
Barkley sent the Bearkats down in order in the seventh, then pitched around a one-out triple in the eighth to keep the two-run advantage for the Trojans heading to the ninth. Sam Houston made it interesting, loading the bases with one out behind a pair of walks and a double, but fly out and Barkley’s fifth strikeout of the game ended it, giving Little Rock the 5-3 victory.
Little Rock managed 11 hits on the evening, its most in a game since the series opener against Louisiana on April 23, led by a 3-for-5 performance from Lyons with a run scored. Dickerson went 2-for-4 with the three RBI and the run scored as eight of the nine Trojan batter tallied at least one hit on the day. The doubles from Figueroa and Williams joined the home run from Dickerson as the extra base hits for Little Rock.
On the mound, the duo of Arnold and Barkley combined for 13 strikeouts, its most in a game since the 17-strikeout performance at Ole Miss on April 20. They limited the Bearkats to just seven hits and three walks as Barkley finishes with no runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings to earn his sixth victory of the season.
Arnold had another solid outing, going 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts to earn the no-decision.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday night due to the FCS football semifinal playoff game earlier in the afternoon. Aaron Funk is slated to get the start for the Trojans.
