Hayden Arnold is Lights Out in Complete Game Shutout of Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. – There was a reason why Little Rock's Hayden Arnold was named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year last season. If the Ragin' Cajuns had question as to why, Arnold reminded them Thursday night.
 
The Trojan righthander threw his first career complete game and registered a career-high 12 strikeouts in a five-hit shutout of Louisiana, 2-0, silencing a normally raucous crowd of 3,891 at M.L. Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park Thursday evening.
 
Arnold (5-6) did not issue a walk and at one point retired 13 consecutive Cajun batters, a stretch that spanned from the third to the eighth inning. His second strikeout, coming in the third inning, marked his 300^th career strikeout as he became the first Trojan pitcher to ever reach that mark. The win ended a five-game home winning streak for Louisiana (31-21, 17-11), a team that had not lost a series opener at home since Feb. 18.
 
In the meantime, the Trojans (24-24, 11-16 Sun Belt) manufactured two runs off a pair of Jorden Hussein RBIs, both times scoring Nate Lyons. The first came in the sixth inning as Lyons reached on a leadoff single and then moved to second on an Aiden Garrett sacrifice bunt. Hussein then ripped a 1-1 pitch to right, sending Lyons home to end the scoreless pitcher's duel.
 
In the eighth, Lyons reached on a leadoff walk and moved over to second on another Garrett sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch sent Lyons to third before Hussein hit a sac fly to center to add another run to Little Rock's tally.
 
Louisiana's potent offensive lineup was silenced by Arnold as the heart of the order accounted for seven of Arnold's 12 strikeouts. Louisiana stranded five runners on base and only got one into scoring position the entire night.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns trotted out four different pitchers with each one putting multiple runners on base. Bo Bonds (3-3) was charged with the loss after allowing the first run on two hits as he faced seven batters. Dylan Theut, who followed Bonds, hit back-to-back batters while Jake Hammond, who allowed the second run of the game, allowed one hit and also hit a batter in 10 batters faced.
 
Little Rock and Louisiana will meet again Friday evening for the second of this three-game Sun Belt Conference series. The game will air live on ESPN+ with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
 
The Trojans are a win or an App State loss away from locking in the No. 8 seed in next week's Sun Belt Tournament but both Little Rock and App State will be playing in the single-game elimination No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed game regardless of the rest of this week's outcomes. Louisiana enters the final two games of the regular season needing to fend off South Alabama for the No. 4 seed with the Jaguars just a half-game behind the Cajuns.
 
For the latest information on Little Rock Baseball, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockBSB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
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