Red Wolves Even Series With Ninth-Inning Comeback

LITTLE ROCK – A six-run ninth inning propelled Arkansas State (26-27, 12-17 Sun Belt) past Little Rock (26-25, 17-12 Sun Belt) by a score of 12-10 on Friday night at Gary Hogan Field.
 
The Trojans had a big night at the plate from Hayden Martin and Ty Gunter. Martin went 4 for 6 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs while Ty Gunter had a home run, a double and four RBIs.
 
Ryan Scott broke the Little Rock single-season hits record in his first at-bat, claiming his 87th hit of the year. Scott ended the night 2 for 6 with an RBI.
 
A-State got on the board in the very first inning. With two outs and a runner on second, Ty Ring hit an RBI single back up the middle to give the Red Wolves a 1-0 lead.
 
Little Rock responded in the bottom of the inning. With Martin and Scott in scoring position, Nik Gifford picked up the RBI on a ground out to second.
 
After Gifford singled with two outs, Gunter delivered an RBI double to right center to give Little Rock a 2-1 lead.
 
Arkansas State came right back with a run of its own in the top of the fourth. With runners in scoring position and one out, Daltan Lovell earned an RBI as he grounded out to short.
 
The Trojans struck back with a big fourth inning as they scored three runs on five hits to take a 5-2 lead. With Jonathan Davis on second, Hunter Owens knocked him in with double to right. After the Red Wolves went to the bullpen, Martin hit an RBI double to right. Scott picked up an RBI as he singled up the middle to score Martin.
 
Little Rock went to the bullpen to begin the sixth inning as Keenan Wingfield came on for starter Cory Malcom. Malcom came out of the game after throwing 5.0 innings, striking out seven and allowing two runs on eight hits and a walk. Jake Bakamus was hit by a pitch to begin the frame and advanced to third on a Little Rock throwing error. Bakamus then crossed the plate on a passed ball.
 
Up 5-3, Little Rock more than doubled its lead in the bottom of the sixth. With Dalton Thomas on with a double and Nik Gifford on base after walking, Gunter launched his second homer of the year to right to put the Trojans up 8-3 over the Red Wolves.
 
Arkansas State began its comeback in the top of the eighth. With two on and one out, Lovell hit an RBI single to left, scoring Jeremy Brown. After Dylan Slayton came on to relieve Wingfield with two outs, Ty White hit a two-run single center to cut Little Rock's lead to two.
 
After the Trojans mustered nothing in the bottom of the eighth, Cody Daylor (3-1) came on to close things out for Little Rock, but the Red Wolves had other plans by mounting the biggest inning of the game as they scored six runs on six hits to take a 12-8 lead. Ring, Brown, Bakamus, Austin Baker, Tony Ortiz and White came up with hits in the inning, and the Red Wolves had five consecutive hits at one point.
 
Little Rock's comeback came up short in the bottom of the ninth as the Trojans could only score two runs. After Baker and Kirk got on base with a double and walk, Martin tallied two RBIs with his fourth hit of the game on a single to right with two outs. That would be all for the Trojans as a pop to the mound ended the game.
 
"It was just an awful job on the mound with executing the location of pitches with two strikes. Give Arkansas State credit for the comeback it had. We gave up nine runs total in the eighth and ninth innings. We were battling down to the last out and played like it, but on the mound, we didn't pitch like it. We got very careless with the strike zone, left some pitches out over the plate and Arkansas State handled them well."
 
Little Rock will try for its program-record seventh Sun Belt series win of the season in Saturday's rubber game with Arkansas State at 1 p.m. The Trojans will honor their four seniors prior to the last home game of the season at Gary Hogan Field.