UALR Baseball Begins Three-Game Series Against Louisiana on Friday

Courtesy University of Arkansas at Little Rock Athletics Department

UALR TROJANS (15-16, 4-8 SBC)

vs.

LOUISIANA’S RAGIN’ CAJUNS (22-10, 6-6 SBC)

Little Rock, Ark. (Gary Hogan Field)

Live stats & video available at UALRTrojans.com 

Probable Pitching Matchups

GM1 – Friday, April 12 – 6 PM

UALR – #21 Chance Cleveland • RHP • Senior 4-4, 2.31 ERA, 58.1 IP, 56 K’s

vs.

UL – #23 Ryan Wilson • LHP • Junior 3-1, 3.14 ERA, 43.0 IP, 32 K’s

GM2 – Saturday, April 13 – 4 PM

UALR – #24 Blake Huffman • RHP • Senior 3-2, 3.12 ERA, 49.0 IP, 42 K’s

vs.

UL – #12 Austin Robichaux • RHP • Sophomore 4-2, 2.90 ERA, 49.2 IP, 36 K’s

GM3 – Sunday, April 14 – 1 PM

UALR – TBA

vs.

UL – #20 Cody Boutte • LHP • Junior 5-2, 5.21 ERA, 46.2 IP, 28 K’s

LEADING OFF

UALR (15-16, 4-8 SBC) returns to Gary Hogan Field for a three-game set against Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns (22-10, 6-6 SBC) beginning Friday at 6 p.m. … Most recently, the Trojans dropped two of three last weekend at Middle Tennessee … After winning an 11-1 decision on Friday, the Trojans fell 14-6 on Saturday and lost an 8-6 decision on Sunday to fall to 4-8 in league play this season … Offensively, UALR put up 33 hits, seven homers and hit .300 as a team in the three-game series … Senior Chris Burk led the charge at the plate, hitting .571 (8-for-14) with three doubles, two triples and 15 total bases … Senior Blake Johnson hit .500 (5-for-10) with two homers, six RBI and a .643 on-base percentage over the three-game slate … Senior right-hander Chance Cleveland put up another stellar performance in the Trojans’ win on Friday … Cleveland surrendered just one run on six hits while striking out 11 in 8.0 innings of work to improve to 4-4 on the year … Junior Austin Pfeiffer continued to his hot streak at the plate, hitting .333 (5-for-15) for the series with two homers … Sophomore Sam Vogel also hit two homers against the Blue Raiders.

ABOUT LOUISIANA

The Ragin’ Cajuns currently boast a 22-10 overall record and a 6-6 mark in Sun Belt play … UL took games one and two against Troy last weekend to win its first SBC series since a three-game sweep of ULM to open the conference season…. The Cajuns rank second in the Sun Belt in hitting (.308), slugging (.468) and OBP (.393) … UL’s 30 homers tie them with UALR for second-most in the conference.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE CAJUNS

UALR snapped a 16-game losing streak and captured its first series win against the Cajuns since the 2001 season when it claimed a 2-1 series victory over UL last season at Gary Hogan Field … Senior Myles Parma and junior Kaleb Jobe both put up big numbers in last year’s series, as Parma hit .625 (5-for-8) with a .769 OBP, and Jobe finished the series hitting .500 (3-for-6) with a grand slam and six RBI … Louisiana holds a 46-12 lead in the all-time series.

TOP THIEVES

UALR leads the conference and ranks 26th nationally with 57 stolen bases … Juniors Ben Crumpton (17) and Austin Pfeiffer (13) rank first and second, respectively, in the league … Crumpton is 17-of-18 on the season and was a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts in the Trojans’ series at Middle Tennessee last weekend … As a team, UALR was 9-of-11 in stolen base attempts against the Blue Raiders.

1-2 PUNCH

Crumpton in the lead-off spot and Pfeiffer batting second in the lineup has proven to be beneficial for UALR so far this season… Crumpton leads the team in hits (42), runs scored (37), doubles (13), total bases (66) and stolen bases (17) … Pfeiffer is hitting .444 with three homers over the last six games and has reached base in 25-straight games.

.300 HITTERS

The UALR lineup currently features four players hitting .300 or better … Senior Blake Johnson (.356) leads the way, while Austin Pfeiffer (.342) sits second on the team … Sophomore Ben Crumpton (.328) and senior John Clark (.306) round out the club, while senior Chris Burk (.299) is just off the mark.

400 CLUB

UALR head coach Scott Norwood is just a win away from his 400th career victory as a head coach … Norwood currently sports a 399-277 (.592) record in 12-plus seasons as a head coach.

PFEIFFER NAMED SBC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Junior shortstop Austin Pfeiffer was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week on Monday, April 1 … Pfeiffer helped lead the Trojans to a perfect 4-0 record over the last week of play, hitting .500 (7-for-14) with six RBI and a home run … Pfeiffer’s week was highlighted by his 3-for-4 effort with three runs scored and a homer in the Trojans to an 11-3 victory on Saturday … Pfeiffer was a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts and boasted a .786 slugging percentage and .650 on-base percentage over the four-game span … On the season, Pfeiffer is hitting .343 and leads both UALR and the Sun Belt Conference with 12 stolen bases … Pfeiffer also ranks sixth in the league in runs scored (26), ranks ninth in OBP (.446) and is tied for sixth in assists (79).

JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST

Senior catcher Blake Johnson was one of 41 NCAA Division I catchers named to the initial Johnny Bench Award watch list on March 11 … Johnson was a First Team All-Sun Belt and First Team ABCA All-South Central Region selection in 2012 … The Sachse, Texas-native started all 43 games he appeared in, ranked third on the team with a .315 batting average and finished second on the Trojans with 14 doubles and a .533 slugging percentage … Johnson enjoyed a 12-game hit streak from March 30-April 20 of last year – the longest by a Trojan during the 2012 season.

ACE IN THE HOLE

Senior Chance Cleveland was named the Sun Belt Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year in a vote of the league’s coaches on Feb. 11 … A First Team All-Sun Belt and Second Team ABCA All-South Central Region selection as a junior, Cleveland compiled a 9-4 record over 14 starts, acting as the foundation for the Trojans’ pitching staff … His nine wins tied the school record for single-season victories, while his 98 strikeouts were good enough for second place on UALR’s all-time single-season list … Through eight starts this season, Cleveland is 4-4 with 56 strikeouts – good enough for second-most in the Sun Belt – and is holding hitters to the third-lowest opposing batting average in the conference (.210).

CRACKING THE TOP TEN

In his short time at UALR, Chance Cleveland is leaving his mark on the Trojans’ record book… With his season-high 11 strikeouts against Middle Tennessee last Friday, Cleveland now ranks eighth all-time in the career strikeout list at UALR (154) … Cleveland is nine strikeouts away from tying Adam Champion (2007-10) and Jacob Anderson (1999-00) for sixth place on UALR’s all-time strikeouts list.

RECENT TRENDS

Austin Pfeiffer (.444) and John Clark (.417) are both hitting over .400 over the last two weeks of play … Blake Johnson is hitting .381 with 12 RBI over the same span … Chance Cleveland has gone at least 8.0 innings in each of his last three starts and is averaging 8.33 strikeouts per game over the same span … Sophomore Sam Vogel is hitting .333 with eight RBI and three homers over the Trojans’ last seven games.