Box Score

By Ben Rikard | UTAMavs.com

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock Trojans scored all of their runs on a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fourth and held off UT Arlington for a 5-3 win in the opener of a three-game series on Friday at Gary Hogan Field.

The Mavericks (23-24, 9-13 SBC) collected 10 hits and played error-free defense behind starter Kadon Simmons, who was saddled with just his fourth loss of the season despite allowing just six hits in throwing his second complete game of the season.

RJ Williams led the way at the plate with a 2-for-3 night that included a double, walk and a pair of RBI. Quintin Rohrbaugh also had a double as part of a two-hit evening, while eight Mavs in all picked up at least one hit against the Trojan (23-20, 14-8 SBC) pitching duo of Matt McDowell and Cody Daylor.

UTA put at least one runner on base in each of its final three innings against McDowell, who moved to 3-1 on the season after allowing three runs on nine hits in 7.0 innings of work with four strikeouts. Daylor picked up his third save of the year with 2.0 frames of scoreless relief.

The win did not come easy for the Trojans as the Mavs had the tying run at the plate in each of the final three innings. Nik Gifford, who brought home the game's first runs with a two-run homer in the fourth, sealed the game with an over-the-shoulder grab in shallow right field on a fly ball from Brady Cox after Williams had extended the game for the Mavs with a two-out walk.

Simmons allowed just one hit in the first three inning, but was done in by the long ball in the top of the fourth. Gifford's struck first with his shot and was followed four batters later by a three-run homer from Kyle Kirk, the first of his career, to give the Trojans a 5-0 lead.

UTA tried to answer with a big inning of its own in the top of the fifth, getting three straight singles to load the bases with nobody out. Williams got a run home on a single to left field, but McDowell got a double-play ball one batter later to prevent any other damage.

Things looked promising an inning later for the Mavs as well with singles from Darien McLemore and Rohrbaugh to start the frame; however, McDowell once again cued up a double play before getting a strikeout to keep the Trojans up 5-1 through six innings.

The Mavs finally broke through again in the top of the seventh with a pair of runs to cut the lead to 5-3. A leadoff hit-by-pitch of Cody Farrell and a single from Matt McLean set things up for Williams, who doubled off the left-field wall to score Farrell before Cox brought home McLean one batter later with a sharp ground ball to first base.

Meanwhile, Simmons did his job in the final frames, setting down the final seven Trojans he faced in what turned out to be an eight-inning effort. The Mavs had a chance to further trim the Little Rock lead in the eighth, but were not able to do anything after a leadoff double from Rohrbaugh.

Daylor then set down each of the first two hitters he saw in the ninth before issuing a walk to Williams to bring up Cox. The Maverick backstop worked the count full before sending a flare into right field, but Gifford ranged back near the line and made the grab for the game's final out.

Joel Kuhnel will get the ball for UTA on Saturday when the Mavs try to square the series with the Trojans. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Gary Hogan Field.