Arkansas State holds off Little Rock to finish series sweep

JONESBORO, Ark.– “Uncle Mo” continued to side with the Arkansas State baseball team on Saturday, as the Red Wolves were again hot at the plate en route to a 10-6 win over in-state rival Little Rock to sweep the series at Tomlinson Stadium-Kell Field.

The Red Wolves (8-14, 3-3 SBC) earned their first sweep in a conference series since March 15-17, 2019, at Troy and their first three-game sweep over the Trojans (12-11, 3-3) since March 14-15, 2014. With the win A-State has now won four straight games, scoring double-digit runs in three of those contests.

Carter Holt picked up his first win of the season for A-State, tossing 5.0 innings and allowing two runs, both unearned, on three hits. The Jackson, Tennessee, native struck out four and walked two. Jake Algee provided 2.0 innings of middle relief before giving way to Jack Jumper and Kollin Stone in the late innings.

Liam Hicks, Jaylon Deshazier and Garrett Olson recorded two hits apiece for the Scarlet and Black, with Hicks driving in three runs. Hicks hit .538 on the weekend (7 for 13) with three extra-base hits.

Little Rock used nine pitchers in the contest, with starter Jack DeCooman taking the loss. DeCooman lasted just one inning, allowing five runs on three hits in the second inning before giving way to Aaron Barkley. Tyler Williams tallied two hits and drove in three runs to lead the Trojans, while John Michael Russ drove in a pair of runs.

A-State touched DeCooman for five runs in the second inning, starting with a bases-loaded wild pitch. A bases-loaded walk and RBI single by Olson allowed two more runs to score. Blake McCutchen then scored on a double play before Hicks knocked a double to right to score Jared Toler.

An RBI single by Williams made it 9-3 before Tyler Duncan drove in Olson in the bottom of the seventh. The Trojans would attempt to rally with three runs in the eighth, but Stone would get out of the jam and work around a leadoff base-runner in the ninth to close out the sweep.

NEXT UP

A-State closes out its four-game home stand Tuesday night, hosting in-state foe Central Arkansas. First pitch at Tomlinson Stadium-Kell Field is slated for 6 p.m. on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast on 95.3 The Ticket.

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