Press Release
LAFAYETTE, La. – Riley Pittman drove in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning and Christian Reyes walked with the bases loaded to give the Little Rock Trojans a 2-1 victory over Georgia State on Tuesday at the Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament.
Georgia State served up back-to-back walks to Trojan batters in the bottom of the ninth before Pittman drove in the tying run on a single to right field scoring Chase Coker. Nick Perez advanced to third on the single giving Little Rock runners on the corners with one out.
James Gann was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out and bringing Reyes to the plate. Reyes’ patience paid off as he drew a five-pitch walk, allowing Perez to trot the 90 feet home and give the Trojans their first postseason victory since the 2011 Sun Belt tournament championship game.
GSU’s Hunter Gaddis went 7.2 innings with 12 strikeouts, allowing just one hit and one earned run. He carried a no hitter into the seventh before being pulled.
Justin Garcia (4-4) earned the win for the Trojans while Jansen Acton took the loss for the Panthers. The Trojans managed just three hits on the day, coming off the bats of Marcus Ragan, Danny Mitchell and Pittman, but drew five walks, three of which came in the bottom of the ninth, with a pair of hit-by-pitches.
Little Rock (28-26) advances to double-elimination and will face No. 2 Louisiana on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. (CT).