Cajuns, UALR Collide in Sun Belt Series

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, winners of six straight games, head to Little Rock this weekend to face Arkansas-Little Rock in a three game Sun Belt Conference series at Gary Hogan Field.

UALR (4-8, 1-2) is playing under first year coach Chris Curry, a native of Conway, AR.  Curry most recently was the top assistant and pitching coach at Northwestern State under Lane Burroughs.

UALR opened their league play last weekend in Mobile, dropping two out of three to South Alabama.  The Trojans won the first game, 4-3 before falling 1-0 and 3-2 at Eddie Stanky Field.  The Trojans pitched well, but managed only 17 hits in the three game series.

Scoring runs has been an issue for UALR so far this season, as the Trojans are hitting just .205 as a team.  The Trojans are averaging 2.75 runs and just 6.4 hits per game.  Ryan Scott (.425-1-4) and Kyle Kirk (.262-0-7) are the top hitters on the club.

UALR has a team ERA of 6.58 is more an issue of the depth rather than the quality of the pitching staff.  The Trojans have a half dozen pitchers they can rely on.  RHP Cory Malcolm (2-1, 1.80), LHP Jarrid Garcia (0-0, 1.29) and RHP Sam Theole (1-2, 4.95) were the three starters this past weekend.  Dyllon Brownmiller (0-2, 1 sv. 3.38) and Cameron Allen (1-1, 2 sv. 5.40) are the top two relievers.  Garcia is the only lefty on the staff.

The Cajuns will counter with RHP Freshman Evan Guillory on Friday, LHP Freshman Gunner Leger on Saturday.  Sunday’s starter is yet to be determined.  RHP senior Greg Milhorn had some soreness last weekend which caused him to be removed from the game after just four innings last Saturday.  Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux said if Milhorn can’t go, RHP Junior Will Bacon would get the start.

The Cajuns go into the series after sweeping Troy in the Sun Belt Conference opening series last weekend.  The Cajuns are hitting .287 as a team, averaging 6.2 runs and 10.2 hits per game.  Nick Thurman (.426-1-10) and Blake Trahan (.400-1-9) are the leading hitters on the club.

The Cajuns have a team ERA of 3.30 and much of that has had to do with a rock solid bullpen that combined for a 1.15 ERA last weekend against Troy.

Games are scheduled for 6pm, 2pm and 1pm this weekend.  All three can be heard on News/Talk 96.5 KPEL FM.

UPDATE: Due to weather, games times for the series have been altered. For the latest, click here.