Arkansas-Little Rock baseball team wins 2nd straight Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title

"Never doubt the Trojans." A phrase used sporadically by University of Arkansas at Little Rock baseball Coach Chris Curry over the years, those words proved to be prophetic yet again Sunday as his team won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for a second consecutive season. The fourth-seeded Trojans played seven games and won six in five days over the course of the tournament, surviving five consecutive elimination games after losing its second matchup. They completed the championship run with a 10-6 victory over No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois on Sunday in which they rallied from a five-run deficit at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Ill. "Proud to be a Trojan," the Little Rock native Curry said after the win, No. 300 of his coaching career.

"Proud to be from Little Rock. Back-to-back (tournament) champions is hard to do." UALR (36-26) collected three wins over the final two days of the tournament, including back-to-back wins over Eastern Illinois (33-21) to secure the title. The Trojans eliminated top-seeded Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville 7-5 in its first game Saturday then knocked off the Panthers 4-3 later in the evening to force Sunday's winner-takes-all matchup. The team also beat eighth-seeded Southern Indiana and sixth-seeded Lindenwood once in the early rounds of the tournament.

It staved off elimination after losing 4-3 to SIU-Edwardsville on Thursday. UALR secured an automatic NCAA Tournament bid and will find out its regional destination during the selection show at 11 a.m. Central on Monday on ESPN2. UALR earned consecutive NCAA regional appearances for the first time in program history.

"So many heroes," Curry said. "Now the fun starts. Now we'll get to keep playing because I didn't want to say goodbye to these guys (Monday)." UALR trailed Eastern Illinois 6-1 after six innings Sunday but used an eight-run top of the seventh inning to take control of the contest. The Trojans sent 12 batters to the plate during the big inning.

"We teach it from the top that we're just not going to be an emotional, reactionary team," Curry said. "We're going to stay calm in the moment. ... I will say there was a noticeable calm. Half these (players) did it last year." Cooper Chaplain got the seventh-inning scoring started with a two-run double down the left-field line that scored Ty Rhoades and Trey Hill.

Later in the inning, Blake Simpson hit a two-run single that scored Chaplain and Kade Smith, pulling the Trojans within a run. On the next at-bat, Nico Baumbach hit a two-run single to left that scored Nolan Freund and Simpson, giving UALR its first lead of the game at 7-6. An RBI ground-rule double by Rhoades and a sacrifice fly from Hill capped off the eight-run inning. "We're down 6-1 and kept telling them, just like (Saturday) when we got down, 'Just weather the storm, get past it,' " Curry said.

"We had the (sixth) inning where we had two errors where we didn't take care of the baseball, uncharacteristically. That was a moment, honestly, where we had to come together in the dugout and not panic." Eastern Illinois pitcher James Geshel threw a wild pitch in the ninth allowed Angel Cano to score from third, setting the final score. UALR tallied a tournament-high 13 hits, with Simpson coming through with a game-high three to go along with two RBI. Freund, Baumbach, Rhoades and Hill had two hits apiece.

The Trojans' pitching staff may have been the biggest key to the team's success in the final two days of the tournament. UALR played nine pitchers over the final three games. Gage Haley, Tag Andrews and Isaac Evaniew all saw action in the win over SIU-Edwardsville on Saturday and Sunday's title game. Andrews (4-2), an Arkansas Razorback transfer, was credited with the win after pitching 1 2/3 innings of relief Sunday.

Evaniew earned the save by holding the Panthers scoreless over the final three innings, including the last two innings that took place after a 54-minute rain delay. "What a job by our pitching staff," Curry said. "I said (last) August, I think this team has what it takes to make a deep run in the tournament.

Last year we had to hit, this year we pitch and they did a great job." Baumbach, Andrews, Simpson, Chaplain, Brody Bunting and Jerdy Lopez were each named to the All-Tournament team. Andrews was also named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. In four appearances, Andrews picked up two wins and two saves in the tournament. He pitched a total of 8 1/3 innings, striking out 10 while allowing just 5 hits and not giving up an earned run.

"Last year (the motto) was hold the rope because it was such a battle there at the end of the year and thought we were dead as the eight seed," Curry said. "This year it's 1-0. We knew (that) when we lost to SIUE 4-3 in Game 2 ... 1-0 is all we were ever trying to be and that's how we got it done."