Box Score
CONWAY, S.C. - Ramon Padilla's eighth-inning two-out single, scoring Miguel Soto, gave No. 3 Little Rock the late go ahead in their 6-5 victory over sixth-seeded Troy in Wednesday's opener of the 2019 Sun Belt Baseball Championship at Springs Brooks Stadium.

Chandler Fidel got the nod and gave a quality outing for Little Rock, throwing 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five. Donavin Buck earned the win after his two scoreless innings in relief would cap off the victory for the Trojans. The senior struck out three of the seven batters he faced.

Riley Pittman had two RBI for the Trojans of Little Rock and got the scoring going early with a home run in the bottom of the first. Troy Alexander and Nathan Lyons each recorded two hits for Little Rock.

The Troy Trojans tacked on runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings - a Austin Garafalo home run in the fifth and a Dalton Sinquefield double in the sixth to score Drew Frederic. Troy would eventually tie the game in the seventh on a Sadler Goodwin blast to right field. His home run plated both Rigsby Mosley and Reed Smith, who reached on back-to-back singles.

In the eighth - Little Rock's Pittman grounded out to start the inning before James Gann singled through the left side. Soto then came on to pinch run for Gann. Troy was able to get Alexander to strike out before allowing a single from Nick Perez, advancing Soto to second. So with two outs Padilla singled through the right side, scoring Soto and giving Little Rock the advantage.

Buck allowed a quick single in the top half of the ninth before getting two quick outs on three pitches. He then struck out Frederic for the win.

Little Rock improves to 29-26 overall (18-11 Sun Belt) while Troy falls to 29-28 (16-14 Sun Belt). Little Rock will face the winner of Wednesday's second game between Georgia Southern and Louisiana on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET. Troy will play the loser of that same game on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. ET.