LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (5/20/16) – The Arkansas State baseball team trailed Little Rock 8-3 to begin the eighth inning, but scored nine runs over the final two frames and held on to defeat the Trojans by a score of 12-10 Friday night at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, Ark., and in the process clinched a berth in the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The win clinches a spot in the SBC tournament for the Red Wolves (26-27, 12-17 SBC) after Georgia State split a doubleheader earlier today against Georgia Southern and ULM dropped two contests to Louisiana-Lafayette. The Red Wolves will be the eighth seed and will make their seventh straight appearance in the league tournament.

A-State began its rally in the top of the eighth inning with one out when Jeremy Brown and Jake Bakamus hit back-to-back singles to set up a RBI single by Daltan Lovell that scores Brown to make the score 8-4. Tony Ortiz grounded out to first, but both runners advanced and caused Little Rock to go to the bullpen for lefty Dylan Slayton to face Ty White with two outs. White roped a single into center field to score both runs and set the score at 8-6. Joe Schrimpf grounded out to end the frame.

Sophomore relief pitcher Bo Ritter tossed a scoreless eighth inning for the Red Wolves to set up the heroics in the ninth inning. The Trojans (26-25, 17-12 SBC) turned to closer Cody Daylor to begin the inning and he hit Garrett Rucker to begin the inning. Tanner Ring singled to put runners at first and second before Matt Burgess hit a soft ground ball out that advanced both runners. Brown stepped up to the plate and ripped a 2-1 pitch into right field to tie the game 8-8.

Bakamus singled following Brown and put runners on the corners with one out. Head coach Tommy Raffo called for Austin Baker to pinch hit for Lovell and the Trojans countered with a move to left-hander Jarrid Garcia to face the left-handed swinging Baker. Baker lined a single into center field on a 1-2 pitch to score Brown and put A-State on top 9-8.

White doubled in two more runs later in the inning to stretch the Red Wolves lead to 11-8 and Rucker added another run on a sacrifice fly to make the score 12-8. Little Rock made a move to Zach Ours and he got Ring to ground out to end the inning, which saw 11 different Red Wolves hit and three different Trojans' pitchers.

Ring came to the mound to finish the game and gave up a lead-off double to begin the inning. The senior from Batesville, Ark., struck out the next batter, but walked the third batter of the inning to put runners on first and second with one out. Ring induced a ground out to short that advanced both runners, but gave up a two-run single to Hayden Martin to make the score 12-10. The Sun Belt's leading hitter Ryan Scott stepped up to the plate, but popped up a pitch that Ring caught to end the game and send A-State to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Ritter picked up the win for the Red Wolves to improve to 2-1 on the year, while Daylor took the loss. Ritter tossed two scoreless innings and only gave up two hits with one walk and one strikeout. Brown led the Red Wolves at the plate with a 4-for-5 performance with two RBIs, while White was 3-for-6 with four RBIs. Lovell drove in two runs with a 2-for-4 outing, while Schrimpf, Rucker, Ring, and Bakamus had two hits apiece as A-State tied its season high with 19 hits (March 18 at Georgia State).

The two teams traded runs in the first inning with A-State registering its tally on a Ring single that scored Rucker. Rucker had a two-out single and stole second base to set up the score. However, the Trojans responded with a RBI ground out by Nik Gifford that was set up by a double steal to tie the contest 1-1.

Little Rock took a 2-1 advantage when Ty Gunter doubled to right-center field to score a run with two outs in the inning. The Red Wolves didn't waste any time striking back when Lovell drove in a run with a RBI ground out in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game 2-2.

The Trojans chased A-State starter Peyton Culbertson from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning after a single, sacrifice bunt, and double plated a run for a 3-2 Little Rock edge and forced the Red Wolves to turn to Coulton Lee. Lee proceeded to allow four straight hits, the first two resulting in runs, before an infield fly and strikeout ended the inning with the home team in front 5-2.

A-State cut the lead to 5-3 when Bakamus scored on a passed ball in the top of the sixth, but Gunter hit a three-run homer in the bottom half of the frame to go ahead 8-3.

The Red Wolves and Trojans play the series and regular-season finale Saturday with first pitch from Gary Hogan Field set for 1 p.m. Zachary Patterson will start for A-State on the mound, while Little Rock will counter with Joe Corbett.

For the latest on A-State baseball follow the team by logging onto the Arkansas State Baseball Facebook page or by following the team on Twitter (@ASTATEBaseball) and Instagram (arkansasstatebaseball).