AP Sports Preview

MARION, Ill. (Interstat) — The seed Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (28-27) face the seed Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans (30-25) on Wednesday in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship at Rent One Park.

The Trojans won two of three meetings during the regular season, taking the series March 27-29 in Little Rock. UALR won 9-4 and 6-0 after dropping the opener 8-5. The winner Wednesday advances in the double-elimination tournament.

Southern Indiana enters after a 6-2 win Tuesday at Morehead State, a game in which right-hander Ryan Weller threw seven innings of two-hit ball, allowing two earned runs with seven strikeouts. Weller, a key to the Screaming Eagles’ hopes, has been inconsistent. In his last five starts he has two scoreless outings of seven innings with no hits allowed (both at Morehead State) but also a 3.2-inning, seven-earned-run outing against Southeast Missouri State on May 8. Overall he owns a 4.71 ERA. Teammate Noah Foster homered and drove in two in Tuesday’s win.

Arkansas-Little Rock comes off a 10-5 loss Saturday to Southeast Missouri State, but reliever Nic Bronzini was effective, tossing four innings of one-hit ball with seven strikeouts and no earned runs. Bronzini has been the Trojans’ most consistent arm, including an eight-inning, four-hit shutout against Morehead State on May 3 in which he struck out eight. He also took a loss April 26 at Lindenwood despite five innings of one-run ball. His ERA sits at 3.86.

The Trojans’ offense has shown power. Catcher Trey Hill went 2-for-4 with a home run against SEMO on Saturday. Outfielder Brody Bunting also contributed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.

Southern Indiana has struggled on the road, losing series at Southeast Missouri State (May 8-10) and Purdue (April 29). The Screaming Eagles did take a series from Lindenwood at home May 14-16, winning 14-9 and 8-4 before a 10-2 loss.

Arkansas-Little Rock’s recent slide includes two losses to SEMO after a series win at Tennessee-Martin (May 8-10). The Trojans were also no-hit by Arkansas State on May 5 in a 12-0 defeat, but responded with a series win against Morehead State (May 1-3).

First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. CDT. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.