Four members of the Little Rock baseball team were recognized on May 19 with postseason honors from the Ohio Valley Conference. Junior pitcher Brannon Westmoreland, junior infielder Nolan Freund, redshirt sophomore outfielder Kade Smith, and freshman reliever Tag Andrews each earned spots on the All-OVC Second Team. Andrews also received OVC All-Freshman Team recognition after his debut season.
The four players played important roles in helping the Trojans secure the No. 4 seed in this week’s OVC Tournament. Their performances contributed to maintaining momentum for the program as it heads into postseason play.
Freund became one of Little Rock’s most reliable offensive and defensive players during the season. He hit .308 with 57 hits, eight home runs, and 36 runs batted in while posting a .985 fielding percentage at third base. Smith had a breakout year as well, batting .340 with 70 hits, thirteen doubles, forty-two runs batted in, and eight stolen bases.
Westmoreland anchored the pitching staff throughout the season with a regular-season earned run average of 2.98 over eighty-four and two-thirds innings pitched, including two shutouts and seventy-two strikeouts. Andrews posted a 3.86 earned run average with four saves and thirty-one strikeouts across thirty-three and two-thirds innings during his freshman campaign.
Little Rock will begin its postseason by opening play at Mountain Dew Park in Marion, Illinois on Wednesday night at seven p.m., facing either Morehead State or Southern Indiana depending on Tuesday’s game outcome.
The full list of Ohio Valley Conference award recipients includes first-team selections such as Micajah Wall (Southern Indiana), Ryan Niedzwiedz (SIUE), Chris Worcester (Eastern Illinois), Chase Bloomer (SIUE), Mike O’Conor (Eastern Illinois), TJ Grines (UT Martin), Jorsixt Jimenez (Tennessee Tech), Ian McCubbin (Morehead State), Aubrey Kearns (Morehead State), Joe Hall (Southeast Missouri) among others.
