LITTLE ROCK - Senior Sean Bignall belted two of UALR's four home runs and junior right-hander Chance Cleveland pitched six scoreless innings, as the Trojans (1-0) topped visiting UAPB (0-1) by a score of 13-0 in their season opener on Friday at Gary Hogan Field. The UALR offense produced 16 hits on the day, while Cleveland, freshman Cameron Allen and freshman Stephen Chandler combined for the shutout.

"That was a good way to start," said head coach Scott Norwood. "We got some clutch hits to really get us rolling for a little bit, but you can't say enough about the way (Cleveland) took care of it. He was really, really strong."

In the first start of his UALR career, Cleveland surrendered just two hits while striking out seven of the 24 batters he faced. The Pine Bluff native gave way to Allen in the top of the seventh, who combined with Chandler to keep the Golden Lions hitless over the final three frames.

Junior Blake Johnson and senior Cameron Bentley led UALR with three hits apiece. Junior Myles Parma went 2-for-5 with a homer and five RBI, while six Trojans in all ended the day with multiple hits.

The Trojan offense got rolling in their second set of at bats, scoring five runs on six hits in the bottom half of the second. The five-run rally began with a one-out single by junior David Guarno that was immediately followed by Bignall's first homer of the contest. Johnson followed with a double to right field, and single to center by sophomore Bryson Thionnet plated Johnson to make it a 3-0 game. A double by Bentley put base runners at first and second for the Trojans, and with the infield in, a dribbler by Parma between the UAPB first and second basemen scored Thionnet and Bentley to give UALR a 5-0 advantage.

After a solo shot by Bignall in the bottom of the third made it 6-0, UALR tacked on three more in the fourth to give itself a nine-run cushion. A two-run homer by junior Chris Burk put the UALR lead at eight, while an RBI single by Johnson scored senior Nick Rountree to make it 9-0 heading into the fifth.

UALR put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh to reach the game's final score. Johnson scored on a triple and an error for the inning's first run. After Bentley reached on a double and sophomore Ben Crumpton was awarded first on catcher's interference, Parma sent a Vincent Newton pitch over the right field fence for a three-run shot that made it a 13-0 game.

UALR and UAPB will play game two of the three-game series on Saturday at 3 p.m. Junior Blake Huffman is scheduled to get the start for the Trojans, while junior Michael Newby will be on the mound for the Lions.