Troy finishes weekend on a roll

February 22, 2009

By Drew Champlin

Trojans beat Southern Illinois 10-3 to leave the weekend in Myrtle Beach 3-1.

HERE are the live stats.

Jeff Green pitched scoreless into the sixth, but got lifted after a few hits. He still got the win. Trevor Tyre and Charley Williams each homered. Ryan Ditthardt was 2-for-5 and Shohei Fujita 2-for-4.

Head coach Bobby Pierce played a lot of guys this weekend. Trojans play at Kennesaw State Wednesday at 3 p.m. and have a home series with Memphis next Fri-Sun.

Troy vs. James Madison baseball

February 21, 2009

By Drew Champlin

HERE is a link to the live stats. Will post a brief recap later tonight.

EDIT - Forget what I said about possibly no home runs this weekend. Brett Henry’s big bomb, a 3-run shot, gives Troy a 3-0 lead in the 2nd. It came with two outs.

FINAL - Troy wins 6-3. JMU had a ninth-inning rally but Josh Storm came in to close it. Brett Henry had two home runs. Travis Burge threw six solid innings in his first start.

Trojans play Southern Illinois again at 11 a.m. Sunday. They finally get to be the home team in this tournament. Senior Jeff Green and his low-to-mid 90s fastball gets the start on the mound.

HERE is the wrapup from TroyTrojans.com

Troy baseball improves to 1-1

By Drew Champlin

Freshman Tyler Ray (6 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 6 K) had one of the better pitching debuts you’ll see from a true freshman as Troy beat Southern Illinois 8-2. HERE are the stats.

Ray proved why coaches are so high on him and you wonder if he’ll eventually move to the Friday spot this year. Jordan Mathers (0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER) struggled, but Chris Sorce (1.2 IP, 3 K) had a good line and Josh Storm closed the game, but it wasn’t a save situation.

Top hitters were shortstop Bart Pettus (3-4), J.R. Myers (2-5, 2 RBI), Michael Precise (2-5, RBI), Ryan Ditthardt (2-5, 2 RBI)

Troy plays again shortly against James Madison.

From listening to Barry, the park they’re in is definitely a pitcher’s park. It’s a minor-league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves’ stadium, so while I’m sure the digs are nice, Troy might not hit a home run this weekend.

Troy drops baseball opener

February 20, 2009

By Drew Champlin

Troy opened its season with an 8-3 loss to Kentucky in cold Myrtle Beach. It’s not a bad loss. Kentucky’s an NCAA regional team. So is Troy, I feel.

Trojans started five JUCO players - pitcher Jason Walls, CF Steven Rosado, 3B J.R. Myers, DH Ryan Ditthardt and LF Chad Watson. Ditthardt went 2-for-3 and Myers had a deep flyout to right and a triple. Both will be big-time parts on this team.

Walls took the loss, giving up four earned runs in three innings. Five walks really hurt him. HERE are some stats.

HERE is the Troy release.

Trojans play twice tomorrow. At 1, they play Southern Illinois followed by a 4:30 game against James Madison

It had to end sometime

February 19, 2009

By Drew Champlin

As Troy’s win streak was snapped in an 87-86 loss at Florida International.

FIU’s record was 10-17 going in, but they weren’t a 10-17 team. Their other big man, freshman Freddy Asprilla, played for the first time in a while, but the hot shooting of Michael Dominguez and Alex Galindo was the story. Galindo, who hit a last-second 3 to beat Troy in Troy in 2006, hit a three with 3 seconds left for the win.

I didn’t see the game, but I was at Troy covering high school regionals. I was surprised Brandon Hazzard only took six shots, including just one three. They must have had the clamps on him and dared guys like Antywan Jones (8 shots in 16 minutes, 3 turnovers) to beat them. Good plan.

Troy was down 13 with 6:08 left but took the lead with 25 seconds left.

Better a loss now than early in Hot Springs. Tough road game at ULL left next Thursday and South Alabama at home a week from Saturday. I predict the league finishes out with Western Kentucky 1st, UALR 2nd and Troy third.