Troy baseball notes
March 02, 2009
I’ve written a preview for Troy’s baseball game tomorrow with Alabama, the Crimson Tide’s first trip to Riddle-Pace since 1998. I had to make it a balanced article since we’ve also got Alabama fans who read our paper, but this blog is all Troy, all the time. Most of the time. So I’ll share some notes and quotes I got from talking to head coach Bobby Pierce earlier today.
It was an odd weekend for the Trojans (5-2). Pierce said he had never had a snowout at Troy and he also talked to Trojan legends Chase Riddle and Ralph Black and none of them had ever remembered a player hitting for the cycle at Riddle-Pace as Miles Hoyle did Saturday in a 19-3 win over Memphis.
Sunday’s game was called after one inning because of snow. Memphis won the first game Friday 7-5.
“The outfielders couldn’t see the pitches thrown to the batters,“ Pierce said. “Just as (Travis) Burge took the mound, the snow started to increase.“
Another concern was getting Memphis back home safely before roads got icy or closed altogether. It’s possible the two could make the game up later in the year. Memphis plays at UAB May 1-3 in a Conference USA series, and could swing down for a Monday game May 4 since both teams are out of school. Troy could add another home game with someone else later in the year if necessary.
Burge, a senior lefty, will get the start on the mound for Troy, but he’ll be on a pitch count, Pierce said, since the Trojans have a conference series at Florida International this weekend. He’ll probably go 3-5 innings. Tim Wheeler, last year’s ace, is scheduled to make his return from labrum surgery and pitch out of the pen.
That will certainly be a big boost to Troy’s pitching staff.
“He’s game-ready and we were going to throw him Sunday, but didn’t want his first appearance to be in that weather,“ Pierce said. “But it didn’t matter once the game was called off.“
Troy’s Wednesday game with Samford has been moved up to 5 p.m. since the Troy women play a Sun Belt Tournament game at 7 p.m. vs. UL-Lafayette. Wednesday’s starting pitcher will either be Jeff Green or Robby Loew - whichever one doesn’t come out of the bullpen against Alabama.
The Trojans have seen some good offensive performances early on. Third baseman Brett Henry (.476, 3 HR, 10 RBI) and first baseman Ryan Ditthardt (.467, 3 HR, 11 RBI) have stood out. Outfielder Miles Hoyle (.429, 1 HR, 7 RBI) has hit well. Shortstop Bart Pettus, outfielders Charley Williams, Steven Rosado and Michael Precise, second baseman J.R. Myers and shortstop Shohei Fujita have done well at the plate so far. TROY STATS HERE. Steven Felix has established himself as the No. 1 catcher.
“We do have some depth and we plan to utilize our depth,“ Pierce said.
The big struggle, though, has been middle infielder Adam Bryant, who is off to a 1-for-14 (.071) start. Bryant was penciled in as an everyday player and a top hitter in the batting order, but is off to a slow start.
“We don’t really have an answer for it,“ Pierce said. “He’s gotten off to a slow start. Not everyone jumps out of the chute and hits great, but he hasn’t looked confident and isn’t seeing the ball real well. He’s been quick and early (with his swing) and his timing is off, but we’ve got confidence in Adam and we think he’ll bounce back.“
Junior Jason Walls bounced back from a loss in the opener against Kentucky to get the win in the Saturday game over Memphis. Pierce flip-flopped Walls and freshman Tyler Ray, throwing Ray in the opener. Ray took the loss, giving up five runs, but pitched well except for one inning.
“We were pleased with Jason’s performance,“ Pierce said. “He bounced back well. He threw well but he’s capable of throwing better. He was very competitive with each pitch. Tyler Ray pitched well but we didn’t give him much run support. That was due to the lefty from Memphis throwing a great game against us.“
