Amy Austin
Staff Writer
Sun Belt Conference No. 2 University of Louisiana at Lafayette came to town and swept the series with the Trojans in a three game home stand, 3-0.
“I was really looking at this series to see our team compete at a high level and be a very competitive bunch because we’ve seen our team do that before,” said head coach Bobby Pierce. “Make a statement on here we are, we’re not going anywhere, and I didn’t see that in our ball club and that’s disappointing to me.”
In game one of the series, the Rajun’ Cajuns came out strong as they defeated Troy 15-4 on Friday, April 4.
Through four and 1/3 innings, senior pitcher Tanner Hicks was roughed up as ULL scored 10 runs on 11 hits. Six of the 10 runs on Hicks were unearned due to five Trojan errors.
ULL roped 19 hits against Troy, the most hit since April 2012, against Middle Tennessee.
The Trojans were not shut out by the Rajun’ Cajuns as they scored two runs in both the fifth and seventh innings. Senior second baseman Garrett Pitts was the only Trojan to have multiple hits in the game.
Troy was able to fight back to lessen the lead in game two but lost 11-8 to ULL on Saturday, April 5.
After a seven run inning in the top of the eighth, the Rajun’ Cajuns were leading Troy 11-0. The Trojans did not give up, though. Troy answered ULL’s seven run inning with an eight run inning of their own in the bottom of the eighth.
Senior first baseman Matthew Howard and senior catcher Justin Hancock each had two-run homers in the inning to contribute to the rally Troy had put together.
“If you can score eight runs in one inning, you would think as their coach they are capable of catching a run here or there in other innings,” Pierce said. “When you have zeroes all the way through except for one frame, you tend to think that might be a fluke instead of what the team is really accomplishing.”
Game three was changed from April 6 to April 5 due to weather so games two and three were a double header on April 5.
The Rajun’ Cajuns came out swinging in game three and never looked back as ULL defeated Troy 11-0 in seven innings.
Junior outfielder Clay Holcomb hit a single, which was the only hit of the game for the Trojans throughout the seven innings of play.
“It’s been a constant struggle this year getting them all competitively playing one pitch at a time all through the ballgame,” Pierce said. “To play nine innings and give themselves a chance to win, we’ve had a difficult time with that for a period of time.”
Troy headed to Auburn on Tuesday, April 8. The Tigers won the game by a score of 6-0.
Troy hosted Alabama A&M on Wednesday, April 9 and won, 9-6.
Troy will host Western Kentucky on April 11-13 in a three game conference home stand.
