Wes Fortson
Staff Writer
The Troy baseball team traveled to Boone, North Carolina, and defeated Appalachian State in a three-game conference series.
The Trojans fought to win the series 2-1 after they erased a 3-0 deficit in game one.
On Friday, April 3, junior pitcher Grant Bennett and Troy put together a solid 6-3 victory.
Bennett put together another stellar start as he earned his sixth win of the season.
The Mountaineers got up on the board quickly while Bennett struggled to settle down on the mound, and they established a 3-0 lead by the third inning.
Two of the Mountaineers’ runs were from a lone Troy error in the third.
The Trojans regrouped and started to claw their way back when the fifth inning rolled around.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, senior center fielder Clay Holcomb hit a single and stole second before freshman left fielder Reid Long followed him up with an RBI single to finally put the Trojans on the board.
Junior right fielder Logan Hill was thought to be struck out swinging, but reached first when the pitch escaped Appalachian State’s catcher. This error allowed Long to score.
The very next inning, Troy tied up the score 3-3 with an RBI single to right center by freshman shortstop Matt Sanders, who knocked in senior second baseman Nick Masonia.
In a desperate attempt to steal away the game, junior pinch hitter Peyton Fuller came in clutch and hit an RBI single that scored redshirt freshman pinch runner Shaw Pinnell and put the Trojans in the lead 4-3.
To lead off the ninth, Long sent a solo shot to right field for his fifth home run of the season and for Troy’s fifth run of the game.
After another error by the Mountaineers, the Trojans scored their final run and won 6-3.
On Saturday, April 4, the two teams faced off for game two of the series, but Troy couldn’t find the runs to erase the deficit this time and fell 5-2 to the Mountaineers.
Sophomore designated hitter Matt Brill helped Appalachian State score its first run of the game in the bottom of the second with a single to center field that scored senior third baseman Noah Holmes.
The following inning, Holmes got a pair of RBIs himself with a double to center field that stretched the lead to 3-0.
This time Troy answered with a couple of runs of its own in the top of the fourth and shortened the deficit to just one run. However, those were the only runs for the Trojans during the game
The Mountaineers managed to scrape together a couple more runs in the bottom of the fourth to bring the final score to 5-2.
In the third game of the series on Sunday, April 5, Troy put together a 12-5 win.
Sophomore third baseman TJ Binder kicked off the scoring spree for Troy in the first inning with an RBI walk that advanced Hill to home plate.
Both teams combined for seven runs in the first inning and brought the score to 4-3 with the Mountaineers on top.
After the Trojans gathered up a couple more runs in the third and fourth innings, they took the lead, and then managed to tack on another five runs in the fifth.
The fifth-inning streak started off when redshirt junior catcher Tripp Calhoun reached on a fielder’s choice and scored Binder from third.
Long singled through to left field and scored Holcomb and Fuller.
The next batter, Masonia, hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field that allowed Calhoun to come home.
Hill followed up Masonia with an RBI single that scored Long and boosted the Trojans to a 10-4 lead.
In the top of the seventh, both Calhoun and Masonia added a couple of RBIs to the board and stretched Troy’s lead to 12-4.
Later, the Mountaineers added one more run to the board with the help of a Troy error, but the Trojans held on 12-5.
Troy totaled 14 stolen bases in the series against Appalachian State.
Troy played Kennesaw State at home on Wednesday, April 8, and lost 3-2.
The Trojan baseball team will be back in action versus Arkansas State on Friday, April 10, at Riddle-Pace Field at 6 p.m.
