No. 25 Troy sweeps series to start season

Taylor Fraze photo: Jimmy Janicki celebrates during one of Troy's wis over Bellarmine.

The Troy baseball team opened the 2025 season by welcoming Bellarmine to Riddle-Pace Field for a three game weekend series. Troy proved victorious in all three matchups behind an offensive explosion in game one and defensive work in the next two games.

“When you win each game you play you have to feel good,” said head coach Skylar Meade. “I love that we were challenged.

“We got to see different players come into different situations and compete.”

Troy opened the series with a resounding 23-6 victory over the Knights. The matchup started even through the first two innings. Bellarmine opened the match with hot bats, getting the first five batters on base and plating two. Garrett Gainous eventually found his groove and struck out right fielder Joey Milto to help Troy escape the inning.

The bats did not take long to get hot for Troy either. In his first plate appearance as a Trojan, Old Dominion transfer Steven Meier sliced one to right-center field for a leadoff double. Freshman Houston Markham followed this up with a first pitch swing RBI single.

Markham scored after Blake Cavill singled through the gap, tying the game at 2-2.

The game flipped upside down in the fourth inning after Meade made a change and placed Luke Lyon on the mound. Lyon saw four batters, striking out one, before Troy ended the inning allowing no runs. The offense followed it up with a four spot in the bottom of the fourth highlighted by Sean Darnell’s first career home run.

The game got completely out of hand by the fifth inning -- the Trojans plated nine runs, opening the lead to 18-5. Darnell once again showcased his power, blasting a grand slam over the right field wall. The game ended 23-6 in run-rule fashion after a five-run sixth inning. Markham’s first career home run came in the final frame. The freshman ended the day 4-for-5 at the plate with four RBIs.

Day two of the series was much less on the offensive side and focused more on a pitching masterclass. Bradley transfer Noah Edders was on the mound, and he made a lot of noise in his Trojan debut. Through six innings the pitcher had six strikeouts, only giving up two total hits. His performance earned him the win at the end of the matchup.

“Having a good defense and a good coaching staff behind me, performances like this are easy to do,” Edders said. “I was really confident with my fastball today and felt like I set the tone for the rest of the day.”

The pitching was able to keep the score down, but Troy only held a 4-2 lead through the top of the seventh inning. The bats had gone dormant after the 23 run offensive explosion the night before. Peyton Watts and Darnell both got on base in the bottom of the seventh, putting themselves in scoring position. The ability to score fell on Shane Lewis’s shoulders.

“I have been working hard this past fall leading up to this season to improve my plate discipline,” Lewis said. “I want to not just swing at strikes but swing at pitches I know I can hit.

“I finally got a pitch I could hit and didn’t miss it.”

Lewis cracked a homer to right center on the third pitch he saw, extending the lead to 7-2. Bellarmine would plate one more on a solo homer from Milto in the top of the ninth, but freshman Noah Thigpen shut down the next three batters to secure the win.

The Trojans defeated the Knights 7-3 to sweep the series. The pitching staff shined on day two, firing a total of 13 strikeouts between four pitchers.

Sunday’s matchup started similarly to Saturday. Troy’s pitching jumped on the Knights batters early as starter Drew Nelson saw three batters and sat all three down. Cavill got the offense started on the other side of things, plating two runs on a double to center field. The first baseman plated four of the seven runs scored for the Trojans on the day.

“We had a great weekend,” Cavill said. “It wasn’t just me but also the guys in front of me getting on base making my job easier.”

Bellarmine struck back in the third inning with Nelson struggling to shut down the Bellarmine bats. The Knights scored two runs, thanks to some costly Trojan errors, tying the game at three all. Knights pitcher Zach Horwith then shut down all three Troy batters to give his team a chance to take the lead in the fourth.

Meade made a pitching change, sending senior Grayson Stewart to the mound. Stewart struck out the first batter he saw and did not let his momentum stop there. Stewart pitched three innings, allowing no hits and striking out three to help secure the Trojan victory.

“Stewart was about as sharp as he could be,” Meade said. “I was very happy with the performance from the staff as a whole after we did not play very well in the second inning.”

Lewis once again stepped up for the offensive side of the team, crushing two homers in one game. The Trojans secured a series sweep over Bellarmine with a 7-3 Sunday victory.

On Tuesday night, Troy dropped a 7-6 heartbreaker to Auburn for its first loss of the season. Three critical errors hurt the Trojans -- one kept the bottom of the first inning going and Auburn hit a three-run home run directly afterwards.

Despite a gritty performance from Lyon out of the bullpen and a five-run second inning from the Troy offense, the Trojans couldn’t hold on to the lead. A ninth-inning error allowed the Tigers to walk it off with a single, securing a one-run win.

The Trojans play host to Northwestern State over the weekend, with Friday’s game starting at 4 p.m. The series will be streamed on ESPN+.