Thomas, Carter Combine for Shutout in Finale

Sunday, May 6

Statesboro, Ga.

12:00 PM

Troy University

32-16, 14-10

Georgia Southern

24-22, 14-9

Troy

Georgia Southern

Thomas, Carter Combine for Shutout in Finale

5/6/2018 4:01:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Jace Sanders

STATESBORO – Levi Thomas and CJ Carter combined for a five-hit shutout and Troy pulled out of J.I. Clements Stadium with a 7-0 conference win over Georgia Southern in game three Sunday afternoon.

Carter (6-3) was exceptional on the mound in five innings of relief – striking out nine batters without a walk and allowing just three hits. Thomas started the game and struck out seven batters with just two hits allowed in four innings.

The Trojan (32-16, 14-10) bats came alive in the finale, scoring seven runs on 13 hits - Troy had just 10 hits in the first two games of the series. Four of the first five batters in the order came away with multiple hits – Matt Sanders, Joey Denison, Brandon Lockridge and Rigsby Mosley.

Sanders hit a leadoff bomb on just the second pitch of the game – the first leadoff homer for Troy since Sanders did it on April 30, 2017, at Coastal. It was his first home run since he hit four in the first seven games of the season.

The freshman Mosley followed up his three-hit game yesterday by driving in four runs on two hits in the game today – tying a career-high for RBIs set last weekend against UTA. Lockridge led the Trojans' offensive attack with three hits and an RBI in five at-bats.

Troy got off to a hot start with three in the first off David Johnson (2-2), who took the loss for the Eagles (24-22, 14-9) on the mound. Johnson finished with three runs allowed on six hits in just 2.1 innings of work.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"We got off to a great start, with Matt (Sanders) launching that leadoff homer. We really needed our leadoff guy to be a catalyst for us and he did. Thomas and Carter were outstanding, their stuff was lights out; very strong game for us on the mound. Any time you throw a shutout in this league it's big and we get to leave here with some momentum."

Noteworthy
• Matt Sanders' homer was the first leadoff round-tripper for the Trojans since Sanders did it on April 30, 2017, at Coastal Carolina. Sanders also scored two runs in the game to pass Steven Felix for the third on the career runs scored list with 166 – two behind second place.

• After Sunday, Troy has three players – Drew Frederic (24), Matt Sanders (20) and Brandon Lockridge (20) – above the 20-steal threshold. Entering the weekend, just one other team in the country had three over 20.

• Of late, Rigsby Mosley has been on fire at the plate. The freshman has at least one hit in 17 of the last 20 games – with 10 multi-hit and six multi-RBI games over that span.

On Deck
The stretch away from Riddle-Pace Field continues as Troy heads to the 2^nd Annual Hoover Classic against Mississippi State Wednesday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Tickets are just $5 and can be purchased at hoovermetcomplex.com.