Troy University Athletics
Trojans Return Home To Face Birmingham-Southern
3/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Troy Trojans (17-8, 6-3 A-Sun)
vs. Birmingham-Southern (16-8)
Troy, Ala. • Riddle-Pace Field (2,000)
Tuesday, March 29 • 6:00 pm
The long road trip finally ended last Saturday with more of a whimper than had been expected. The Trojans went on the road for eight games and returned with six victories, but it was the loss in the final game of the trip that left a bad taste in the mouths of the Troy players and coaches.
Troy dropped a 9-5 decision at Gardner-Webb thanks to five errors in the field that led to six unearned runs for the Bulldogs. Those miscues cost the Trojans their first Atlantic Sun Conference series of the season and left the team in a tie for second place in the league race.
The Trojans will not face another road trip of that length until the end of the season, and have four games this week at Riddle-Pace Field where the team is 8-2 this season.
Senior Adam Godwin enters the week needing just three more stolen bases to become the all-time Troy leader for both a season and career. His 44 steals through 25 games puts him on pace to steal just under 100 bases this season.
As a team, the Trojans have broken out the big sticks this year. After hitting just 39 home runs during all of the 2004 season, Troy has already blasted 34 bombs this year, including a team-high eight by Henry Gutierrez.
Sophomore first baseman Clint Robinson hit four home runs last week alone and leads the team with 29 runs batted in this season. The Trojans, however, have become their own worst enemies in the field and are averaging more than two errors per game.
The Trojans are expected to send freshman right-hander Ryan Ellison (1-0, 2.16) to the mound to face the Panthers. Ellison struggled in his last outing, lasting just 1 2/3 innings against UAH last week.
BSC will counter with freshman right-hander Mike Doll (3-0, 2.57). The Cumming, Ga., native has earned victories over Alabama A&M, UT-Martin and Dayton.
The All-Time Series
The Panthers hold a commanding lead in the all-time series on the diamond. BSC has a 19-8 overall lead in the series, including an 11-4 lead in games played in Troy. Prior to renewing the series in 2003, the schools had gone 13 seasons (1991) since playing.
The Coaches
Troy
- Bobby Pierce (Alabama, ?˜82) is in his third season at Troy and has an 80-57 record after guiding the Trojans to a 36-22 record a year ago. In Pierce's second season, Troy finished fifth in the A-Sun regular season race and then advanced to the championship round of the conference tournament. In his career as a head coach, Pierce has won 615 games in his 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including 259 at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College. His record at four-year schools stands at 356-165 and he is in his 10th season.Birmingham-Southern - Brian Shoop (Malone, 1980) is in his 16th season as the Panthers head coach. He has a career record of 639-272-1 that includes an NAIA National Championship in 2001.
On the Air
The Troy Network, with Barry McKnight providing play-by-play, will carry the Birmingham-Southern game on WTBF-FM. The game will also be available on the internet at www.TroyTrojans.com.
Trojans Baseball Notebook
Noting The Trojans Offense
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The Troy offense had a big day last Wednesday, but not as big as it would appear. Despite scoring 38 runs in two games, Troy had just 27 hits, including just seven against UAH. Troy had just three extra-base hits against the Chargers and six against Alabama A&M. Through 25 games the Trojans have just four players hitting better than .300 for the season and the team is batting .282.t
Senior Chase Amis broke out of his hitting slump on Wednesday. After hitting safely in each of the first six games this season, he had hit safely in just 5-of-14 going into Wednesday. The Denham Springs, La., native was hitless in 19 at bats before getting three hits in the two games. Amis has just two hits in Atlantic Sun Conference play this season.t
It is easy to tell the games Troy has lost from looking at the stat sheets. During the loss to Lipscomb on March 12, the Trojans were 1-for-12 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Over the last six losses, going back to the first meeting with Auburn, Troy is 7-for-55 (.127) at the plate with runners in scoring position. In 13 wins over that same stretch the Trojans are 42-for-150 with runners in scoring position, a .280 average.t
During the entire 2004 season only two Troy players had more than five home runs -- Casey O'Quinn with six and Henry Gutierrez with seven. Through 25 games this year, Gutierrez has already surpassed his 2004 production while Clint Robinson has seven and Nick Smith has six. As a team, the Trojans have 34 homers, a total it took last years' club 50 games to reach.t
Junior Nick Smith entered the Belmont series with a 10-game hitting streak, the second longest on the team this year, but had it snapped with an 0-for-5 in the series opener. Henry Gutierrez had an 11-game streak from Feb. 12 to March 6. Junior Jared Keel has the longest current hitting streak at three games.t
Senior Adam Godwin is well on his way to breaking the Troy single-season record for stolen bases. Through 25 games he has already stolen 44 bases and is on pace to steal 98 over a 56-game regular season. He has stolen second and third base in succession 11 times this year. The Troy record for stolen bases in a season is 46 by Warren Arrington in 1986. With 72 career stolen bases, Godwin is just two shy of the Troy career record of 74 set by Mike Austin in 1981-82.Noting The Trojans Pitchers
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The Troy starting pitchers have been greedy with their decisions this year. Through 25 games, the Troy starters have earned decisions in 21 outings. Two of the other decisions have gone to junior Tony Falls. Troy starting pitchers have had quality starts (6.0+ IP & 3 or fewer ER) in 14 of the last 19 games.t
Landon Brazell, has been a workhorse in his starts this year. He has thrown more than 100 pitches in six of his seven starts, has allowed as many as three earned runs just twice and he has a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.9 with an average of 11.00 strikeouts per nine innings. He has a 2.73 ERA in six starts and opponents are hitting .223 against him.t
Over the last 16 games the Troy pitching staff has allowed more than three earned runs in a game just four times. During the stretch the team ERA has been 2.86 and the overall season ERA has dropped from 6.20 to 3.62.t
During the last 18 games the Trojans have posted a 13-5 record, but that mark could have been 16-2 if unearned runs were taken away. Four unearnedruns in the second game against Lipscomb and two against UAB cost the Trojans wins in those games. The Trojans gave up six more unearned runs in a 9-5 loss at Gardner-Webb.
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The Troy pitching staff took a double hit on Wednesday, March 9. Junior Bert Elliott, from Gadsden, Ala., suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the year and sophomore Ryan Ramsey, from Panama City, Fla., decided to leave the team. The result was freshman Pete Van Horn losing his redshirt season.t
Troy native Pete Van Horn showed right away that he was ready when the opportunity came. In his collegiate debut, he came in with the tying run on base and one out in the ninth. He promptly picked the runner off base and struck out the hitter to earn his first save. In his second appearance, he again came in with the game on the line. This time, in an 8-6 game with two runners on, he got a double play to get out of the seventh inning. He then cruised through the final two innings for his second save.t
Van Horn showed on Wednesday that he can put in longer outings as well. In the win over UAH, Van Horn worked 5 1/3 innings in relief, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out four. He was the winning pitcher for the Trojans in that game.t
The Troy pitching staff, through 25 games, is averaging 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings while, at the same time, allowing 3.6 walks and 7.8 hits per nine innings.
