Trojans Put Top Spot on Line in Series Against Georgia State

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Troy Trojans (24-9, 12-3 A-Sun)

vs. Georgia State (18-17, 10-5 A-Sun)

Troy, Ala. • Riddle-Pace Field (2,000)

Friday, April 15 • 6:00 pm

Saturday, April 16 • 6:00 pm

Sunday, April 17 • 1:00 pm

Sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference. That sentence is easy to say, and even easier to get accustomed to, but for the Troy Trojans, it will be much more difficult to hang on to. For the first time since the 1998 season, Troy's first in the A-Sun and a year they won the West Division of the league, the Trojans enter a conference weekend deep in the season in first place.

Troy took the lead in the league race last weekend thanks to a road sweep of Mercer and a loss by then co-leader UCF to Lipscomb. Now it will be the Golden Knights who will have to keep pace as they go on the road to play Belmont.

For their part, the Trojans will host a Georgia State squad that enters play in third place in the league race, only two games behind Troy in the A-Sun race.

Last weekend, against Mercer, the Trojans had their two biggest offensive innings of the season, scoring nine runs in the fifth inning of Friday's game, and eight runs in seventh inning of the first game on Saturday to put the Bears away.

Troy enters the weekend ranked among the top teams in the nation in scoring (14th), home runs (5th), stolen bases (7th) and slugging percentage (22nd). The Trojans also lead the Atlantic Sun Conference (46th nationally) in team ERA.

The pitching matchups for the weekend series will pit Troy senior right-hander Landon Brazell (7-1, 2.61) against GSU junior right-hander Brett Strickland (2-3, 4.15). Saturday's game will pit Troy senior right-hander Brent Adcock (6-1, 3.03) against Panther's senior lefty (4-3, 3.88). On Sunday, Troy will send freshman lefty Steve Morelock (4-3, 4.66) to face junior right-hander Romas Hicks (3-4, 5.59).

Troy senior Adam Godwin comes into the weekend as the nation's top base-stealer with 59 this season. He has 22 more than the second best base-stealer.

The All-Time Series

The Trojans lead the all-time series against Georgia State 20-7. Troy has won 11 of 18 meetings since the two schools have been in the A-Sun together. The Trojans are 11-3 all-time against Georgia State at home and own an overall five-game winning streak against the Panthers.

The Coaches

Troy - Bobby Pierce (Alabama, ?˜82) is in his third season at Troy and has an 87-58 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 622 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 363-166 and he is in his 10th season.

Georgia State - Mike Hurst (Mercer, 1976) is in his 12th season at Georgia State where he has compiled a 260-385 career record. His squad comes into the weekend series having equalled its win total from 2004.

On the Air

The Troy Network, with Barry McKnight providing play-by-play, will carry all three games of the Georgia State series on WTBF-FM. The games will also be available on the internet at www.TroyTrojans.com.

Trojans Baseball Notebook
Noting The Trojans Offense

t As a team, the Trojans enter the Georgia State series with a .319 batting average with runners in scoring position. That everage took a 60 point jump last weekend thanks to the teams' 19-for-34 (.559) performance against Mercer with runners in scoring position. Troy has had at least four hits with runners in scoring position in each of the last seven games.

t Senior Chase Amis has continued to swing the bat well for Troy. During his current eight-game hitting streak he has raised his season batting average 40 points. Amis does his best work with runners on base, hitting .317 this year.

t In addition to hitting with runners in scoring position, the Trojans have been doing a number on opposing pitchers when there are two out in an inning. The team is hitting .295 this season with two out, and over the last seven games the team is 31-of-83 for a .373 batting average with two out in an inning.

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 33 games this year, Gutierrez has surpassed his 2004 production while Nick Smith and Blake Green have eight home runs each. As a team, the Trojans have 50 homers, 12 more than all of last season, and stand fifth in the nation in hitting the long ball.

t Junior Jared Keel saw his career-best seven-game hit streak come to an end against South Alabama. During his streak, Keel raised his batting average 62 points. The longest current hitting streak on the team belongs to Nick Smith and Chase Amis, who have both hit in eight straight.

t Senior Adam Godwin has broken the Troy season and career records for stolen bases, as well as the A-Sun season mark. His 59 stolen bases puts him on pace to steal 100 over a 56-game regular season. He has stolen second and third base in succession 16 times this year and has stolen home once. The old Troy record for stolen bases in a season was 46 by Warren Arrington in 1986. With 83 career stolen bases, Godwin surpassed the old Troy career record of 74 set by Mike Austin in 1981-82.

t Sophomore first baseman Clint Robinson's woes with the bases loaded continued against USA. A normally very productive hitter, Robinson is still looking for his first collegiate hit with the bases loaded. When he struck out with the bases loaded Tuesday at South Alabama it ran his dry spell to 0-for-6 this season and 0-for-12 in his career.

t The rest of the Troy team has picked up the slack for Robinson when the bases have been loaded. The other Trojans are 15-of-28 (.536) with the sacks have been packed. Nick Smith and Dru Rymer own the Trojans' two grand slam home runs this year.

t The best way for any team to have a big inning is to get the leadoff hitter on base. The Trojans have done that this year, with leadoff hitters reaching base at a .374 clip. Among the Troy regulars, Blake Green (.471) and Henry Gutierrez (.465) have reached base as leadoff hitters at the highest rate. Trojans leadoff hitter Adam Godwin has also done well, reaching at a .406 clip.

Noting The Trojans Pitchers

t The Troy starting pitchers have been greedy with their decisions this year. Through 33 games, the Troy starters have earned decisions in 25 outings. Four 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 just three of their last nine starts after producing a stretch of 14 quality starts in 18 outings.

t Landon Brazell, has been a workhorse in his starts this year. He has thrown

more than 100 pitches in eight of his nine starts, has allowed as many as three earned runs just three times and he has a strikeout to walk ratio of 3.8 with an average of 10.96 strikeouts per nine innings. He has a 2.52 ERA in eight starts and opponents are hitting .226 against him.

t The Troy pitching staff had started to slow down over an eight-game stretch, but picked up the pace again last weekend.Troy had allowed 28 earned runs over four games, including a season-high 14 to South Alabama. The Trojans' ERA over that stretch was 7.20. In three games against Mercer the Trojans allowed just four earned runs for an ERA of 1.44 for the series.

t 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 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. The freshman got his second victory, and first A-Sun win, with 5 1/3 innings against Campbell.

t The Troy pitching staff, through 33 games, is averaging 9.06 strikeouts per nine innings while, at the same time, allowing 3.75 walks and 8.23 hits per nine innings.

The Mercer Series (April 8-9)

t The Trojans posted their second road A-Sun series sweep, and third overall A-Sun sweep, of the season. The three league sweeps is the most for Troy since joining the A-Sun and the two road sweeps equals the total from the last two seasons.

t Troy had its two best offensive innings of the season against Mercer. The Trojans produced a nine-run fifth inning on Friday and an eight-run seventh in the first game on Saturday. Troy scored as many runs in each of those two innings as Mercer scored in three games (8). For the weekend the Trojans hit .320 while holding Mercer to just .198.

t Junior Blake Green had his best series of the season. The Columbus, Ga., native hit .462 for the weekend with a double, a home runs and six RBI.

t Five different Troy players homered in the series at Mercer, including junior Drue Rymer, who hit a grand slam for his first Troy homer. A total of 10 different Trojans scored in the series, with all 10 scoring at least two runs.

t The first game of Saturday's doubleheader was called after seven innings with Troy leading 18-1.

t The Troy pitching staff was the beneficiary of the offensive surge. Five Trojans pitchers combined to post a 1.44 ERA over the weekend.

t With the sweep, the Trojans now lead the all-time series with Mercer 13-11.

Troy University Athletics

Trojans Put Top Spot on Line in Series Against Georgia State

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