Troy University Athletics
Trojans Set To Face South Alabama in Baseball
4/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Troy Trojans (21-8, 9-3 A-Sun)
at South Alabama (17-12, 3-3 Sun Belt)
Mobile, Ala. • Stanky Field (3,500)
Tuesday, April 5 • 6:00 pm
After finishing off a three-game conference sweep of Campbell on Monday afternoon, the Troy Trojans will hit the road once again for the first of two games this season against intra-state rivals South Alabama.
The Trojans and Jaguars will be conference foes beginning next season when Troy, along with fellow A-Sun member Florida Atlantic, joins the Sun Belt.
Troy comes into tonight's game swinging extremely hot bats. The team produced 37 runs on 45 hits in the three-game series against Campbell and had a team batting average of .421 for the weekend series. Of those 45 hits, 16 went for extra-bases, including eight home runs.
The hottest hitter for the Trojans right now is coming out of the bottom of the batting order. Junior second baseman Bryan Madril, who hits ninth in the Troy order, was six for 10 in the Campbell series with a pair of home runs and six runs batted in.
Junior third baseman Jared Keel has also started to get hot at the plate. He his .545 in the Campbell series with a pair of homers and has gotten his overall season average up to .243.
Senior outfielder Adam Godwin was named A-Sun Player of the Week for the second time this season for his play last week. He enters play this week leading the nation with 53 stolen bases.
The Trojans will send true freshman right-hander Ryan Ellison (1-0, 1.93) to the mound against South Alabama. The Clanton, Ala., native has struggled with his control in his last two starts, walking nine in 3.2 innings of work. His best outing of the year came against Saint Louis when he went seven innings and allowed just two hits while walking one and striking out 10.
Ellison will be opposed, at least initially, by sophomore right-hander Joey Doan (1-0, 8.53). South Alabama is expected to use several pitchers in the game.
The All-Time Series
The Trojans and Jaguars will become regular conference opponents starting next season when Troy joins the Sun Belt Conference. The two teams have met on the diamond 29 times prior to today's game, with USA holding a 21-8 lead in the series. Troy won both meetings in 2004, snapping a six-game losing streak to USA. The Jags own a 10-3 advantage in games played in Mobile.
The Coaches
Troy
- Bobby Pierce (Alabama, ?˜82) is in his third season at Troy and has an 84-57 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 619 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 360-165 and he is in his 10th season.South Alabama - Steve Kittrell (South Alabama, 1971) is in his 22nd season at his alma mater and 23rd overall as a head coach. He has posted a career record of 878-490-1 and has taken the Jags to the NCAA Tournament 16 times.
On the Air
The Troy Network, with Barry McKnight providing play-by-play, will carry the South Alabama game on WTBF-FM. The game will also be available on the internet at www.TroyTrojans.com.
The Campbell Series (April 2-4)
t
Adam Godwin wasted no time in eclipsing the A-Sun season record for stolen bases. The senior walked to open the first game of the series with Campbell and promptly stole second to break the record. Godwin was far from finished for the day, however. Before that first game ended, he had four hits, scored four runs and stole a career-high six bases, including home.t
The Trojans were the picture of consistency in the series against Campbell. Troy had 15 hits in each of the three games and, as a team, batted .421 for the weekend. The Trojans blasted eight home runs in the weekend series.t
With all of the hits came a bucket load of runs as well. Troy hit double figures scoring in all three games of the series, a first for the Trojans since the 1999 season. That year Troy also hit the Camels with three straight double-figure games, and then followed up with three more in a sweep of Stetson. Overall, the 1999 Troy team scored 105 runs during that six game stretch, including a school-record 34 against Stetson.t
The only Troy regular who did not have success against Campbell was first baseman Clint Robinson. The sophomore managed just one hit in 12 at bats during the series and, since his five-hit game against Alabama A&M he has just five hits in his last 32 at bats (.156).t
The Trojans swept the series despite getting a less than productive weekend from their starting pitchers. Only senior Landon Brazell gave close to his normal effort, going seven innings in the opening game for his sixth victoryof the year. Brent Adcock lasted just four innings in his start and allowed five runs on 10 hits. Freshman Steven Morelock managed just 1 1/3 innings in his outing.
