Troy University Athletics
Trojans Baseball To Face Mercer In Pivotal A-Sun Series
4/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Troy Trojans (21-9, 9-3 A-Sun)
at Mercer (22-12, 8-7 Sun Belt)
Macon, Ga. • University Center (3,200)
Friday, April 8 • 6:00 pm
Saturday, April 9 (DH) • 11:00 am
When a team is in a race for a conference championship, there are few opportunities during the season to enjoy your place in the league standings.
The Troy Trojans had better have a good understanding of that fact going into this weekend's Atlantic-Sun Conference series at Mercer.
With a sweep of Campbell last weekend, Troy moved into a first-place tie with nationally ranked UCF in the league race. However, a meeting on the field with the Knights is still a month away, and much can change during that time if the team does not take care of its business.
The business at hand is a vastly improved Mercer club that has already won more games this year than in 2004. Most recently, the Bears clobbered national phenomenon Georgia Southern 14-4 on Tuesday night, snapping the Eagles' 14-game win streak.
The Bears enter play this weekend in fourth place in the league race, having taken two of three from Lipscomb and Belmont over the last two weeks.
Troy will attempt to getback in a groove on the mound with senior right-hander Landon Brazell (6-1, 2.95) getting the call on Friday night. He will face Mercer sophomore right-hander Brantley New (3-2, 3.97).
For Saturday's doubleheader, Troy will send senior right-hander Brent Adcock (5-1, 3.27) to the hill for the first game to face junior left-hander Hunter Abercrombie (5-2, 3.96). The second game will feature Troy freshman left-hander Steven Morelock (4-3, 4.75) against senior right-hander Philip Morrison 6-2, 3.93).
Troy senior Adam Godwin comes into the weekend as the nation's top base-stealer with 55 this season. He has 22 more than the second best base-stealer.
The All-Time Series
The Trojans and Bears have only been regular opponents since Troy joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 1998. The series has been fairly even, with Mercer holding a slight 11-10 lead. The only series sweep came during the 1999 season when Mercer won three straight at home, but Troy got revenge by bouncing the Bears from the league tournament. Mercer leads 7-2 in games played in Macon.
The Coaches
Troy
- Bobby Pierce (Alabama, ?˜82) is in his third season at Troy and has an 84-58 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 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 360-166 and he is in his 10th season.Mercer - Craig Gibson (Mercer, 1985) is in his 2nd season at his alma mater. He has posted a 42-47 record and his team already has more wins this season than it produced during his first campaign.
On the Air
The Troy Network, with Barry McKnight providing play-by-play, will carry all three games of the Mercer series on WTBF-FM. The games will also be available on the internet at www.TroyTrojans.com.
Noting The Trojans Offense
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Situational hitting are buzz words around the Troy dugout, and even through the team was hitless in five at bats with runners in scoring position last Tuesday night against Birmingham-Southern, the team did an excellent job in situational hitting. The Trojans delivered two sacrifice flies in the game, and twice advanced runners with ground outs to the right side.t
Senior Chase Amis broke out of his hitting slump last week. After hitting safely in each of the first six games this season, he had hit safely in just 5-of-14 going into last Wednesday. The Denham Springs, La., native was hitless in 19 at bats before getting three hits in the two games against Alabama A&M and UAH. Amis has hit safely in each of the last five games.t
The Trojans broke the mold in their loss to South Alabama Tuesday night. In their previous six losses, it had been a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position that had doomed the team. Troy was 7-for-55 (.127) at the plate with runners in scoring position in those games, but turned in a 6-for-14 (.428) effort in the loss to USA.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 30 games this year, Gutierrez has already surpassed his 2004 production while Clint Robinson, Nick Smith and Blake Green have seven home runs each. As a team, the Trojans have 45 homers, seven more than all of last season, and stand fourth 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 five straight.t
Senior Adam Godwin has already broken the Troy season and career records for stolen bases, as well as the A-Sun season mark. His 55 stolen bases puts him on pace to steal 103 over a 56-game regular season. He has stolen second and third base in succession 15 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 Tuesday night 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.Noting The Trojans Pitchers
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The Troy starting pitchers have been greedy with their decisions this year. Through 30 games, the Troy starters have earned decisions in 23 outings. Three 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 one of their last six 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 seven of his eight 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 11.07 strikeouts per nine innings. He has a 2.95 ERA in seven starts and opponents are hitting .229 against him.t
The Troy pitching staff has started to slow down over the last several games. After a five-game stretch where they allowed just 12 earned runs, Troy has allowed 28 earned runs over the last four games, including a season-high 14 to South Alabama Tuesday night. The Trojans' ERA over the last four games is 7.20.t
The Troy pitching staff took a double hit on Wednesday, March 9. JuniorBert 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.
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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 30 games, is averaging 9.27 strikeouts per nine innings while, at the same time, allowing 3.79 walks and 8.40 hits per nine innings.The South Alabama Game (April 5)
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Every baseball team, at every level, has a game once in a while when nothing goes their way. Such was the case for the Trojans against the Jaguars. Against a South Alabama team that had been struggling at the plate, the Troy pitching staff surrendered a season-high 17 runs on 16 hits. The Trojans also hurt themselves with four errors and by leaving eight runners on base.t
Senior Adam Godwin displayed a lot of versitility to the large group of pro scouts that came out to watch him play. He had a couple of hits, including a perfect bunt, laid down a sacrifice bunt and stole two bases.t
Senior catcher Henry Gutierrez had a great day at the plate, but gave all of the Trojans a scare in the first inning. Gutierrez delivered a two-run single that should have been a double, but came up lame rounding first and appeared to be in great pain as he hobbled back to the bag. The injury, however, turned out to be minor as Gutierrez stayed in the game, and added an RBI single in the fifth inning and a solo homer, his 10th, in the seventh.t
Junior third baseman Jared Keel went hitless in five at bats against the Jaguars to snap his career-best seven-game hitting streak. He was the only Trojans starter to go hitless in the game.
