Trojans Hope To Salvage Final Game at USM

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Troy Trojans (12-6)

at Southern Miss Golden Eagles (13-5)

Hattiesburg, Miss. • Pete Taylor Park (3,678)

Friday, March 17 • 6:30 pm

Saturday, March 18 • 2:00 pm

Sunday, March 19 • 1:00 pm

Since the 1970 season, the Troy University baseball program has enjoyed 14 win streaks of at least 10 games. Two of those streaks, in 1982 (13 games) and 1990 (11 games), were at the start of a season and one, a 15-game streak at the close of the 1987 season, resulted in a national title.

The 2006 Trojans stand on the verge of adding their names to the list of teams with 10-game win streaks as they take to the road this weekend to face nationally-ranked (No. 20 in NCBWA poll) Southern Miss in a three-game series in Hattiesburg.

The Trojans' current nine-game win streak is tied with three other teams for the seventh longest active streak in college baseball. Only Florida State (16), Mississippi State (13), James Madison (13), Creighton (13), Miami (12) and Kansas State (12) enter play this weekend with longer win streaks.

For the Trojans to see that streak reach double figures they will likely have to get it done with two starters missing from the lineup. Junior first baseman Clint Robinson suffered a pulled hamstring in the victory over Georgia Southern on Tuesday night. He missed the game on Wednesday and is not expected to be available for the weekend.

Also missing from the lineup will be junior Ben Woods, whose wife Kristi is expected to give birth to the couple's first child this weekend.

The primary hurdle for the Trojans this weekend will be a Southern Miss squad that boasts of two pre-season All-Americans this year, including closer Daniel Best, generally regarded to be the top closer in all of college baseball.

Troy's win streak has been powered by a combination of well-pitched and defended games with a series of huge offensive performances. The result of the streak is that the Trojans enter play this weekend with a .332 team batting average to go with a 4.22 team ERA.

Junior shortstop Tom King has continued to power the Troy offense. On Wednesday, it's was King's three-run homer in the fifth inning that broke a scoreless tie. Senior Jared Keel also had a three-run homer in that game and has raised his season average to .300 after getting off to a slow start.

The All-Time Series

The Trojans lead the all-time series against Southern Miss 2-0, with both games having been played in Hattiesburg. The schools met once during the 1998 season, with the Trojans taking a 7-5 win. They met again in 2001, with Troy winning a 9-4 game.

The Coaches

Troy - Bobby Pierce (Alabama, ?˜82) is in his fourth season at Troy and has an 112-76 record after guiding the Trojans to a 37-21 record a year ago. Pierce was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year and the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2005 after leading the Trojans to an A-Sun title. In his career as a head coach, Pierce has won 647 games in his career as a college head coach, including 259 at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College. His record at four-year schools stands at 388-182 and he is in his 11th season.

Southern Miss - Corky Palmer (Southern Miss, 1977) is in his 9th season as head coach at his alma mater where he has a record of 311-192. His college coaching career started at Meridian CC where he posted a 409-160 record in 10 seasons.

On the Air

The Troy Network will carry most of the remaining games in 2006 with Barry McKnight handling the play-by-play. Live stats and audio are also available for most games at www.TroyTrojans.com.

Troy Baseball
Longest Win Streaks
Year Dates Streak
1979 3/10 - 4/1 20
1981 3/27 - 4/14 16
1993 3/22 - 4/20 16
1987 4/23 - 5/26 15*
1996 3/10 - 4/9 14
1986 3/28 - 4/19 13
1982 3/3 - 3/21 13#
1990 2/20 - 3/6 11#
1986 2/22 - 3/10 11
1981 3/7 - 3/21 11
2004 4/3 - 4/23 10
1991 3/4 - 3/16 10
1978 3/23 - 3/31 10
1977 3/8 - 3/26 10
* Through end of season. Won Division II National Title. Won first three games of 1988 for 18 game overall streak.
# Start of season.

Year	Dates	Streak
1979	3/10 - 4/1	20
1981	3/27 - 4/14	16
1993	3/22 - 4/20	16
1987	4/23 - 5/26	15*
1996	3/10 - 4/9	14
1986	3/28 - 4/19	13
1982	3/3 - 3/21	13#
1990	2/20 - 3/6	11#
1986	2/22 - 3/10	11
1981	3/7 - 3/21	11
2004	4/3 - 4/23	10
1991	3/4 - 3/16	10
1978	3/23 - 3/31	10
1977	3/8 - 3/26	10

Troy University Athletics

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