Troy University Athletics
Troy Rallies to Force Extra Innings, Earns 7-5 Win in 12
2/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Troy scored three runs in the top of the eight to tie the score at four, then took its first lead with three in the 12th to earn a 7-5 victory over Alabama. Edgar Ramirez had two doubles, plus an RBI single in the final frame.
Alabama wasted no time in the first inning, senior stand-out Emeel Salem led off with a walk and stole second and later scored on a Jake Smith RBI single.
Troy answered right back in the top half of the second with a home run from Senior Clint Robinson. Robinson belted an 0-2 pitch over the wall in right center for his second home run of the season.
Alabama manufactured another run in the bottom of the third when Jeff Texada walked and scored on a Smith's second RBI hit of the game, a double down the left field line.
The Crimson Tide added another run in the fourth off the bat of sophomore Kent Matthes. Matthes hit a ball off the wall in center and never slowed down as he perfectly executed an inside-the-park home run.
Troy loaded the bases in the top half of the fifth inning with walks to Edgar Ramirez, Josh Dew, and Shohei Fujitia but Robinson grounded out to the second baseman to end the threat.
Junior Ryan Ellison made his second appearance of the young season going 4.2 innings giving up four runs on four hits while striking out three. Tim Wheeler came in and gave up three hits but was pulled for junior Rob Brown.
Rob Brown came in to pitch in the bottom of the seventh and the Trojans retired 15 in a row with five strikeouts to send the game into extra innings.
Head coach Bobby Pierce was pleased with his teams performance.
"We needed this win and glad to get it against Alabama, who is a very good team," Pierce said. "A win is always big on the road and that is what this team needed."
Alabama's Meirs Quigley went five solid innings giving up four hits and only one run but issued four walks. Senior Patrick Kelly came on in relief and threw two solid innings before giving up back-to-back hits in the eighth before yielding to Will Stroup, who threw one pitch and was pulled for ace Tommy Hunter after giving up a first pitch RBI double off of the wall.
The Trojans started the eighth with back-to-back singles from Robinson and Dew before Ramirez hit a double to right off the wall to score Dew. Freshman Matt Tanzi already with two singles came in to get an RBI scoring Robinson. Bart Pettus came in to pinch hit and hit an RBI single to right field that tied the game 4-4. Beau Brooks hit the next pitch deep to right field but Matthes climbed the wall and brought the ball back into the park for the third out.
Dew came in to pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning. After striking out the first batter, Alex Avila singled to right and Matthes sacrificed him to second . Dew got the next batter to pop up to third and the next batter flied out to center field to end the inning.
Just like the eighth inning off of relief pitcher Josh Copeland (0-1) Dew and Robinson had back-to-back singles with Ramirez hitting a single to right field scoring Dew to put the Trojans up 5-4. Tanzi hit a ball deep to right scoring Grant Luke, who was in to run for Robinson. Ramirez advanced to third on the hit. Freshman Steven Felix hit an RBI double down the right field line scoring Ramirez. The Trojans used a three run inning to take their first lead of the game.
"The differnece in the game was Rob Brown and Edgar Ramirez," Pierce said. "He did a great job pitching and Edgar hitting the ball was the difference in the game."
In the bottom of the 12th inning, Dew hit the first batter then Tanzi had an error to put two runners on. Dew threw a wild pitch to advance both runners into scoring position. Salem hit a ball to the short stop, who caught the runner off second with to big of a lead, tagged him out but Salem beat the throw at first to put runners on the corners. Dew walked Texada to load the bases. Dew threw a slider to strike out Smith and five pitches later walked Branson Belcher to make the score 7-5. Then Matthes popped up to right field to end the game.
Troy returns home this weekend to face Saint Louis in a three game series.
First pitch is Friday night at 6 p.m.
