Troy University senior Clint Robinson hit a pair of two-run homers on Tuesday to spark the Trojans to a 7-6 victory over visiting Samford.
For Troy the victory was the Trojans' 10th in the last 11 games.
Robinson turned the game around in the fifth inning when he hit his first homer then he followed up in the seventh inning with another long home run for his second of the game
Sabat came on in relief of starter Rob Brown in the third inning with Samford leading 4-3 and threatening to add more with no one out. Brown opened the door for the big inning when he fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt by Bear Burnett, fumbled the ball and then threw into right field, allowing two runs to score.
Sabat put down the threat in the third, getting a pair of infield pop-ups and a strikeout to avoid further damage. From there he stifled the Bulldogs over the next four innings, allowing only four hits and striking out seven. His lone walk came to start the eighth inning and turned into the only run he would allow.
"We stretched Jonathan out on the mound just about as far as he can go," Pierce said. "We really shouldn't have sent him back out for the eighth, but they had a couple of left-handed hitters due up and we decided to give him a chance. He pitched well and gave us a chance to win."
Tim Wheeler came on in relief of Sabat and got out of some trouble of his own after a single, an error, and a pair of ground balls plated two runs. With the tying run in scoring position, Wheeler struck out consecutive hitters to end the threat.
Senior Josh Dew came on to pitch a scoreless ninth to earn his eighth save of the year.
In addition to Robinson, Troy got two hits each from Ian Craze, Edgar Ramirez and Trevor Tyre. Parker Gargis led Samford's attack with three hits while Michael Marseco and Wayne Miller had two each.
The Trojans swept UALR last season.
