MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The Trojans and Alabama will face each other outside of Tuscaloosa for the first time since 1998 as they square off in Montgomery's Riverwalk Stadium tonight at 6:00.
“This is a big game for us to play Alabama,” coach Bobby Pierce said. “We're just looking forward to playing in a great ballpark in Montgomery. For us, it's another couple of big games where we need to play well.”
The Trojans have gotten off to an 8-1 start powered by strong pitching and defense. Troy scored eight runs in the fifth and sixth innings in a 10-6 win over Kennesaw State Sunday in a game where Pierce hopes his bats have come to life.
Troy is batting just .265 as a team but has a very low 2.11 team ERA. They have committed only nine fielding errors in nine games. Pierce will send junior right hander Mike Powers to the mound and the University of Maine transfer has surrendered just four hits and no runs in six innings of work. He gave up a hit in one inning against Rhode Island on Feb. 23 and three hits in five innings as a starter against Kennesaw State on Feb. 26.
“I feel good about the chemistry of this team,” Pierce said. “What we want to do is warm up the bats. We got that started Sunday against what I would call quality pitching.”
Pierce was a star outfielder for the Crimson Tide in the early 1980s and an assistant coach at Alabama in the early 1990s, will be facing his alma mater for the fifth time. He won midweek games in 2006 and 2007 and lost both postseason meetings in 2006.
