Trojans Drop Opener to Kentucky 8-3

Friday, February 20

Myrtle Beach, SC

1:00 pm

Troy University

Kentucky

2/20/2009 6:00:00 AM | Baseball

MYRTLE BEACH, SC ? The Troy University baseball team, loaded with fresh-faced players for the 2009 season, opened with a less than sparkling performance against Kentucky on the first day of the Caravelle Resort Invitational on Friday.

The Trojans fell to the 19th-ranked Wildcats 8-3 thanks in great measure by mistakes and tentative play throughout. Troy will have a chance to get in the win column on Saturday when the Trojans face both Southern Illinois and James Madison in a double-header at BB&T Coastal Field.

“We played like it was out first game,” Troy coach Bobby Pierce said of the performance. “We were a little tight. Kentucky was a looser team, which comes from them having a more veteran squad.

“The damage against us was largely self-inflicted but, between the mistakes, there were some good things and some things we can build on.”

Early on, the biggest problem was that junior right-hander Jason Walls (0-1) had a hard time finding the strike zone on a consistent basis. The Valley, Ala., native walked five in three innings of work while also allowing five hits and striking out just two.

“Walls didn't throw nearly as well today as he had in the preseason,” Pierce said. “We walked too many guys and errors really hurt us, but you have to be able to pitch around those things.”

That was not the case for the Wildcats' junior left-hander, James Paxton (1-0). The native of British Columbia worked into the sixth innings, allowing just two runs on six hits. He did not walk anyone and struck out six despite barely avoiding two line shots up the middle, and not avoiding a third.

Troy senior Michael Precise hit a line shot off Paxton in the fourth inning that appeared, at the moment, to have hit the Wildcats' hurler in the face. Fortunately, Paxton was able to get his face out of the way and took only a glancing shot off the right collar bone. Unfortunately for Precise, the shot ricocheted to third baseman Chris McLendon, whose throw nipped Precise at first.

Such was the way things went for the Trojans, whose hard hit balls found Wildcat gloves most of the day, while Kentucky piled up bloop hit after bloop hit to convert walks and errors into runs.

The only truly hard-hit ball of the day for Kentucky was a second inning home run to right by eighth place hitter Spencer Korus, who drove in three runs in the game, including two on a fourth inning single through the infield with the bases loaded.

In fact, it was the bottom third of the UK batting order that accounted for six RBI in the game, with nine-hole hitter Chris Bisson picking up two with a bases-loaded single in the third, and seven-hole hitter Bryan Rose plating one with a bases-loaded walk that same inning.

Junior left-hander Fred Lewis made his return to the mound for Troy two years after Tommy John surgery, and had a solid performance in relief. He gave up three in the fourth, his first inning, thanks in part by an error at short by Shohei Fujita and a passed ball by Steven Felix, but settled down to blank Kentucky over the next three innings, giving Troy a chance to get back into the game.

The Trojans finally plated a run off Paxton in the fifth, thanks to a one-out triple from junior J.R. Myers and a sacrifice fly from Felix. Troy chased the Kentucky starter in the sixth, plating another run and threatening to score more.

Steven Rosado led off the inning with a double to left. After moving up on a ground out, he scored on a swinging bunt by Precise that the senior beat to first. Ryan Ditthardt, who was the only Trojan with two hits in the game, singled to chase Paxton, but junior right-hander Nick Kennedy came on to strike out Myers to end the inning.

Kennedy, a side-winder from Los Angeles, worked 3.1 strong innings of relief for Kentucky to earn a save. He allowed just one run on one hit and struck out four to close out the game.

Kennedy's only hurdle came in the eighth when Troy loaded the bases with one out on a walk, a hit batter and a single by Daryl Otwell. After Ditthardt delivered a sacrifice fly to score Rosado, Kennedy got Charley Williams to ground out sharply to second to end the threat.

Senior J.J. Whetsel, another Trojan pitcher coming back from Tommy John surgery, gave up an unearned run in his one inning of work to finish the game for Troy.

“Freddy pitched well in his first game back from Tommy John and gave us a chance to come back by holding Kentucky scoreless for three innings,” Pierce said.

The Trojans will be back in action at BB&T Coastal Field, the home of the Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans, on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. against Southern Illinois. The Salukis earned a victory in their first game on Friday, downing James Madison 21-4. Troy will face JMU in its second game Saturday, immediately following the SIU game.