Troy Holds On For 12-9 Win Over UALR

Friday, April 17

Little Rock, Ark

6:00 PM

Troy University

UALR

4/18/2009 3:45:00 AM | Baseball

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? The last time Troy jumped out to an early nine-run lead in a Sun Belt Conference game, it resulted in a road loss at UNO. On Friday night, the Trojans held an early 10-1 lead over host UALR, but this time Troy was able to hang off, holding off their hosts for a 12-9 victory.

The win for Troy (23-13, 11-5) is the ninth straight in league play since that loss to UNO. UALR falls to 9-25 overall and 5-14 in the Sun Belt with the loss, their 17th in the last 19 games.

Troy built its early lead by roughing up UALR starting pitcher Adam Champion (1-5) for 10 total runs in 3 1/3 innings, but his defense didn't help him much with three errors that led to four unearned runs.

With a seemingly comfortable lead, Troy freshman Tyler Ray (5-2) struggled. After allowing just one unearned run through the first three inning, the Hoover native gave up five in the fourth and was in trouble again in the sixth when he left the game.

In all, Ray gave up seven earned runs on 11 hits in the game.

“You have to tip your cap to Little Rock for not giving up,” Troy coach Bobby Pierce said. “They have not had a lot of success of late, but they battled hard all night, and on every pitch. It was a tough, hard-fought game. We were able to score some runs early, and we needed every one of them.”

After UALR had closed to within 10-6, Troy pushed its lead back to six runs on a two-run single by Adam Bryant in the sixth. The sophomore continued his torrid hitting of late, driving in five or Troy's runs in the game from the ninth spot in the batting order.

UALR answered right back in the home half of the inning, getting a pair of hits to chase Ray. Jeff Green came on and struck out Nate Brown for the second out, but he made a mistake on a 1-2 changeup to Tyson Parks, who blasted a three-run homer, cutting the Troy lead to 12-9.

“The bull pen was good again for us tonight, with the exception of that one pitch,” Pierce said. “Those things happen when you don't know a lot about a hitter, and Jeff left that changeup over the plate.”

From there, Green and junior Chris Sorce slammed the door on UALR. Green struck out four in his 2 1/3 innings before walking a pair with two out in the eighth. Sorce came on to face Parks as the potential tying run and struck him out, one of three he recorded in earning his fourth save.

Despite the 12 runs, the Trojans left runners on base in seven of nine innings, stranding 13 in the game. Twice Troy loaded the bases with one out, but managed just three runs in those situations, leaving the bases loaded in both innings.

“I don't think that our teams was prepared for their relentless intensity early on, but we jumped in there early and I was proud of that,” Pierce said. “We left a lot of runners on base, but they were able to make some quality pitches in crucial situations.”

Besides Bryant, who had three hits in the game, senior Charley Williams have three hits and scored four runs while Brett Henry, Trevor Tyre and Steven Felix had two hits each.

Matt Apfel led UALR with three hits, including a home run, while Parks had two hits and drove in four runs.

The two teams are scheduled to play game two on Saturday evening, weather permitting. The forecast calls for a 100 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms in the Little Rock area all day on Saturday. If the game is not played on Saturday, the teams would play a double-header on Sunday.