Bryant?s Big Night Sparks Troy Victory

Wednesday, April 8

Birmingham, Ala.

6:00 PM

Troy University

Samford

4/9/2009 2:45:00 AM | Baseball

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? Throughout the 2009 season, sophomore Adam Bryant has been trying to hit his way out of a slump that has left his batting average below .200 all year.

Consider that slump over.

Bryant, a sophomore infielder known more for his glove than his bat, blasted three home runs and drove in six to key the Troy Trojans to a 17-11 victory over Samford. It was the first three homer game for a Trojans since May of 2006 when Josh Dew blasted three against UALR.

“What a great night for Adam to break out of his slump,” Trojans head coach Bobby Pierce said. “With Bart Pettus not on the bus, he really stepped up. He has been in such a slump all year where he has not been seeing the ball well, but he has continued to work hard.”

Bryant, who had just three homers all year last year, came into Wednesday's game with a .143 average and just one extra-base hit and one RBI.

“Hopefully, Adam can continue to swing the bat the way he did tonight,” Pierce said. “Obviously we don't expect him to hit three homers every night, but he can be a guy who will get a lot of hits, drive in some runs and spark this offense.”

With the win, Troy improves to 19-13 on the year while dropping Samford to 11-21.

It took all of Bryant's heroics to get the win for Troy. Samford battled from behind all night and pushed the Trojans to the final out. After building a 7-1 lead, Troy saw Samford rally to take an 8-7 lead. The Trojans answered, however, by scoring 10 runs over the final three innings to put the game away.

Troy got on the board first in the game when Miles Hoyle launched a three-run homer down the line in left in the second inning off Samford starter Kyle Putkonen. A Brett Henry double and a walk to J.R. Myers set the stage for Hoyle's shot.

Samford got a run back in the home half of the second when Bo Smith led off with a double, advanced to third on a balk by Troy starter Andrew Dickinson and then scored on a wild pitch.

The Trojans added two more runs in the third inning when Ryan Ditthardt lined a single up the middle to plate Chad Watson, who had singled, and Steven Felix, who had walked.

Troy pushed its lead to 7-1 in the fourth inning when Bryant hit a two-out, two-run homer, his first of the night.

Samford started to chip away at the Troy lead in the fourth, scoring two runs on a homer by Bo Smith. The Bulldogs picked up another run in the fifth when Smith singled to left to plate Mason Meredeth, who reached when he was hit by a Drew Hull pitch.

The Bulldogs battled all the way back to take the lead in the sixth inning, scoring four runs off relievers Hull and Fred Lewis with the help of an error and a passed ball. Samford got RBI singles in the inning from Stephen Ballard and Meredeth and a two-run single from Smith that give Samford an 8-7 lead.

That lead lasted only as long as it took Bryant to crack his second homer of the game to lead off the seventh, tying the game at 8-8.

After Putkonen was finally lifted from the game to start the eighth inning, the Trojans opened up the offensive attack. The freshman allowed eight earned runs in seven innings, but allowed just seven hits.

Senior David Knapp (3-2) was the first of four relievers to follow Putkonen and gave up three runs in a third of an inning. Charley Williams put the Trojans in front for good with a long pinch-hit homer as the Trojans hit for the cycle against Samford in the eighth.

Following Williams' homer, Myers doubled and Hoyle singled before Bryant delivered an RBI hit to right. Chad Watson followed with a two-run triple and then scored on a single by Felix for a 13-8 Troy lead.

Samford plated three runs in the bottom of the inning off Troy senior Josh Storm (1-0) despite not hitting the ball out of the infield until a two-run bloop single to right by Austin Allison, which came off junior Chris Sorce, who earned his second save of the year.

Troy put the game away in the ninth, scoring four times, two on a single by Daniel Peterson and two more on Bryant's third homer of the night. All four runs came off Samford senior left-hander Kyle Nichols, the Bulldogs' closer.

Besides Bryant, Troy got three hits and three RBI from Hoyle and two hits each from Watson and Henry. Ballard led Samford with five hits in the game, while Smith had four hits and drove in six runs.

The Trojans will return to Riddle-Pace Field on Friday night when they open a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against Florida Atlantic. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

“FAU has a very good team and this is a big series for us,” Pierce said. “They are right behind us in the Sun Belt standings and we will need all the support we can get from our fans. This team is still trying to find its way, and having some big and noisy crowds this weekend will help a lot.”