Trojans Drop Second Straight To USA

Friday, May 15

Mobile, Ala.

6:00 PM

Troy University

South Alabama

5/16/2009 2:15:00 AM | Baseball

MOBILE, Ala. ? Troy's quest to improve it's resume for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament took another hit on Friday night as South Alabama downed the Trojans for a second straight day, winning 13-6.

With the win, the Jaguars (25-17, 13-15) secure a spot in next week's Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Troy. The Trojans fall to 31-21 overall and 17-10 in the conference, putting Troy in a virtual tie with FIU for third place in the league race, pending the outcome of the FIU game at FAU on Friday night.

The Trojans will try to salvage the final game of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. Junior right-hander Jason Walls will pitch for Troy and senior left-hander Brandon Sage will take the hill for South Alabama.

The Trojans jumped to a quick early lead on the Jaguars on Friday, scoring a run in the first and two in the second off USA starter Matt Jackson (5-3). The junior right-hander settled down for the Jaguars after the rough start and limited Troy to single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before finally being relieved in the seventh.

Jaguars closer Lance Baxter worked the final two and a third innings for USA, although not in a save situation, without allowing a hit.

While the Trojans were struggling against Jackson, the Jaguars had little trouble against the first three Troy hurlers in the game. Starter Travis Burge (5-2), who was on a strict pitch count, surrendered five runs in three innings of work to take his first Sun Belt loss of the year.

Senior Jeff Green and junior Andrew Dickinson followed Burge, and didn't fare much better. Green walked three and surrendered four runs, although they were all unearned, while retiring just one. Dickinson allowed three more runs in two-thirds of an inning, including a three-run homer from David Doss in the Jaguars' five-run fourth inning.

Junior Robby Loew finally quieted the USA bats, scattering three hits over four innings while allowing just one run.

Five different South Alabama hitters had two hits in the game as the Jaguars piled up 13 hits on the night. Troy helped the USA offense by allowing six walks and committing a season-high tying four errors.

Doss and Brandon Brown drove in four runs each for South Alabama.

Junior Ryan Ditthardt led the Trojans with four hits in the game, all singles, and drove in three. Trevor Tyre, Michael Precise and Steven Felix added two hits each for the Trojans.