Troy University Athletics
Troy University
South Alabama
Burge Powers Trojans Past USA In 10-4 Victory
5/21/2009 4:00:00 AM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. ? When Troy senior left-hander Travis Burge faced South Alabama last week in Mobile, he lasted just three innings and allowed five runs in his only Sun Belt loss of the year.
Burge (6-2) fared much better on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, working into the seventh inning in leading the Trojans to a 10-4 victory over the Jaguars.
Troy improved to 33-21 on the year with the win while dropping the Jaguars to 25-29.
"Travis didn't have his best stuff early in the game, but he settled in and made quality pitches all night," Troy coach Bobby Pierce said. "He really got his two-seam going when he needed it. He can get outs with it early and outs with it late, but he has to be able to throw it for strikes."
Burge held the Jaguars to just four runs on eight hits in the game, and retired 12 straight South Alabama hitters at one point.
"That was the best I have seen Travis pitch in a long time," senior Trevor Tyre, who had two hits and drove in three runs in the game, said. "It was good to see him pitch like that in what may have been his last start here at home."
The Jaguars got on the board in the first against Burge. Clint Reynolds grounded the first pitch of the night on a high-hopper to second base and just beat Tyre's throw to first. Reynolds stole second on the next pitch, advanced to third on a fly ball to right and scores on Zach Grichor's sacrifice fly to right.
The Trojans answered quickly in the bottom of the first, batting around and scoring four times to chase South Alabama starter Miles Ethridge (4-4). After a controversial out call at first on a grounder by Chad Watson to open the inning, Charley Williams and Tyre delivered back-to-back doubles to tie the game.
After Ryan Ditthardt reached on an infield single, senior Brett Henry launched a three-run homer over the 27-foot high wall in right for a 4-1 Troy lead. It was Henry's seventh homer of the season.
"It was great to start the game with four runs in the first inning," Pierce said. "We had a lot of timely hits in the game, we had runners on base all night, and we advantage enough to build a solid lead."
South Alabama got two of the runs back in the second when Brandon Brown delivered a two-out double to left center, scoring Jake Overstreet and Nathaniel Lami, who reached on a fielder's choice and walk, respectively.
After failing to score in the second inning, the Trojans dodged a couple of bullets in the third. After Adam Heisler opened the inning with a single, Burge and Grichor had a long battled that ended on the ninth pitch when Grichor swung through a Burge breaking pitch. Heisler was running on the pitch and was thrown out by Steven Felix to complete a double play. After a single by David Doss, Burge got out of the inning when Ryan Bohannan flew out to deep center.
Troy added a run in the fourth, but let a golden opportunity get away. The Trojans loaded the bases on a single by Adam Bryant and a double by Watson that ricocheted off reliever Greg Johnson into shallow left. The Jaguars walked Williams intentionally to load the bases before Johnson hit Tyre to force in a run. Ditthardt followed with a hard ground ball to third that Overstreet turned into an inning-ending double play.
The Trojans continued to increase their lead in the fifth when Michael Precise scored all the way from first on a double into the left field corner by Felix.
Troy pushed its lead to 9-3 in the sixth, scoring three times to chase Johnson from the game. Watson led off the inning with an infield single and then stole second. After Williams grounded out, Tyre doubled down the third base line and Ditthardt followed with a triple to deep center and then scored on a ground out by Henry.
The Jaguars finally broke through against Burge in the seventh inning, posting three straight hits to score a run and chase the senior after he had retired 12 straight South Alabama hitters. Lami broke the streak with a single and then scored on a double by Brown. Reynolds followed with an infield single to end Burge's night.
Junior Tim Wheeler came on in relief and put down the Jaguars rally by getting a ground ball to short. Burge finished the night allowing four runs on eight hits over six and two-thirds innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Troy got that run back in the bottom of the inning on a double to deep center by Bryant, scoring Precise, who singled and moved up on a balk.
Wheeler combined with junior Robbie Loew to finish the game for Troy. Loew struck out the final two Jaguars to finish the win.
Watson, Tyre, Ditthardt, Hoyle and Bryant had two hits each for Troy. Reynolds and Brown had two hits each to lead South Alabama.
Other games on the opening day of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament included an 11-3 victory by fifth seeded Louisiana-Lafayette over fourth seed FIU, a 12-2 win by No. 1 seed Middle Tennessee over eighth seed Florida Atlantic, and a 14-4 victory by second seeded Western Kentucky over ULM.
Thursday's schedule in the tournament will open with a pair of elimination games. FIU will play FAU at 9 a.m. followed by ULM against South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. ULL will play Middle Tennessee in a winners bracket game at 4 p.m. followed by Western Kentucky against Troy at 7:30 p.m.
