Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Western Kentucky
Trojans Let Game Slip Away Late
5/22/2009 6:00:00 AM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. ? All season the Troy Trojans have been dominant in games when holding a lead in the late innings. Thursday night in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Troy found itself with a 9-6 lead in the eighth, but the Trojans failed to hold the advantage, as Western Kentucky roared back with six runs in the inning and went on to take a 14-11 victory.
With the loss, the Trojans (33-22) fall into Friday's elimination game against ULM at 12:30 p.m. WKU (39-16) will await the winner at 7:30 p.m.
Troy's only other loss during the season when carrying a lead into the eighth came against Western Kentucky on March 20. In that game, Troy gave up four runs in the final two frames to drop a 7-4 decision. The Trojans are now 29-2 on the year when leading going to the eighth.
The loss for Troy was also just the second on the year when scoring double figures, dropping the Trojans' mark in those games to 16-2.
"At the end of the day, we played hard and gave 100 percent, we just came up a little short," Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. "WKU is a veteran team that is well coached. We had a great atmosphere tonight and it was a great baseball game between two great teams."
The Hilltoppers loaded the bases against Troy reliever Jeff Green in the eighth, and then battered Trojans closer Chris Sorce (2-1) for three hits, with the big blows coming from a pair of All-Conference performers. Wade Gaynor gave WKU the lead with a two-run double and Chad Cregar followed with a two-run homer.
Troy tried to battle back, scoring twice in the bottom of the eighth on consecutive doubles by Trevor Tyre and Daryl Otwell and an RBI single by Miles Hoyle. But the Trojans were unable to tie the game despite having two runners in scoring position with one out.
WKU added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth off reliever Robby Loew. Terrence Dayleg and Matt Payton had back-to-back singles to open the inning and both scored when Jared Andreoli singled off Jason Walls.
In the game, the Trojans left 10 runners on base, including eight that were left in scoring position, and lost despite outhitting the Hilltoppers 14-13. Bart Carter came on and slammed the door on the Trojans, getting the final six out to earn his fourth save of the year.
"We had several opportunities to stretch the lead, but we couldn't seem to get the ball in play when we needed it most," Pierce said.
Evan Teague (5-3) earned the victory for WKU. He was the fifth of seven Hilltoppers hurlers in the game.
Troy jumped on top in the first inning for a second straight day, but missed an opportunity for a big inning by leaving the bases loaded. After two were out, Tyre reached on a walk, went to third on a single by Ryan Ditthardt and scored on a single by Brett Henry. After Hoyle walked to load the bases, WKU starter Matt Ridings rallied to strike out Michael Precise to end the inning.
WKU came right back in the second inning to tie the game on a solo homer by Cregar off Troy freshman Tyler Ray.
The Hilltoppers took their first lead in the third inning thanks to a pair of extra-base hits. Jake Wells led off the inning with a double, but Ray appeared set to get out of trouble by retiring the next two hitters. He fell behind Matt Hightower with two out and delivered a fastball over the middle of the plate, and the senior didn't miss it, hitting it over the wall in straight away center for a 3-1 WKU lead.
The Trojans got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Hoyle to score Charley Williams, who opened the inning with single and advanced thanks to a pair of walks. Troy let a chance to score more runs slip away when Ridings struck out Precise for the second time in the game.
The third time was the charm for Troy in the fourth inning as the Trojans finally were able to put together a big inning off Ridings, the preseason Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year. Steven Felix and Adam Bryant opened the frame with consecutive singles and Chad Watson reached when he was hit by a pitch. Williams worked a full count before lashing a pitch to the gap in right-center for a bases clearing triple. Williams scored on a sacrifice fly by Otwell, giving Troy a 6-3 lead.
WKU closed to within one run in the sixth inning, chasing Ray in the process. After walking Cregar to open the inning, the freshman retired the next two hitters before giving up an RBI single to Payton. Tim Wheeler came on in relief and allowed a two-strike double into the right field corner before uncorking a wild pitch to score Payton. He got out of the jam by gloving a soft liner from Logan Robbins to end the inning.
Troy pushed its lead back to four in the sixth, scoring three times against three WKU hurlers. The big plays in the frame included an error by Payton, the Hilltoppers' second baseman, RBI singles by Otwell and Henry, and a bases loaded wild pitch by Teague.
Andreoli led off the seventh with a long home run to right, ending Wheeler's night, and closing the Troy lead to 9-6. Green came on and immediately walked Hightower, but retired the next three hitters, including a strikeout of Cregar, to get out of the inning.
In Thursday's other Sun Belt Tournament action, Florida Atlantic defeated Florida International 16-6 in an elimination game and advanced to face Middle Tennessee, a 5-4 loser to Louisiana-Lafayette, on Friday morning at 9 a.m.
In the day's other elimination game, Louisiana-Monroe downed South Alabama 13-8 and will play Troy-WKU at 12:30 p.m.
ULL will face the winner of the FAU-MTSU game at 4 p.m. and WKU will face the winner of the ULM-Troy game at 7:30 p.m.
