Missed Chances Cost Trojans In Loss To Samford

Tuesday, February 23

Troy, Ala.

6:00 pm

Troy University

Samford

Missed Chances Cost Trojans In Loss To Samford

2/24/2010 3:00:00 AM | Baseball

The Troy Trojans had plenty of opportunities to put runs on the board Tuesday night at Riddle-Pace Field, but it was the visiting Samford Bulldogs who took better advantage of their chances, taking a 9-7 victory over Troy.

The loss for Troy (3-1) snapped a 12-game home win streak over Samford (3-2) that dates back to the 2002 season and prevented Trojans coach Bobby Pierce for recording his 225th victory at Troy.

“We knew Samford would come in here and play hard, and we knew they have a much better team than they had last year,” Pierce said. “They just flat out-played us tonight.

“We had plenty of chances to take the lead, but we had some bad at bats late in the game and their left-hander at the end was very good. We helped him out by swinging at some pitches that were out of the strike zone.”

Troy actually did rally once to take a lead in the game. After Trojans starter Drew Hull (0-1) gave up a single run in the first, Troy tied the game on an RBI single from Steven Rosado in the second and then took the lead with back-to-back two-out hits from Ryan Ditthardt and Chase Whitley in the third.

Hull got into trouble again in the fifth and lost the lead on a an unusual play that cost the Trojans their centerfielder. With the bases loaded, Hull left a fastball over the plate to Samford's Stephen Ballard, who blasted to pitch deep to center. Troy's Chad Watson gave chase, but ran out of room and crashed into the wall, leaving the ball on the ground at his feet.

While Rosado and Miles Hoyle raced to retrieve the ball, Ballard rounded the bases for an inside-the-park grand slam to give Samford a 5-3 lead.

Watson had to leave the game after the play, but was OK by the end of the game and is not expected to miss any playing time.

Troy try to battle back, scoring a single run in the fifth, but leading the bases loaded. Samford pushed the lead back to 7-4 on a two-run triple from Wayne Miller in the sixth, but Troy answered in the home half of the inning with a two-run homer from Adam Bryant.

Samford got solo homers from David Schulze in the seventh and Trey Hayes in the ninth and the Trojans got a solo shot from Steven Felix in the eighth, but Troy again missed out on a golden scoring chance when Blake Martz grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.

Samford freshman left-hander Lex Rutledge, the last of six Bulldogs pitchers in the game, struck out the Trojans in order in the ninth to record his first save. Senior Clint Jones (1-0) got the win with two-thirds of an inning in relief of starter Josh Martin.

“We left far too many runners on base, and getting those guys in is how you win a game like this,” Pierce said. “It was a good, well-played game all around, but we have to take advantage of those opportunities.”

The Trojans had just nine hits in the game, but left 11 runners on base thanks to eight walks and two players hit by pitches. Bryant and Whitley had two hits each to lead Troy.

Miller led Samford with four hits while Ballard had three hits and drove in five.

The Trojans will be back in action on Friday afternoon when they take on 16th ranked Arkansas in Fayetteville. The first game of the weekend series is scheduled for 3 p.m., weather permitting.