Trojans Let Chances At Victory Slip Away

Wednesday, March 17

Troy, Ala.

1:00 pm

Troy University

North Florida

3/17/2010 10:00:00 PM | Baseball

The Troy University Trojans had plenty of chances to score enough runs on Wednesday afternoon to defeat North Florida and complete a two-game sweep of the Ospreys.

Unfortunately, the Trojans let far too many of those chances slip away, leaving 13 runners on base in a 10-9 loss. Troy falls to 7-8 on the year with the loss while the Ospreys improved to 9-9.

The Trojans piled up 17 hits against a trio of North Florida pitchers, falling just one shy of their season-high, but left at least one runner on base in every inning.

When the Trojans were able to score in the game, it seemed as if the Troy pitching staff immediately gave the runs back. The lead changed hands in the game five times and the Trojans were never able to build a cushion before North Florida came back.

“This game came down to big innings,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “Our pitchers allowed too many walks and opportunities, and North Florida is too good a team not to capitalize on those chances. It is tough for any team to have to come from behind in every game. We were able to comeback to win on Tuesday, but we couldn't get it done today.”

The hardest blow for the Trojans came in the seventh inning after Troy had scored three times in the sixth to take a 9-8 lead. Junior Drew Hull (0-3) came on to pitch and surrendered hits to three of the four batters he faced before being lifted.

Senior Bart Pettus came on for Troy and retired all eight hitters he faced, but the Troy offense was unable to fully solve North Florida freshman left-hander Tommy Organ, who gave up two hits and a walk in 2.1 innings to earn his second save of the year.

Pettus and fellow senior Robby Loew gave the Trojans a chance during their time on the mound. The duo combined to work five innings, allowing just one run on one hit.

“Both of those guys have had problems with tender elbows, so we have to pick and choose when we use them and how much we use them,” Pierce said. “What we need is for someone other than them to step up. We aren't asking for guys to not allow any runs, but we need someone who can get six outs without allowing a big inning.”

Freshman Kyle Finch (2-0) got the win for North Florida by working just an inning and a third in relief of starter Kyle Westwood, another freshman. Finch allowed a run on three hits after Westwood went 5.1 innings, allowing eight runs on 12 hits.

Troy got the scoring started in the first when Adam Bryant greeted Westwood with a leadoff homer to start the game. Bryant wound up with three hits in the game to snap out of a slump he had been in over the five previous games.

Blake Martz got the first of his four hits later in the inning to drive in Chase Whitley for a 2-0 lead.

Nick Ward made his first start on the mound for Troy and, after a quiet first inning, allowed four runs in the second on four hits. T.J. Thompson, who fell a triple short of hitting for the cycle, blasted a solo homer to open the scoring for UNF and then Michael Smith, who fell just a single short of the cycle, delivered a two-out, bases clearing double to give UNF a 4-2 lead.

Troy regained the lead in the second on a two-run double by Miles Hoyle and a sacrifice fly by Whitley, but UNF answered when Smith hit a three-run homer off senior left-hander Jordan Mathers in the fourth, putting the Ospreys back on top.

Troy got a single run in the fifth on a double by T.J. Rivera to score Martz, who had doubled, but UNF got that run back when Smith tripled past a diving Daniel Peterson in center to score Steve Hillan, who had walked. Troy pitchers walked five in the game, and four of those walks came home to score.

The Trojans answered the call again in the sixth, scoring three times to take a 9-8 lead. An RBI double by Whitley was followed by a two-run double by Martz to give Troy the lead before UNF struck for the final time in the seventh off Hull.

Smith, who drove in six in the game, and Thompson had three hits each to lead North Florida. Martz paced the Trojans with four hits while Bryant and Hoyle had three hits each.

The Trojans will return to play in the Sun Belt Conference on Friday when they play FIU in Miami. The games are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

“It is going to be a tough weekend because FIU is always very good, especially at their field,” Pierce said. “We started the conference season there last year and had a scratch and claw just to win one game. I am proud of the progress we have started to make offensively, but we have to put all three parts of the game together to be successful and we haven't don that yet.”