Whitley Slams Door as Troy Completes Sweep

Sunday, April 25

New Orleans, La.

1:00 pm

Troy University

New Orleans

Whitley Slams Door as Troy Completes Sweep

4/25/2010 9:10:00 PM | Baseball

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Troy Trojans were able to complete a weekend Sun Belt Conference sweep of New Orleans on Sunday with a 10-8 victory, but it took a Herculeon effort on the part of Troy close Chase Whitley to get the victory.

Whitley had three hits and drove in three runs in the game, but also came out of the bullpen in the fifth inning and threw up five no-hit innings against the Privateers to get the win. Whitley (3-2) struck out a career-high nine and allowed just two base-runners – one on a walk and the other on an error.

“We took a quick lead, which is what we needed to do, but then they had the big third,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “The big inning seems to bite us once a weekend. At that point, I didn't like the way the game was going.”

UNO scored five runs in the third off Troy starter Drew Hull and added three more in the fourth off Robby Loew to take an 8-6 lead over Troy. With the Trojans (21-19, 8-10) struggling to produce runs despite producing 17 hits, Pierce turned to Whitley to save the day.

“We had to go to our closer earlier and earlier, and he was the MVP of the weekend,” Pierce said. “He pitched great and swung the bat well. Probably the only chance we had to win this game was to get Whitley into the game.”

After Whitley slammed the door on the Privateers (10-29, 2-19), the Trojans were able to scratch across singled runs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. It was Whitley himself who drove in the runs in the fifth and seventh to tie the game. The go-ahead run scored on a passed ball before Whitley delivered an RBI single in the ninth for an insurance run.

UNO's third pitcher of the day, Tyler Sanders (1-1) took the loss for the Privateers, who have lost nine straight overall.

Besides Whitley's two-hit, three-RBI game, Troy got four hits from Adam Bryant and three each from Todd McCrae and Chad Watson. The problem for Troy was not getting runners on base, it was getting them in. The Trojans left 15 runners on base in the game, including at least one in eight innings.

UNO had just eight hits in the game, two by Tyler Sanford.

The Trojans will now have a week off to prepare for both final exams and a visit from Western Kentucky next weekend. After getting off to a fast start in the league, the Hilltoppers have slipped to 11-7 in league play and are in the middle of the league race.

“We have the week off due to finals and we have several guys who are nicked up,” Pierce said. “It is not a buy week in terms of games, but a busy week in terms of things that need to get done.”