Troy Stays Hot, Downs UALR 6-3

Friday, April 2

Troy, Ala.

6:00 pm

Troy University

Arkansas-Little Rock

4/3/2010 2:00:00 AM | Baseball

Troy senior outfielder Steven Felix opened his final season in the doghouse and in a slump. The slump is over now and Felix is living the high life.

The Panama City native blasted a solo homer in the seventh inning to give the Trojans, who trailed visiting UALR 3-0 through five innings, a 4-3 lead. Troy went on to take a 6-3 victory to run its win streak to six games and improve to 14-11overall and 3-4 in Sun Belt play.

UALR dropped its third straight game and fell to 16-12 overall and 3-7 in league play.

The teams will play the second game of their weekend series on Saturday at 3 p.m. That game will be televised by CSS and Cox Sports Television throughout the southeast.

The blast by Felix was his third homer of the week and was one of his three hits in the game. Ryan Ditthardt followed the Felix homer with a double and came in to score an insurance run when Wednesday night's hero, Shohei Fujita, delivered a two-out single.

“I am proud of Steven Felix because through the first part of the season he wasn't on, but he never quits and he never loses his confidence,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “There is a lot to be said for that. Now things are going in his direction and he is on a tear. I think we have a couple of kids who are starting to get on track a little.”

Troy junior closer Chase Whitley (2-1) came on in the seventh inning and slammed the door on UALR for his second victory of the week. Whitley did not allow a hit and struck out four in 2.2 innings of work.

Trojans starter Andrew Dickinson gave a solid performance despite giving up three runs in the first two innings. After allowing a two-run single to Tyler Cameron in the second, Dickinson retired 14 of the next 15 UALR hitters he faced before allowing a one-out triple to Tim Emmons in the seventh.

“Andrew started slow, but he turned it around,” Pierce said. “He made a mental and physical adjustment that allowed him to put some zeros up and let us get back in the game. He is not the kind of guy who can get the ball up and get away with it. When he is at, or below the knees he gets a lot of chop ground balls. He made an adjustment and got into a groove.”

UALR starter Adam Champion (3-2) kept the Trojans off balance through the first five innings before Troy opened the sixth inning with three straight hits. Felix led off with a single and then scored on a double by T.J. Rivera. Ditthardt followed with an RBI double and then scored the tying run on a bases loaded wild pitch.

“I was very proud because we broke through for the same reason we won the Auburn game, a lot of want to,” Pierce said. “Watching Champion throw, I felt like we gave him too much credit, but he was effective early.”

In addition to the three hits from Felix, who is batting .667 (10-for-15) in three games this week with three homers and six RBI, Troy got two hits each from Ditthardt, Whitley and junior catcher Todd McRae.

“I started off slow, like I always do, but I always seem to start seeing the ball better in the middle of the season,” Felix said. “Hopefully, I can keep it going for the rest of the year.”