Troy University Athletics
Trojans to Face Host Raiders In Opener
5/25/2010 1:00:00 AM | Baseball
After being a bubble team to even make the Sun Belt Tournament, the Trojans will hit the field in Murfreesboro on Wednesday night against the host Blue Raiders as the 6th seed.
Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Reese Smith Field but, with three games scheduled in advance of the Troy-MTSU game, there is a good chance the game will start later than scheduled.
The tourney promises to be the most wide-open since Troy joined the league, with six of the teams finishing within one game of each other in the final standings.
The tournament will get started at 9 a.m. on Wednesday with fourth-seeded FIU takes on fifth seed South Alabama. The top-seeded Owls of Florida Atlantic will face Western Kentucky, the No. 8 seed, at 12:30 p.m.
Second seeded Louisiana-Lafayette will face No. 7 seed Arkansas State at 4 p.m.
Troy enters the tournament on a wave of momentum. The Trojans have won 14 of their last 18 games overall and have won their last five Sun Belt series. The last team to beat Troy in a league series was Middle Tennessee, which took two of three from the Trojans in mid-April in Troy.
The first round matchup for Troy will feature a pitching rematch from the opening game of that series. Trojans senior Andrew Dickinson, who is coming off his second Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week award, won his first league weekly honor after shutting down the Blue Raiders in a complete game win.
For the season, Dickinson has a 6-5 record and a 4.30 ERA in 15 games, 14 of which were starts.
MTSU dropped a pair of games to WKU to close the season, but the Blue Raiders have won nine straight at home and 12 of their last 14 on their home field. The Trojans will face senior LH Kenneth Roberts (4-5, 4.88) in the tournament opener. Roberts was on the
losing end of a 10-1 Troy victory against Dickinson on April 16.
Despite the recent hot stretch for Troy, the Trojans do have questions going into the tournament. All-Conference shortstop Adam Bryant reaggravated a shoulder injury during the regular season finale at South Alabama. All indications are that he will be ready to play in the tournament, but his shoulder is a concern.
The Pensacola native is a candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award and is one of the best defensive shortstops in the nation with just three errors. He is also among national leaders with fi ve leadoff homers, and is near the top of the Sun Belt in slugging (1st), runs (3rd), RBI (4th), doubles (11th), triples (2nd), homers (2nd) and total bases (1st). He also enters the SBC Tourney ranked 14th in batting average.
With 19 home runs so far this year, Bryant is tied for fifth on the Troy single-season list for homers, joining Dave Banks (1984) and Joel Smith (1990). Bryant is just one homer shy of becomming the fourth player in school history to hit 20 in a season.
Bryant closed the season with a 14-game hitting streak, which is the longest of the year for any Troy player.
Two other Trojan regulars are battling nagging injuries. Senior outfielder Chad Watson has been bothered with foot pain all year and had to come out of the game on Saturday because of it.
Junior infielder T.J. Rivera suffered a strained back early last week and has seen only limited duty since.
One member of the Troy pitching staff, junior Nick Ward, has been held out of action for the last 10 days while nursing a sore elbow.
While there are some Trojans who are hurting, there are others who appear to be getting hot at the right time.
Junior Chase Whitley is coming off one of his best offensive weeks of the year. He blasted three homers among four extra-base hits last week and drove in nine while posting a .389 average and a .944 slugging percentage.
A three-time All-Conference pick, Whitley continues to dominate on the mound, leading the Sun Belt in earned run average, batting average against and strikeouts per nine innings.
Senior J.R. Myers, who has been filling in for Rivera at third base, is batting .375 over the last six games with a homer and six RBI. Another senior, outfielder Miles Hoyle, has hit safely in 14 of his last 18 games with a .328 average. He had two homers and drove in a team season-high seven runs in last Thursday's 17-0 victory at South Alabama.
