Ray and Ditthardt Lead Trojans Past ULM

Saturday, May 8

Monroe, La.

4:00 pm

Troy University

ULM

5/9/2010 1:00:00 AM | Baseball

MONROE, La. – For 12 innings to start the weekend series at Warhawk Field, ULM pitchers kept Troy hitters off balance and off the scoreboard.

Sophomore Tyler Ray knew his job on Saturday was to put zeros on the scoreboard until his teammates were finally able to breakthrough. He did that, and then some, as the Trojans rolled to a 13-3 victory over ULM to even the weekend series at a game each.

The Trojans improved to 25-21 overall and 11-12 in Sun Belt play with the victory while ULM falls to 17-30 overall and, more importantly, 7-16 in league play, four games behind Troy for the eighth, and final, berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Ray (6-3) pitched seven strong innings for the Trojans on Saturday, allowing just one unearned run on six hits.

“It got going with Tyler Ray on the mound because he kept them at zeros until the big fourth inning when we were able to score five,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “Tyler threw a pretty good game. His intent was very good, his focus was very good and he came out very aggressively. I liked what I saw out of Tyler and I thought that got the day started off well for us.”

Senior first baseman Ryan Ditthardt got the Trojans going offensively, posting five hits in the game including three doubles and a home run. It was his fourth inning double that plated the first run of the weekend for Troy and opened the first of two five-run innings for the Trojans.

“We had some decent at bats early in the game, but we were not able to get much from it,” Pierce said. “We were finally able to break through and score some runs in the fourth, but I especially liked the way we kept adding to that. We had some other opportunities that we didn't quite what we needed to out of, I know we left the bases loaded in one inning, but we came back with five more in the eighth to ice the game.”

Ditthardt posted the first five-hit game of his Troy career and just the second of the season for the Trojans. Steven Felix had a five hit outing against Brown earlier in the year, and Ditthardt blamed his teammate for his failure to get a sixth hit.

“He came and rubbed on me before that last at bat and took some of my mojo,” Ditthardt said.

It was the second big offensive game of the week for the senior, who also had three hits, including a double and homer, and drove in four runs on Wednesday against Jacksonville State.

“ Ryan Ditthardt had a great game and he is the kind of guy that, when he gets going, he can carry a team,” Pierce said. “It looks like he might be getting going. As with most hitters, it all comes down to the length of his swing. Right now Ryan is real short to the ball and he is squaring everything up. When you add a good hitter into those combination of things, then you see a guy have a day like Ryan had today.”

Junior catcher Todd McRae also had a big game at the plate after being held hitless in the opener on Friday. He had three hits on the afternoon and drove in four runs, including three on a bases loaded double in the eighth inning.

“Todd is the ultimate guy to coach,” Pierce said. “He gets every ounce of everything he has in whatever he is doing. He is a student of the game and listens to everything we say. They brought a guy in trying to get a double play ball and Todd didn't allow that to happen by getting to the ball out in front with a short, compact, swing, and got it into the gap to drive in three runs. That was pretty much the back-breaker in the game.”

Chad Watson followed McRae's double with a two-run homer to account for the final runs for Troy.

ULM, which scored an unearned run in the fourth inning when Kelvin York got caught too far off second base. McRae made a throw behind the ULM outfielder, who made a break for third. Adam Bryant tried to make a hurried throw to third to get York, but was wild, allowing the first ULM run.

It was just the third error of the year for Bryant who, earlier in the day, was named as one of 30 quarterfinalists for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award.

Shane Ardoin accounted for ULM's other runs in the ninth inning with a two-run homer off senior Bart Pettus, who was making his first game appearance in more than six weeks because of back problems.

In addition to Ditthardt and McRae, the Trojans got two hits each from Bryant, Felix, Watson and Shohei Fujita. The Trojans got 11 of their 17 hits in the game off ULM starter James Jones (3-6), who worked 6.1 innings, allowing eight runs, six earned.

York and Judd Edwards had two hits each for the Warhawks, who managed just seven hits in the game.

The Trojans will try to take the series on Sunday when the teams meeting in the rubber game at 1 p.m. A victory for Troy would virtually assure the Trojans of a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament while all but eliminating ULM. Troy would own a five game lead over the Warhawks with six games to play and would own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

“It will be a dogfight,” Pierce said. “The series will be on the line and even more. We are going to have to come out and play a great game to get out of here with a series win.”

Junior right-hander Drew Hull (2-5, 7.48) will start the game on the mound for Troy and will be opposed by ULM junior right-hander Jordy Poche (3-4, 7.60). The Trojans will also have the Sun Belt's ERA leader, junior Chase Whitley (5-2, 2.02) fully rested and available to pitch for as long as he is needed.