Trojans Rally Past High Point to Complete Weekend Sweep

Sunday, February 20

Riddle-Pace Field

1:00 pm

Troy University

High Point University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

Trojans Rally Past High Point to Complete Weekend Sweep

2/20/2011 5:18:52 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML

After the first three games of the 2011 season, Troy sophomore first baseman Logan Pierce was still looking for his first hit as a member of his father's team.

With the pressure building on Sunday, Pierce delivered a second inning single to break the ice, but it was his two-out, two-run double in the fifth inning that proved to be the difference as the Trojans battled back from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-3 victory over High Point in the series finale.

Troy improved to 4-0 on the young season while High Point fell to 0-4.

“That was a big hit for Logan,” Trojans head coach Bobby Pierce said. “The single early in the game relaxed him a little and took the pressure off. The double was a good piece of hitting to drive in the go-ahead runs.”

Freshman Jimmy Hodgskin struggled in his first start for Troy, allowing four consecutive hits in the first inning to give the visiting Panthers a 3-0. High Point scored in the first inning of all four games in the series, but scored in just three other frames over the weekend.

“I think they (High Point) will get better as the season goes along,” Pierce said. “They were a little short of pitching this weekend because of some injuries, but they competed well and have some good hitters.”

Steve Antolik got the Panthers on the board when his single in the first scored Ryan Retz. After Kyle Mahoney reached on a wind-blown double that fell between Tyson Workman in right and T.J. Rivera at second, Zach Tessier drove in two runs when he hit a ground ball through a vacated shortstop position as Adam Bryant broke to cover second on a planned pickoff throw.

“We played pretty good defense all weekend, except in that first inning, and that cost us three runs,” Pierce said. “We have to communicate better on that fly ball, and we caught a bad break on the grounder. It was too bad for Jimmy, because I thought he pitched pretty well.”

Hodgskin worked four innings in his debut, allowing the three runs, two earned, on five hits. He walked four and struck out five.

Senior Nick Ward (1-0) worked 1.1 innings and was the beneficiary when Pierce delivered his go-ahead double. Junior left-hander Garrett McHenry worked the final 3.2 innings, allowing just a walk, which was erased on a double play. He earned his first save with the performance.

The Trojans started their road back in the first inning, scoring twice against High Point starter Steve Schils. One run scored on a single by Rivera when leftfielder Spencer Andrews misplayed the ball, allowing Adam Bryant to score. Boone Shear followed with a sacrifice fly to score Tyson Workman.

Troy missed out on a chance to score more when Tyler Hannah grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. Troy loaded the bases again in the second, chasing Schils, but Drew Dades (0-1) slammed the door. The Trojans got runners into scoring position in the third and fourth innings, but it was not until Hannah's single in the fifth to score Rivera with the tying run.

The Troy defense preserved the lead by turning tough double plays to end Panthers' threats in the fifth and seventh innings. Rivera also turned in a spectacular play deep behind first base to end the sixth.

“I am very pleased with our defense,” Pierce said. “I thought coming into the season that we would have a very good fielding team. The play that T.J. made was a SportsCenter Play of the Day, Tyler made a big play to start a double play in the fifth and the 3-6-3 is a much tougher play than it looks and Logan did a good job on it.”

Every Troy starter had at least one hit in the game. Workman, Rivera and Pierce had two hits each. Over the series, 13 different Troy players produced at least one hit and 12 different players scored at least one run.

High Point had just six hits in the game, two by Antolik who finished the weekend with eight hits and a .615 batting average.

The Trojans will be back in action next weekend with a three-game series against Southern Miss at Riddle-Pace Field. The Golden Eagles completed a season-opening three-game sweep of Eastern Illinois this weekend and are scheduled to host ULM and Alcorn State in mid-week games before their trip to Troy.

“Their Friday night pitcher is one of the best in the country,” Pierce said of Southern Miss. “They always play well against us. It has probably been since the 2006 NCAA Regional that we have had any success against them. We will have to do everything well in order to have a chance to win that series.”

The series against USM will open on Friday at 6 p.m. Game times for Saturday and Sunday is set for 1 p.m.