Big Inning Costs Trojans in 10-4 Loss to Jags

Saturday, March 19

Riddle-Pace Field

6:00 pm

Troy University

University of South Alabama

Photo by: Edward Fieder

Big Inning Costs Trojans in 10-4 Loss to Jags

3/19/2011 8:51:41 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML POST-GAME AUDIO

Through the first two outs of the fifth inning Saturday night, the Troy Trojans seemed to have things going their way in front of a big home crowd at Riddle-Pace Field.

Troy had built a 3-1 lead over visiting South Alabama in the second game of a weekend Sun Belt Conference series and sophomore starter Ryan Sorce seemed to be settling in.

But, with two out in the fifth, the Jaguars got consecutive infield hits from Taylor White, Jake Overstreet and Nolan Earley to load the bases. USA senior catcher Brent Tanner then crushed a Sorce (2-2) offering for a grand slam, completely turning the game around.

The Jaguars scored twice more in the inning after Shane McCain came on in relief of Sorce when freshman outfielder Hayden Hillyer lost consecutive fly balls in the lights.

“A lot of things broke down tonight,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “Ryan was having trouble locating his pitches and we were having trouble finding the ball in the twilight. South Alabama came to play and compete, which we knew they would. You have to tip your cap to them. They pitched well and defended well and beat us straight up tonight.”

South Alabama improved to 10-7 overall while dropping Troy to 15-4 with the loss. Both teams are 1-1 in league play and will play to decide the series on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The six-run fifth inning gave South Alabama starter Dustin Crenshaw (3-0) a 7-3 lead, which was enough for the senior right-hander from California. Crenshaw went the distance for his first complete game, allowing four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. He threw 130 pitches in going the distance.

“It was the reverse of last night where they had some opportunities and didn't capitalize,” Pierce said. “When you are a coach and you see those runners out there and you don't push them in, you want to keep cheering them on, but you know it is going to come back and hurt you. Tonight was a night where we did get some balls off the bat, but they ended up being right at someone.”

Troy jumped on top early, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on a double by Blake Martz. Logan Pierce tripled to open the second and scored on a ground out to make it a 3-0 Troy lead before the Jags scored a single run in the third on a single by Overstreet.

South Alabama sealed the victory with three insurance runs in the ninth inning. Nolan Early doubled in two and Tanner followed with a run-scoring single.

Adam Bryant had two hits and scored twice to lead Troy while White and Overstreet had three hits each for USA and Earley, Tanner and Trey Sorrells had two hits apiece.

The Trojans will try to bounce back to win the series by sending freshman Jimmy Hodgskin (1-1, 3.00) to the mound in place of senior Drew Hull, who is nursing back problems. USA will counter with junior left-hander Brad Hook (0-1, 2.93).

“You have to be able to put this one behind you, come back tomorrow ready to compete to try to win the series,” Pierce said. “We like Jimmy and he is ready for this opportunity. He is going to have to pitch well, like anyone on Championship Sunday. We have a lot of confidence in him and our bullpen. We are just going to have to do a better job overall to give ourselves a chance to win the game tomorrow.”