Trojans Deliver Late To Take 6-1 Series Clincher from USA

Sunday, March 20

Riddle-Pace Field

1:00 pm

Troy University

University of South Alabama

Photo by: Edward Fieder

Trojans Deliver Late To Take 6-1 Series Clincher from USA

3/20/2011 4:10:51 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML POST-GAME AUDIO

Two crucial situations in the seventh inning spelled the difference in the final game of a weekend Sun Belt Conference series between Troy and South Alabama at Riddle-Pace Field.

South Alabama (10-8, 1-2) failed to get the big hit in their half while Troy (16-4, 2-1) delivered and went on to take a 6-1 victory over the Jaguars.

“It was a hard-fought game, and they normally are on Sunday,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “That is how you become a championship team, by winning these games on Sundays.”

In the top half of the 7th inning, the Jaguars loaded the bases with one out against Troy starting pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin. The Trojans turned to junior left-hander Garrett McHenry (1-0) to face USA's top hitter, Jake Overstreet.

McHenry delivered, getting Overstreet to chase a pitch out of the strike zone for the second out and then getting a pop up to get out of the inning.

“They made a late change to Overstreet, who didn't start the game because of some back issues,” Pierce said. “He is a very good hitter and a tough out and Garrett buried some pitches to get him out. That would be like having Adam Bryant coming to the plate for us in that situation. It took some great pitches to get him out and Garrett delivered.”

McHenry said he could see that Overstreet was anxious at the plate in search of a fast ball.

“I knew that I was going to have to come in and use my curveball to try to get a ground ball for a double-play,” McHenry said. “I just trusted my stuff and got a strikeout. He kept getting out front looking for a fast ball and I kept giving him the curveball.”

In the bottom of the frame the Trojans loaded the bases on a double by Bryant, a bunt hit by T.J. Rivera and an intentional walk to Blake Martz, but things didn't go the way the Troy coaching staff had hoped.

With Bryant at third and Rivera at first, junior Tyler Hannah was asked to bunt.

“They had a new player at third and a new player at first, and they had already botched one bunt play,” Pierce said. “We wanted Tyler to lay a bunt down the third base line and make the third baseman field it with Adam sneaking down the line behind him and maybe scoring. But, Tyler didn't get the bunt down the third base line, he bunted it back to the pitcher. We wanted to take advantage of players on the corners without a lot of experience, but we didn't execute.”

After loading the bases on the walk to Martz, the Jaguars chose to stay with junior left-hander Brad Hook (0-2) on the mound. After getting ahead of sophomore Logan Pierce, he left a pitch within striking distance, and Pierce delivered a three-run double down the right-field line.

“After that didn't work out the way we wanted, they walked Martz and, if Logan hits a ground ball in the middle, it is an inning-ending double play,” Pierce said. “Fortunately, Logan got a ground ball down the line and scored the runs and gave us a nice lead. He has been getting a lot of balls off the bat well and even his outs have been loud, so I am very comfortable with him up there in that situation.”

Troy added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning to close out the victory and take the weekend series.

While McHenry got the victory, it was Hodgskin, who started in place of senior Drew Hull, who kept the Trojans close in a tight game. The freshman allowed just one run on seven hits and struck out five in his first Sun Belt Conference start.

“What we have seen with Jimmy is that every time we have sent him out he has gotten better and better and better,” Pierce said. “This was his first conference start, and with all the pressure that goes along with that, you have to give him a lot of credit for pitching the way he did in the rubber game with everything on the line.”

Troy got three hits each in the game from Bryant – who moved past Wade Miller into second place on the Troy career hits list – Rivera and Hannah. Pierce and Josh McDorman had two hits apiece for the Trojans.

Freshman Logan Kirkland had three hits to lead the Jaguars while Brent Tanner added two.

Troy will enjoy a week away from baseball with plenty of time to prepare for the next Sun Belt series, which will open on Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field against UALR. The league's other Trojans are 10-9 on the year and are coming off a series win against Arkansas State in which they won twice in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“Arkansas-Little Rock is an improved team that is pitching very well,” Pierce said. “They had a kid pitch a two-hit shutout at Oklahoma, which is the best offensive team in the country this year, so nothing is easy in this league.”

The showdown between the Trojans is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.