Trojans Complete Sweep of SEMO With 7-2 Victory

Sunday, March 6

Riddle-Pace Field

1:00 pm

Troy University

Southeast Missouri State University

Photo by: Edward Fieder

Trojans Complete Sweep of SEMO With 7-2 Victory

3/6/2011 3:42:58 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML

In a season when the Troy baseball team has undergone a power outage at the plate, the Trojans got a big home run when they needed it to take a 7-2 victory over visiting Southeast Missouri State on Sunday.

Junior Blake Martz delivered the big blow in the third inning on the first pitch he saw from SEMO starter Nick Thomas (1-1). The three-run blast capped a five-run inning for the Trojans (9-2), who completed a three-game sweep of the Redhawks (7-5).

“That is a good club and these were good games all weekend,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “The games have been well-pitched all weekend. With the offense the way it is this year, the team that takes advantage in one inning has a chance to win.”

Troy's five run third came after the Redhawks plated a single run in the top half of the inning against Troy starter Ryan Sorce (1-1). Taylor Heon singled in Brennan Malham for the first earned run, and just second overall SEMO run of the weekend.

Troy came right back in the bottom of the inning, scoring single runs on consecutive base hits by Hayden Hillyer and Adam Bryant. After a sacrifice and a fly ball, it looked as if Troy might only get the two runs.

Martz came to the plate with just two hits and five strikeouts in the series, but got a belt-high fastball and blasted it down the line in left, just inside the fair pole for a three-run homer.

The Redhawks got another run in the sixth wen Blake Slattery took a Sorce pitch over the wall in right. Nick Ward, Nathan Hill and Garrett McHenry each worked a scoreless inning to finish off the game.

Troy added a pair of runs in the fifth, scoring one on a ground out and the other on a wild pitch, to account for the final margin.

Bryant, Hillyer and Shear had two hits each for Troy while Heon, Slattery and Kenton Parmley had two hits apiece for Southeast Missouri.

Troy now turns its attention toward Tuesday night's game in Tuscaloosa against Alabama.

“I always look forward to going back there to play them,” Pierce said. “We always want to win against any in-state team, but we are going to have to score some runs to win and that is something we did not do last week at Samford.”

Troy and Alabama are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start at Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Tuesday night. The Trojans will return home next weekend for a four-game series against former Sun Belt Conference foe New Orleans.