No. 18 Troy Battles Back, Falls in 10

Tuesday, April 12

Jacksonville, AL

6:30 pm

Troy University

Jacksonville State University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

4/12/2011 10:24:33 PM | Baseball

Trojans Now 3-4 Away from Riddle-Pace this season.

By: Taylor Bryan

BOX SCORE

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – 18th-ranked Troy battled back from multi-run deficits on two occasions, but ultimately fell 7-6 in 10 innings to Jacksonville State on Tuesday night in non-conference action.

The Trojans (25-7) trailed 4-0 heading into the sixth inning, but got the first two runs back on a throwing error by Jacksonville State third baseman Sam Eberle. JSU (23-10) had previously scored first in the second inning, then added three more in the 4th for the early advantage.

Troy's Adam Bryant completed his squad's first comeback of the night with a two-run homer to start the seventh. His fifth home run of the season followed a lead-off single by centerfielder Ali Knowles. The blast to right-center tied the game at 4.

The tie would be short lived, as the Gamecocks added runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Entering the ninth, Troy had yet to record a hit off JSU closer Todd Hornsby. The junior had entered the game in the seventh following a walk from reliever Ben Haynes.

In that frame, the Trojans got a clutch one-out single to right by Drew Prichard that plated Tyler Hannah and T.J. Rivera. The pair of runs again tied the game at six and after a three-up, three-down bottom half, the game headed to extra innings. The Men of Troy tagged Hornsby for two runs on three walks and a hit in 2.2 innings.

Troy couldn't reach base in the top portion of the 10th, then JSU's Blake Seguin tripled with one out in the bottom half. Andrew Bishop followed up with a double over the head of a drawn-in Hayden Hillyer in left field to give the Gamecocks a walk-off win. Seguin led the way for the Gamecocks with a 4-for-4 night.

Rivera had two hits for the Trojans.

Both squads struggled with errors on Tuesday combining for a total of six (three by each team). Troy's Bryant committed two errors on Tuesday – a first for his stellar career. Prichard had the Trojans' other miscue.

Lost in the shuffle of the comeback efforts, was the performance of the Troy pitching staff. Sophomore Shane McCain struck out five with no walks in five innings of work after making his third start of the season.

Ryan Sorce (1.2 IP), Nate Hill (0.1 IP) and Tyson Workman (2.1 IP) each pitched in relief and failed to surrender a walk. It marked just the second time this season that the Trojans had not walked a batter as a staff (at Arkansas State, April 1).

Workman was saddled with the loss and he fell to 2-2 on the year. Cody Ponder recorded the win for JSU (1-0).

The Trojans left 10 batters on base for the night, including stranding the bases loaded on two different occasions.

Troy is in action next on Friday when they begin a three-game set at Middle Tennessee. First pitch for Friday night's series opener is set for 6 p.m. in Murfreesboro.