Trojans Outlasts Mother Nature To Complete Sweep of ASU

Sunday, April 3

State University, AR

1:00 pm

Troy University

Arkansas State University

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

Trojans Outlasts Mother Nature To Complete Sweep of ASU

4/3/2011 4:42:17 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ricky Hazel

FINAL BOX SCORE: PDF | HTML POST-GAME AUDIO

JONESBORO, Ark. – On a day better suited for flying a kite, the Troy Trojans survived making three errors and winds gusting to 50 miles per hour to take a 5-3 victory over Arkansas State on Sunday afternoon.

The Trojans completed the weekend sweep of the Red Wolves to maintain sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt Conference. Troy improved to 22-5 overall and 8-1 in league play with the victory. ASU falls to 12-18 overall and 2-7 in the conference with the loss.

"All these games are gut-wrenching, nail-biting, types of games and that was maybe the ugliest win of the season," Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. "Somehow, someway, our guys found a way to finish it us. It was just a great weekend for our club."

The win for the Trojans did not come easily. After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to the first three of five ASU errors on the day, the Trojans gave those runs back in the third and fourth with walks and errors playing a big part.

The game remained 3-3 until the ninth inning when Troy got singles from Ali Knowles, Adam Bryant and T.J. Rivera. Tyler Hannah delivered a ground ball to score the go-ahead run and then a throwing error by Anthony Hecht allowed a second run to score.

The Red Wolves would not go quietly, however. After consecutive one-out singles put the tying runs on base against Troy's Ryan Sorce (4-2), Tyson Workman came on in relief and got a ground out, a fly out and a strikeout to secure the victory.

"It was a tough day to pitch and tough to play baseball, for both teams, and that is probably why you saw eight errors and more walks than we have seen," Pierce said. "It was a tough game, but we found a way to get it done late. Tyson Workman came in to get in done in that last inning."

Sorce got the win in relief of starter Jimmy Hodgskin, who struggled to find the strikezone with the heavy wind at his back. He walked seven in 3.2 innings. Sorce came on and held the Red Wolves scoreless on two hits over 4.1 innings with four strikeouts for the win. Workman picked up his third save of the year.

Reliever Sam Jew (1-1) took the loss for ASU. He allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits over 2.1 innings. Starter Brad Allen worked six innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts.

Todd McRae had two hits to lead Troy, which managed eight hits in the game. Adam Bryant added a hit in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Todd Baumgartner had three of the five ASU hits in the game.

The Trojans will return home on Tuesday night to host Auburn in a game that is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and will be televised by CSS. Troy will continue at home next weekend when FIU visits for a three-game series.

"We are back at home and we have played awfully good there," Pierce said. "I sure hope that our kids show the type of confidence in what they have been able to put together. I wasn't pleased when we went over to Auburn with the kind of approach and mentality of our team. We normally have some swagger at the house and, hopefully, we will have a good crowd."