Bryant Sets Record as Ray Dominates

Friday, May 6

Riddle-Pace Field

6:00 pm

Troy University

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

5/6/2011 9:34:42 PM | Baseball

Bryant Becomes All-Time Hits Leader at Troy.

By: Taylor Bryan

BOX SCORE

TROY - Adam Bryant became Troy's all-time hits leader on Friday night, but that story shared the spotlight with a dominant performance from junior right-hander Tyler Ray as the Trojans rolled 7-1 over Louisiana-Lafayette.

It only took two plate appearances and three innings for Bryant to record the two hits he needed to displace former Trojan Clint Robinson at the top of the Troy hits chart. The senior from Pensacola, Fla. recorded a two-out single in the first, then a one-out single in the third to move to the top of the list.

“He was going to break the record unless he broke his arm first,” Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said. “For him to go ahead and knock it out in his first two at-bats is a credit to him. Good hitters pick up hits and he got his two.”

Bryant finished night 3-for-4 at the plate with one RBI and a walk to give him 255 hits for his career.

But despite his record setting night, Bryant would be forced to the share the spot light due to a dominating pitching performance by Ray.

Ray (11-0) stranded a runner at third in the fourth inning, then worked through a jam in the fifth by allowing just one run as he recorded his third complete game of the season. The Hoover-native set a new career high with 10 strike outs and didn't allow a walk as he scattered four hits.

“[Louisiana-Lafayette has] a great club and for many years, they've had the stellar pitcher on Friday night,” Pierce said. “We struggled against those guys like Hunter Moody and Zach Osborne

“Tonight, we had that guy on our team on Friday. The tables kind of turned a little bit. Tonight was about Tyler. He was on top of his game and it would be hard for anybody to beat him when he's throwing that well.”

The victory gives Ray 11 for the season and keeps him tied for the national lead. He also lowered his Sun Belt-best ERA to 1.68. His 11 strike outs were the most for a Troy hurler since former Trojan Ryan Ellison recorded 10 against Penn State on February 29, 2008.

The 11 punch outs also moved the junior into ninth place on Troy's all-time list with 173.

Troy (33-13, 16-6) had their bats going early on Friday night, but it would be the fifth inning before it really got things going. After scoring the game's first run on an RBI single by Bryant in the third inning, the Trojans broke through with a pair in the fifth.

A double by Tyler Hannah was followed by a walk of Bryant and T.J. Rivera single to load the bases. Blake Martz sent Hannah home on a RBI-single past the diving Cajuns shortstop Greg Fontenot.

Todd McRae forced home a run after getting hit by a pitch to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Trojans. It would only get worse from there for Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Trojans plated three in the seventh inning thanks to a two RBI single by McRae. Josh McDorman tacked on a run scoring hit to push the lead to 6-1 with two innings to go.

The Men of Troy finished with 16 total hits. McRae was 2-for-3 with three RBI. He was also hit by a Cajuns pitcher twice.

Rivera's sacrifice fly in the eighth added an insurance run as it scored Hannah and gave Troy the final margin and a 7-1 lead. Hannah had three hits on the night in five plate appearances.

Taylor Hubbell (4-5) took the loss on the mound for UL. The senior allowed 10 hits and three earned in 4.1 innings pitched. Four Cajun batters recorded one hit.

The win widened the gap between Troy and the Cajuns to three games while keeping them at least two games ahead of Florida Atlantic and FIU. The victory was the first-ever for the Trojans in game one of a series against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Game two is scheduled for 6 pm on Saturday night. Troy sends freshman Jimmy Hodgskin (4-4, 3.62 ERA) to the mound to face UL's Jordan Nicholson (3-2, 2.63 ERA).