Monmouth Drops Troy 5-1 in Series Finale

Sunday, March 11

Troy, Ala.

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Monmouth

Ryan Brady

Photo by: Edward Fieder

3/11/2012 4:02:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

TROY, Ala. – Danny Avella hit two home runs to lead Monmouth to a 5-1 victory over Troy in the rubber game of the three-game non-conference series at Riddle-Pace Field Sunday afternoon.

Monmouth (6-6), who is the defending Northeast Conference champions, jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the third inning and Andrew McGee (1-2), a freshman All-American last season, held the Trojans to just one run on six hits over 8.1 innings.

The Hawks loaded the bases with one out in the first on a single and a pair of walks. Josh Boyd, who led off the game with a single, scored the game's first run on a wild pitch and Jamie Rosenkranz scored a couple batters later when Tim Bickford was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Avella stretched the Monmouth lead out to 4-0 with his first homer of the game after Jake Gronsky led off the third with a double. Avella then hit a two-out home run to straightaway center field in the ninth inning to give the Hawks a 5-0 lead.

Troy (8-7) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Adam Yunginger took over for McGee and struck out the first batter he faced before issuing a walk to Jake Harrell to bring home Logan Pierce and put Troy on the board. Yunginger induced a grounder to end the game and pick up his first save.

Boone Shear had a pair of hits to lead Troy at the plate, while Gronsky and Avella each had two hits for Monmouth.

William Teal (0-1) was charged with the loss for the Trojans after he allowed two runs on one hit in two-thirds of an inning; Teal walked two batters and hit a pair of Hawk batters. Ryan Brady allowed a pair of runs over 4.2 innings and Thomas Austin closed the game with just one run allowed over 3.2 innings.

Troy opens Sun Belt Conference play next weekend at South Alabama. First pitch from Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala., is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 1 p.m. on Sunday.