Walk-Off Homer Sinks Troy in 12 Innings

Friday, March 2

Daytona Beach, Fla.

5:00 p.m.

Troy University

Bethune-Cookman

Tyler Hannah

Photo by: Lisa Ray

3/2/2012 9:15:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

DAYTONA BEACH – Anthony Stokes hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift Bethune-Cookman past Troy 3-2 in the opening game of a three-game series Friday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Bethune-Cookman (5-5) rallied from a two-run deficit to send the game into extra innings with an unearned run in the fourth and an unearned run in the eighth. Stokes, who finished the game 1-for-5, took a 2-2 offering from Nate Hill over the wall in left-center field to lead off the 12th inning.

Troy (4-4) had runners in scoring position in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, but couldn't cash in on any of the opportunities. The best chance came in the 10th when Brandon Brown and Tyson Workman led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Brown stole second and moved to third on Workman's single who took second on defensive indifference to give the Trojans a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. Wildcat reliever Jordan Dailey got Chase Mathis to fly out to left and then center fielder David Lee threw out Brown at the plate as he tried to tag up on a fly ball off the bat of Tyler Hannah.

Another outstanding performance by Troy starter Tyler Ray was lost in the Bethune-Cookman comeback. The senior allowed just three hits and struck out four over seven innings of work. Ray allowed just one unearned run and lowered his ERA to 0.45 over three starts and 20 innings this season.

Danny Collins put the Trojans on the board in the first inning with a double to left field to score Mathis. Mathis reached on a one-out walk and then stole second. Logan Pierce pushed the lead out to two runs with an RBI grounder to score Hannah after he doubled to lead off the fourth. Collins finished 2-for-6 and Hannah was 2-for-5 as the Trojans out-hit the Wildcats 8-6.

The Wildcats cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth after Jordan Taylor reached on an error with one out; Ray had retired all 10 batters he faced until that point. Alejandro followed with a single and Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Nick Johnson grounded out to Hannah at short, but drove home Taylor for an unearned run.

Jairo Acevedo led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single and moved to second on a sac bunt. The second Troy error of the ball game allowed Taylor to reach and put runners on the corners for Sanchez who hit a sac fly to right to tie the game.

Hill (1-1) was charged with the loss after he allowed two runs – one earned – on three hits over four innings of relief work. He struck out three and walked one.

Scott Garner (1-1) tossed just one inning for the Wildcats but picked up the win. Gabriel Hernandez started for Bethune-Cookman and allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings. Jordan Dailey tossed four clean innings out of the bullpen as he allowed just four hits and no walks.

The Trojans will look to even the series tomorrow afternoon when the teams meet for game two of the series. Sophomore southpaw Jimmy Hodgskin will get the start for Troy while Bethune-Cookman will counter with right-hander Montana Durapau. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. (CST).