Troy Rallies Past UALR to Even Series

Saturday, March 24

Little Rock, Ark.

4:00 p.m.

Troy University

UALR

Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer

3/24/2012 7:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Troy scored seven runs over a four-inning stretch to rally from a four-run deficit and defeat UALR 8-7 Saturday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The teams will play the rubber game of the Sun Belt Conference series Sunday at 1 p.m.

Troy (11-10, 2-3 Sun Belt) scored three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and three in the seventh after UALR (14-9, 1-4) took a 5-1 lead with five runs in the third.

Logan Pierce extended his hit streak out to a career-high 11 games with a 2-for-4, three-run afternoon. Boone Shear had three hits and added two RBIs to his team-leading total. Danny Collins finished the day with three hits, while Tyler Hannah and Chase Mathis each had a pair of hits.

Thomas Austin (1-1) pitched 3.1 scoreless innings out of the Troy bullpen to pick up the win. Tyson Workman worked a clean ninth for his third save of the season and seventh of his career which moves him into a tie for seventh on the all-time Troy saves list.

Troy loaded the bases in the third for Mathis after Pierce walked, Collins singled and Shear was hit by a pitch to open the frame. Mathis answered the call with a two-run single through the right side of the UALR infield. Shear scored the third run of the inning on an errant throw by UALR catcher Blake Johnson trying to nab Mathis stealing second base.

Hannah tied the game in the fifth with his first home run of the season as he took an 0-2 offering from UALR starter Blake Huffman out of the park in left field. Brandon Brown gave Troy the lead in the sixth with an RBI grounder to short to score Tyler Vaughn.

The Trojans kept the pressure on with what turned out to be much needed insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning. Hannah set up the frame with a lead-off single back up the middle. Pierce and Shear followed with back-to-back doubles to center field against UALR reliever Austin Pfeiffer to stretch the Troy lead out to 8-5.

Johnson reinserted drama into the game with a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The inning could have been worse for Troy, but Ali Knowles, who was inserted into center field as a defensive replacement at the beginning of the inning, made a great relay throw to catch Nick Rountree trying to stretch a single into a double earlier in the frame.

UALR chased Troy starter Jimmy Hodgskin with a five-run third inning that saw UALR, who entered the week fifth in the NCAA in home runs, hit a pair of two-run round trippers. Hodgskin took a no-decision after he allowed five runs on five hits in 2.1 innings.

Huffman also left the game with a no-decision after he was charged with five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings of work. Pfeiffer (1-2) was charged with the loss after he allowed three runs on four hits in just 1.2 innings as the first man out of the UALR bullpen.