Troy Downs Middle Tennessee 10-3 to Take Series

Sunday, April 15

Troy, Ala.

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Middle Tennessee

Jakob Nixon

Photo by: Lisa Ray

Troy Downs Middle Tennessee 10-3 to Take Series

4/15/2012 4:40:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

TROY, Ala. – Jakob Nixon drove in four runs and Troy got outstanding pitching from Ryan Brady and Nate Hill as the Trojans defeated Middle Tennessee 10-3 Sunday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field to claim the Sun Belt Conference series.

Brady and Nixon combined to hold Middle Tennessee to just four hits over eight innings of work before Garrett McHenry closed out the game with a hitless ninth. After the Blue Raiders recorded 21 hits in the opener, Trojan pitchers held them to just nine hits over the final two games of the series. Troy outscored Middle Tennessee 22-5 over the final 20 innings of the series.

The Trojans (16-19, 5-10 Sun Belt) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first three innings of the game thanks in part to Nixon's hot bat. The junior designated hitter led off the game with a double and would later score on a double play off the bat of Logan Pierce. With the bases loaded in the second, Nixon lined a double into the gap in left-center field to clear the bases and give Troy a 4-0 lead. Nixon now has multiple hits in five of his last six games (12-for-25, .480) and in eight straight games with a hit.

Jonathan Sisco entered the game leading the Sun Belt with a 1.76 ERA, but didn't make it out of the third inning after he was charged with five runs on four hits; he walked four and struck out two. After Sisco issued a pair of two-out walks in the third and was lifted for Nick Montgomery, Jake Harrell singled to left center to put Troy up 5-0.

Harrell and Nixon both had three hits in the game for Troy; Pierce added a pair as did Chase Mathis in a 13-hit Trojan attack.

Brady retired 10 of the first 11 Blue Raiders he faced in the game before running into a little trouble in the fourth. A one-one walk was followed by three straight bloop singles around an error to pull MTSU (21-15 9-6) within three, 5-2. Hill took over for Brady in the fifth and worked a quick 1-2-3- inning before the Blue Raiders pushed across their final run of the game in the sixth following a hit batter and a double.

Troy quickly squashed any Middle Tennessee hopes of a comeback with four runs in the home half of the sixth inning. Nixon drove home the first run of the frame with a single back up the middle before Pierce, Boone Shear and Tyler Vaughn all got in the mix with RBI singles. Pierce capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the seventh after a lead-off single by Mathis and a pair of hit batters.

Hill (4-2) earned the win for the Trojans with four innings in relief of Brady allowing just one run on one hit. Brady allowed just a pair of runs – one earned – on three hits over the game's first four innings. Sisco (5-2) took just his second loss of the season.

The Trojans head to Auburn on Tuesday for the first of two mid-week contests with the Tigers; Auburn makes the return trip to Riddle-Pace Field on April 24.