WKU Spoils Troy Rally with Walk-Off Single

Sunday, April 22

Bowling Green, Ky.

1:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky

Danny Collins

Photo by: Lisa Ray

WKU Spoils Troy Rally with Walk-Off Single

4/22/2012 5:03:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Devin Kelly hit a walk-off single with two outs in 10th inning to lift Western Kentucky past Troy 6-5 in the rubber game of the Sun Belt Conference series Sunday at Nick Denes Field. The Trojans sent the game into extra innings with a three-run rally in the eighth inning.

Scott Wilcox drew a walk to lead off the 10th inning and was lifted for pinch runner Matthew Paculan. Casey Dykes sacrificed Paculan to second and the Trojans chose to intentionally walk Ryan Hutchison. Thomas Austin, who was marvelous for Troy over five innings of relief work, struck out Adam Lavelle for the second out of the inning.

Kelly pushed the first pitch he saw from Austin just past the glove of shortstop of Tyler Hannah to score Paculan and win the game. Kelly had the only two hits against Austin who struck out five in the hard-luck loss.

Austin Clay retired the first two Trojan batters in the eighth inning and then walked Jakob Nixon before WKU (17-23, 8-10 Sun Belt) brought closer Ross Hammonds out of the bullpen to face Hannah. Hammonds, who had walked just four in 36 innings coming in, issued a free pass to Hannah. Logan Pierce pulled Troy within two, 5-3, with a single to right-center field.

Troy (17-22, 6-12) head coach Bobby Pierce went to his bench and called upon Ali Knowles to run for Logan Piece. Danny Collins then lined the first pitch he saw from Hammonds down the line in left field for a two-run double to tie the game as Knowles motored all the way from first to score on the play.

Pierce and Tyler Vaughn both had three hits to lead a 14-hit attack by the Trojans. Jo-El Bennett and Hannah each added a pair of hits. Troy out-hit WKU 14-7 in the game, but stranded 15 runners on base.

The Trojans had a prime opportunity to take the lead in the top of the ninth inning after back-to-back singles by Vaughn and Bennett put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Golden then hit a sharp line drive that Wilcox snagged just inches off the dirt at first base. However, Bennett heard a safe call from the umpiring crew and was doubled off at first base on the play as he started towards second base. After Brandon Brown was hit by a pitch, Hammonds got Nixon to ground out to second to end the inning.

The Trojans scored the game's first two runs on an RBI singles by Pierce in the first inning and Hannah in the second inning.

Blake Crabtree cut the Troy lead in half on a sacrifice fly with one out and the bases loaded in the second. The Hilltoppers jumped in front with a three-run fourth inning courtesy of a sac fly from David Simmons and a two-run home run by Jared Andreoli.

The WKU lead swelled to 5-2 in the fifth on a seeing-eye single through the infield by Kelly; Hutchison scored on the single after he walked and stole second.

Both starting pitchers were lifted from the game after 1.2 innings. Ryan Brady allowed a run on two hits for Troy and Brennan Pearson allowed a pair of runs on four hits for Western Kentucky.

Nate Hill was the first out of the bullpen for Troy and allowed four runs on three hits over three innings of work. Taylor Haydel held the Trojans in check over 3.1 innings with five strikeouts around three hits. Hammonds allowed four hits and two runs over 1.1 innings. Tate Glasscock (1-0) worked around a hit in the 10th to pick up the win for WKU.

Troy returns to Riddle-Pace Field for a five-game homestand next week. The Trojans host Auburn on Tuesday and Alabama A&M on Wednesday before a three-game series against Florida Atlantic over the weekend.