Troy Remains Unbeaten in Pool Play with 8-3 Victory over Arkansas State

Friday, May 25

Bowling Green, Ky.

3 p.m.

Troy University

Arkansas State

Troy Remains Unbeaten in Pool Play with 8-3 Victory over Arkansas State

5/25/2012 7:40:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

TROY v ASU - SBC Baseball Tournament Gallery

BOX SCORE

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Troy scored five runs in the first inning and Nate Hill struck out eight in 5.2 innings out of the Trojan bullpen as Troy moved to 2-0 in pool play at the Sun Belt Tournament with an 8-3 victory over second-seeded Arkansas State Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark.

“I'm proud of our team for putting up a five-run first inning,” Troy head coach Bobby Pierce said. “We've been kind of a late-starting offensive team and we challenged them yesterday. We got something starter early today. It turns out now, that things are never easy for the Trojans in 2012, we've got to win another one to reach the championship game.”

Troy has now defeated the number two and three seeds in the Sun Belt Tournament after knocking off third-seeded FIU 6-1 on Thursday. The Trojans can punch their ticket to the championship game against ULM with a victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday at 11 a.m.; Troy took 2-of-3 for Middle Tennessee earlier in the year.

Tyler Hannah opened the game with a single back up the middle and Logan Pierce delivered a one-out single with Hannah on the move to put runners on the corners for Danny Collins. Red Wolf starter Daniel Wright walked Collins on six pitches to load the bases for Boone Shear.

Shear ripped a double down the line in left field to clear the bases and raise his RBI total to 59 on the season. Jakob Nixon drove one of his three base hits of the game into right field to drive in Shear and give Troy a 4-0 lead.

Tyler Vaughn kept the frame alive with a two-out single to move Nixon to second and bring Ali Knowles to the plate. The center fielder was making just his 13th start of the season and had just seven hits on the season. Knowles, who had a hit against FIU in the opener, punched a single back up the middle for the first of his two RBIs on the afternoon.

Nixon finished 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored to go with his first-inning RBI, while Vaughn was 3-for-3 with a walk. Pierce, Collins, Knowles and Jake Harrell all had two hits as the Trojans (28-29) knocked around five Red Wolf pitchers for 16 hits.

Arkansas State (33-22) made some noise against Troy starter Ryan Brady in the third inning. Michael Faulkner opened with a single back up the middle and Collin Massanelli beat out a sac bunt attempt for a single.

Following the first out of the inning, the only Troy error of the game allowed Faulkner to score. Claude Johnson followed with a clean single to right to plate Arkansas State's second run of the game. Brady got Ryan Emery to ground into a 3-6 double play to end the frame without any further damage.

Ryan Roberts drove a one-out home run over the right-field wall in the fourth inning to pull the Red Wolves within two, 5-3. Dustin Jones followed with a single to end Brady's day and effectively end the Red Wolves day as Hill came out of the bullpen.

Hill (7-2) struck out Faulkner and Zach George around a Kaleb Brown single to end the fourth. Hill allowed just three base runners – only one hit – over the final five innings of the game. The junior southpaw's eight strikeouts were a new career-high as were his 100 pitches and 5.2 innings pitched.

“I thought Nate threw the ball as good today as he has all year,” Bobby Pierce said. “I'm very proud of his effort. It's nothing we haven't seen before. He wants the ball. He's a true competitor on the mound. He'll come up to me tomorrow and say he's ready to go.”

Harrell padded Troy's lead with a single through the left-side of the infield to score Collins after he led off the fifth with a single to center and advanced to second on an error.

Nixon singled to left with one out in the seventh and moved to second on a Vaughn single to right. Knowles drove a two-strike, two-out single through the right-side of the infield to give Troy a 7-3 lead. Pierce scored the final run of the game on a wild pitch in the eighth after doubling with one out.

Wright (3-6) didn't make it out of the first inning and was tagged with the loss for Arkansas State. He allowed five runs on six hits in just two-thirds of an inning. Brady took a no-decision after he allowed three runs – two earned – on six hits in 3.1 innings.