Troy Baseball Hosts Southern Miss; Hits for Heroes

TROY, Alabama – The Troy baseball team welcomes Southern Mississippi for a three-game series starting on Friday at 6 p.m. The program will host the Hits for Heroes game on Saturday at 1p.m. and the season finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Live video, audio and stats for all three games will be available on TroyTrojans.com. The games on Friday and Sunday will air on WTBF 94.7 FM while Saturday's game will broadcast on WTBF 970 AM.

The Trojans (6-2) enter the series with the ninth best team ERA in the country at 1.51 and a Sun Belt Conference-leading .303 batting average. Troy also leads the NCAA in shutouts and is third in double plays.

Behind a stellar first-career start from Austin Crook, Troy earned its third shutout of the season with a 6-0 win over Samford on Tuesday. Southern Miss (3-3) was scheduled to play ULM, but the game was called due to poor weather.

Corey Childress (1-0, 0.64) will start Friday's opener for the Trojans and will face right-hander Christian Talley (1-1, 0.69). Grant Bennett (2-0, 0.00) looks to earn his third win of the season on Saturday while Southern Miss sends RHP Cody Carroll (0-0, 1.98) to the bump. In Sunday's finale, Tucker Simpson (1-1, 7.11) will face RHP James McMahon (1-0, 2.38).

Offensively, Trevin Hall paces the Trojans with a .409 average and is 7-for-12 with a pair of long balls and six RBIs in the last three games. Troy enters the weekend with six players batting over .300 and Clay Holcomb has reached base in 23 of his last 24 games.

The Trojans' pitching staff will look to shut down Southern Miss' top threats in Dylan Burdeaux (.393) and Connor Barron (.357). Each have one home run and four RBIs on the season and are both slugging .500.

Admission to Saturday's 'Hits for Heroes' contest will be FREE with donations being accepted throughout the game.

Hits for Heroes is an organization aimed at raising awareness and money for soldiers in need of support, encouragement and supplies. This year, Hits for Heroes partnered with the USO in order to send care packages at the highest efficiency.

The game in Troy will feature camouflage uniforms worn by both Troy and Southern Mississippi; fans will also have the opportunity to purchase T-shirts. Special presentations and acknowledgements will take place throughout the game.

For more information on Troy baseball, visit TroyTrojans.com or follow the team on Twitter at @TroyTrojansBSB.

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Players Mentioned

Grant Bennett

Corey Childress

Austin Crook

Trevin Hall

Clay Holcomb

Tucker Simpson