Troy Baseball Travels to Arkansas State For Conference Series

JONESBORO, Arkansas – The Troy baseball team hits the road after nine straight games at Riddle-Pace Field for a televised three-game series against Arkansas State at Tomlinson Field beginning Friday at 6 p.m.

Saturday's game will begin at 6 p.m., while Sunday's game is slated for a 1 p.m. start time. All three games can be seen live on ESPN3/WatchESPN, which is a live-stream ESPN digital network. The games can also be heard live on WTBF 94.7 FM or at TroyTrojans.com for free.

Troy (20-14, 6-6 Sun Belt) is hot out of the gates in the month of April, batting .295 and averaging 6.5 runs per game. The Trojans have nine home runs during the month and have driven in 48 runs. Joey Denison and TJ Binder have three home runs apiece during the month of April, and both are team leaders in overall home runs hit this season.

Overall, TJ Binder leads the Trojans offensively. He has a team-best .357 batting average, six doubles, one triple and 13 RBIs along with his three home runs.

Trevor Davis leads Troy in conference play just shy of a .300 batting average (.298) with three doubles and seven RBIs. Joey Denison has four doubles and one triple when facing Sun Belt foes.

The pitching rotation will be the same for the third straight weekend with Grant Bennett, Houston Mabray and Lucas Brown getting the start. As a rotation, they have 32 strikeouts – led by Brown with 12 – and have only allowed 10 walks in 39 combined innings pitched.

The bullpen has been strong of late, thanks in large part to Cory Gill. He last five outings have resulted in shutouts and he has struck out 12 batters over the last 15 innings.

Arkansas State (13-19, 4-11 Sun Belt) had a tough task as they faced South Alabama last weekend and got swept. Ty White, who has a .314 batting average, leads the Red Wolves. He also has a team-high eight stolen bases. Tanner Ring has a team-high nine doubles and five home runs this season.

The Red Wolves are throwing Cody Jackson and Bryan Ayers on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday's starter to be announced. Jackson has a 2.97 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 33.1 innings pitched. Ayers has 34 strikeouts, a 4.08 ERA and 22 walks through 35.1 innings tossed.

Troy leads the all-time series between the two schools 29-9 and has a 13-2 advantage when facing the Red Wolves in Jonesboro, Ark. The Trojans swept Arkansas State in last year's series at Riddle-Pace Field.

For more information on Troy baseball, as well as all of Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find the Trojans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat by searching for Troy Athletics.

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Players Mentioned

Grant Bennett

TJ Binder

Lucas Brown

Trevor Davis

Joey Denison

Cory Gill

Houston Mabray