Troy Uses Seventh-Inning Rally to Take Night Cap

Saturday, February 17

Troy, Ala.

4:00 PM

Troy University

3-0

UT Martin

0-3

UT Martin

Troy

Photo by: Joey Meredith

Troy Uses Seventh-Inning Rally to Take Night Cap

2/17/2018 7:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score

By: Jace Sanders

Box Score

TROY, Alabama – Troy scratched six runs across in the seventh inning to take the second leg of Saturday's doubleheader, 6-2, over UT Martin at Riddle-Pace Field.

Troy (3-0) strung together few timely hits and benefitted from two Skyhawk (0-3) errors following the stretch to score six runs and take the lead.

After the rally, the Trojans relied on Lance Johnson (1-0) and Sadler Goodwin to close out the game – the two combined to throw three, one-hit, scoreless innings. Troy also got a quality start on the mound from senior Daren Osby, as he struck out seven in six innings of work – he allowed only two runs on three hits.

At the plate, Troy got most of its production from a trio of veteran batters at the top of the lineup – Brandon Lockridge, Matt Sanders and Joey Denison. The three drove in four of the six Trojan runs and picked up some help from freshman Manning Early who drove in another.

UT Martin led for most of the game, before letting it slip away in the late innings. Reliever Zack Denney (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs – two earned – on three hits in 0.2 innings of work. Anthony Adduci paced the Skyhawks at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI in the game.

Turning Point
All-conference selection Brandon Lockridge delivered the biggest blow of the night for the Trojans. With two on in the seventh, the junior fell behind 1-2 and fouled off four two-strike pitches. Then he connected with a 2-2 pitch and sent it the other way off the scoreboard, driving in two runs and striding in with a double.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"I'm real proud of the doubleheader sweep. The best part of game one was Corey Childress. He came in and was outstanding. Then in game two, it took us a while to get going offensively. We're a big-inning offense and you have to cash in when you get those chances and we did. We executed critical at-bats with the game on the line."

Brandon Lockridge
"We needed to score, we were a little tired. This is my third year here and we've never been close to this. It's fun to watch when all nine of our starters can leave the yard."

Daren Osby
"My biggest thing was to prevent the big inning. I feel a lot more comfortable, I've learned the process and I'm a lot more confident. It's great to have those guys behind me coming in out of the bullpen and doing their job, too."

Noteworthy
• Brandon Lockridge drove in two runs to record his 14^th career multi-RBI game – the second-most on the team.

• The late-inning comeback win for the Trojans was the seventh of the sorts all-time under Mark Smartt (7-34).

• With a six-run seventh, Troy has posted four-plus runs in five innings so far in 2018.

• Matt Sanders singled to extend his career-long hitting streak to 11 games dating back to last season. Mason Rogers also hit a single to extend his reached base streak to a team-leading 13 games.

• Troy has started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2016, when the Trojans reeled off seven in a row to kick off Mark Smartt's stint as the head coach.

On Deck
Troy will go for the series sweep behind the arm of local product Rush Hixon in his first collegiate start on the mound. First pitch for the finale is set for 1 p.m.