Osby and Hixon Combine to Shut Out Little Rock

Saturday, March 17

Troy, Ala.

3:00 PM

Troy University

13-6, 1-1

Little Rock

11-9, 1-1

Little Rock

Troy

Osby and Hixon Combine to Shut Out Little Rock

3/17/2018 6:08:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Jace Sanders

TROY, Alabama – Daren Osby and Rush Hixon worked together to lead Troy's 2-0 shutout of Little Rock to even the Sun Belt series on #SpitSTRONG Day at Riddle-Pace Field.

Osby (2-0) went seven scoreless, allowing just four hits and striking out four batters to earn the victory for Troy (13-6, 1-1). The local product Hixon (1) took over in the eighth and struck out three batters to earn his first career save.

Today's performance on the mound was no fluke for Troy – as the Trojan pitching staff has allowed just 13 earned runs over the past seven games (a 1.86 ERA).

The Trojans struggled on the offensive side of the ball, recording just five hits in the game for the second game in a row. Joey Denison got back to his run-driving-in ways after picking up his 27^th RBI of the season – he entered the weekend ranked third nationally in the category.

Little Rock (10-9, 1-1) was never able to get anything going and was held scoreless for the first time this season. Troy Alexander recorded the only extra-base hit for the squad with a double – he finished 1-for-3.

After the original starter went down with a hamstring injury during warm-ups, Little Rock decided to throw freshman Hayden Arnold (0-2) on the mound. Arnold was effective for the most part – allowing just two runs on five hits – but was saddled with the loss in the end.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"Wow, Osby was great today. He and Hixon gave us quality innings; any time you throw a five-hit shutout at this level, you're seeing a great pitching performance. We're not scoring much right now; and when you're not scoring, you have to rely on somebody to have a great day on the mound and Osby was that guy today."

#SpitSTRONG
Before Saturday's game, Troy honored freshman infielder Bobby Spitulski – who made his first trip back to visit with his team since he and his family were involved in a serious car accident in January. Spitulski threw out the ceremonial first pitch and stayed with his teammates in the dugout for the entirety of the game.

It was a strike! ????#SpitSTRONG #theTROYway #OneTROY pic.twitter.com/xHqYML7NJ9
— Troy Baseball ?x13 (@TroyTrojansBSB) March 17, 2018

Noteworthy
• After seeing his 10-game RBI streak end last night, senior Joey Denison drove in a run on an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. The Troy-native ranked third in the country in RBIs entering the series.

• Brandon Lockridge singled and walked in the game to extend his reached base streak to 19 games to kick off the 2018 campaign.

• Troy's stolen base leaders Brandon Lockridge and Drew Frederic each recorded a stolen base Saturday – Lockridge leads with 12, followed closely by Frederic with 11. The two are both perfect on stolen base attempts so far this season.

On Deck
Troy and Little Rock will face off on Championship Sunday to clinch the series. First pitch from LHP Max Newton (1-0) is set for 1 p.m.