Troy, Childress Dominate Duke in Athens Regional Opener

Friday, June 1

Athens, Ga.

1 p.m.

Troy University

42-19

Duke

40-16

Troy

Duke

Troy, Childress Dominate Duke in Athens Regional Opener

6/1/2018 10:26:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Adam Prendergast

ATHENS, Ga. – Corey Childress struck out a career-high nine batters in an emergency relief appearance and Joey Denison drove in four runs as Troy knocked off Duke, 6-0, in the Athens Regional opener Friday at Foley Field.

Troy (42-19) raced out to a 5-0 lead behind Denison's bat before a 5:25 rain and lightning delay halted the proceedings. Childress (4-2) took over for Andrew Crane in the fourth after Troy's starter suffered from cramps on the hot and humid afternoon. Childress worked a seven-pitch inning before the delay and struck out nine in the final five innings after the break.

We won a big baseball game yesterday ... here are some highlights from our win over No. 18 Duke in the Athens Regional.#theTROYway #OneTROY pic.twitter.com/wsfVm5qAWt
— Troy Baseball ?x42 (@TroyTrojansBSB) June 2, 2018

The Trojans loaded the bases with one out in the third on a single by Manning Early, a double from Matt Sanders and a walk by Drew Frederic. Denison, the Sun Belt Player of the Year, quickly cleared the bases as he split the outfielders with a three-run double to left-center field. Following an out and a Rigsby Mosley single, Brody Binder doubled home Denison to stretch Troy's lead to 5-0.

Denison tacked on another run in another bases loaded situation in the fourth as he singled home Early. In Troy's first hacks after the lengthy delay, the Trojans loaded the bases again and Matt Sanders scored on a hot grounder off the bat of Mosley.

Crane was dealing before cramps forced him out of the game as he stuck out four and scattered four hits over three innings of work. Childress allowed just three Duke (40-16) hits in the game, two of which came with two outs in the ninth inning.

Sanders finished 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and two doubles for the Trojans, while Denison and Early added a pair of hits. Zack Kone, Joey Loperfido and Kennie Taylor each had two hits for the Blue Devils.

Duke starter Ryan Day (5-4) was saddled with the loss after he allowed four runs on four hits in 2.2 innings of work.

Troy now awaits the winner of Saturday's 11 a.m. (CT) game between Georgia and Campbell, which was originally schedule for Friday evening but moved to the delay in Troy's game. The winner's bracket game is slated for a 7 p.m. (CT) first pitch.

Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"It is hard to win the tournament without winning the first game and 1-0 is a great start. With Georgia and Campbell having to play tomorrow that should be an advantage for our team, but you never know what might happen. All I know is that we are 1-0 today and that was our goal, and we accomplished that in solid fashion.

"Joey is our guy. He is just clutch with big hits after big hits. That big three-run double to get us on the board and when this team gets a lead we're tough to beat. We are relentless … just a lot of good things in this win tonight.

"How good was that (Corey Childress' performance)? He was so impressive on both sides of the delay. He had to take the mound with no notice in the fourth when Andrew (Crane) cramped up and he looked like a million dollars throughout the game. For a senior to do that in that kind of moment was huge and we needed it. I don't have a plan for the fourth inning, Andrew doesn't come out in the fourth inning. Corey's stuff was electric tonight and they didn't have much of a chance. It sets us up well going forward."

Sound "Smartt with Your Friends"
• Troy has now won three straight Regional openers. Troy defeated Oklahoma State 9-2 to open the 2011 Nashville Regional and picked up a 5-2 victory over Alabama to open the 2013 Tallahassee Regional.

Notable
• Joey Denison moved into a tie for fifth place on Troy's single-season doubles list with his 3-run two-bagger in Troy's four-run third inning; it was his 42^nd career double tying him with Danny Collins for ninth all-time. He extended his single-season RBI record to 78 with his four in the Regional opener.

• Joey Denison extended his hitting streak to 18 games with his three-run double in the third inning; it also marked his 22^nd multi-RBI game of the season and the 32^nd of his career. He added a fourth RBI in the fourth inning; his second four-RBI game of the season.

• Matt Sanders extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a double in the third inning and added a single in the fourth for his team-leading 32^nd multi-hit game of the season and 84^th of his career. He added a double in the sixth inning for his 12^th three-hit game of the season.

• With his three hits in the Regional opener, Matt Sanders now trails Adam Bryant by just nine hits on Troy's career leaderboard. Bryant racked up 276 hits from 2008-11 and Sanders currently has 267 hits.

• Troy starting pitcher Andrew Crane was lifted during his warm up tosses prior to the fourth inning after suffering from cramps. He had allowed just four hits and no runs with four strikeouts.

• Manning Early finished the game 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, it marked his 10^th multi-hit game of the season and first since going 3-for-4 at Arkansas State on April 21.

• Corey Childress took over on the mound for the Trojans after Andrew Crane left prior to the fourth inning with cramps. He struck out a career-high nine batters over his six innings of work; his previous career high was eight set as a freshman in 2015.