Troy University Athletics
Saturday, March 16
Troy, Ala.
3:00 PM
Troy University
9-10, 0-2
6
vs
10
Arkansas State
13-7, 2-0
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5
6
7
8
9
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H
E
Arkansas State
2
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
5
10
9
1
Troy
1
1
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
10
0
Another Late-Inning Grand Slam Dooms Troy
3/16/2019 7:19:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. – After being down to its final strike down one, Arkansas State rallied for five runs in the ninth inning to defeat Troy, 10-6, Saturday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field and clinch the Sun Belt-opening series.
A couple of batters after Arkansas State's (13-7, 2-0) Justin Felix tied the game with an RBI double, Jake Jablonski stepped to the plate and delivered big blow on the first pitch – a no-doubt, eventual game-winning grand slam over the monster in right.
Prior to the ninth, Troy (9-10, 0-2) pitching had not allowed a hit since the fourth inning – a combination of 2.2 hitless innings from Rush Hixon and a six-strikeout outing for Cory Gill (0-1). Gill breezed through the first two batters of the ninth with a groundout and strikeout but wore his first loss of the season after giving up the five runs on four hits.
The Trojans took the lead in the third inning with a four-spot, highlighted by a three-run bomb from freshman Logan Cerny. Troy scored a single run in each of the first two innings; the run in the second came on a first-pitch solo shot from Sadler Goodwin – his team-leading fourth of the season. Goodwin and Dalton Sinquefield both tallied multiple hits in the game, Goodwin going 2-for-4 and Sinquefield finishing 3-for-5.
The Red Wolves were once again led offensively by Drew Tipton, who followed Friday's 3-for-3 performance with a 3-for-4 day Saturday. Tipton brought ASU within one with a two-run triple in the fourth inning – the last hit allowed by the Trojan pitching staff until the ninth.
Payton Lannon (1-0) picked up the win in relief – striking out two and allowing three hits in two scoreless frames.
Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"That's a brutal loss; no way to shape it any better. But give them credit, they had two outs with nobody on in the ninth and got hit-hit-hit, we hit a batter, then grand slam. Give them credit because they deserve it. Cory (Gill) was great; but they just beat our best guy. We're not showing enough toughness right now. We had the chance to score several times and we couldn't get that next run in."
Notable
• With the loss, Troy dropped its first two conference games for the first time since 2015 when the Trojans were swept by Louisiana at Riddle-Pace Field.
• Arkansas State clinched just its third ever series win against Troy and its second series win at Riddle-Pace Field. The Red Wolves took two of three from the 2012 Trojans in Troy.
• Dalton Sinquefield stayed hot at the plate with his third three-hit game of the week, this time going 3-for-5 with a double. He's now 9-for-18 with two runs scored, a double and four RBI in the last four games.
• Saturday marked the second time in three games Troy lost on a grand slam after leading by one in the ninth. The Trojans fell on an 11th-inning, walk-off slam Wednesday night at Jacksonville State.
Up Next
The Trojans will look to salvage the series finale with a 1 p.m. start time Sunday behind the arm of junior lefty Max Newton. The first 200 fans to the game will receive a free green Troy t-shirt for St. Patrick's Day and kids will get the chance to run the bases after the conclusion of the game.
A couple of batters after Arkansas State's (13-7, 2-0) Justin Felix tied the game with an RBI double, Jake Jablonski stepped to the plate and delivered big blow on the first pitch – a no-doubt, eventual game-winning grand slam over the monster in right.
Prior to the ninth, Troy (9-10, 0-2) pitching had not allowed a hit since the fourth inning – a combination of 2.2 hitless innings from Rush Hixon and a six-strikeout outing for Cory Gill (0-1). Gill breezed through the first two batters of the ninth with a groundout and strikeout but wore his first loss of the season after giving up the five runs on four hits.
The Trojans took the lead in the third inning with a four-spot, highlighted by a three-run bomb from freshman Logan Cerny. Troy scored a single run in each of the first two innings; the run in the second came on a first-pitch solo shot from Sadler Goodwin – his team-leading fourth of the season. Goodwin and Dalton Sinquefield both tallied multiple hits in the game, Goodwin going 2-for-4 and Sinquefield finishing 3-for-5.
The Red Wolves were once again led offensively by Drew Tipton, who followed Friday's 3-for-3 performance with a 3-for-4 day Saturday. Tipton brought ASU within one with a two-run triple in the fourth inning – the last hit allowed by the Trojan pitching staff until the ninth.
Payton Lannon (1-0) picked up the win in relief – striking out two and allowing three hits in two scoreless frames.
Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"That's a brutal loss; no way to shape it any better. But give them credit, they had two outs with nobody on in the ninth and got hit-hit-hit, we hit a batter, then grand slam. Give them credit because they deserve it. Cory (Gill) was great; but they just beat our best guy. We're not showing enough toughness right now. We had the chance to score several times and we couldn't get that next run in."
Notable
• With the loss, Troy dropped its first two conference games for the first time since 2015 when the Trojans were swept by Louisiana at Riddle-Pace Field.
• Arkansas State clinched just its third ever series win against Troy and its second series win at Riddle-Pace Field. The Red Wolves took two of three from the 2012 Trojans in Troy.
• Dalton Sinquefield stayed hot at the plate with his third three-hit game of the week, this time going 3-for-5 with a double. He's now 9-for-18 with two runs scored, a double and four RBI in the last four games.
• Saturday marked the second time in three games Troy lost on a grand slam after leading by one in the ninth. The Trojans fell on an 11th-inning, walk-off slam Wednesday night at Jacksonville State.
Up Next
The Trojans will look to salvage the series finale with a 1 p.m. start time Sunday behind the arm of junior lefty Max Newton. The first 200 fans to the game will receive a free green Troy t-shirt for St. Patrick's Day and kids will get the chance to run the bases after the conclusion of the game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lannon, Payton (1-0)
L: Gill, Cory (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Felix, Justin 1
3B: Tipton, Drew 1
HR: Jablonski, Jake 1
RBI: Tipton, Drew 2 ; Zimmerman, Will 1 ; Felix, Justin 3 ; Jablonski, Jake 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Tipton, Drew 2 ; Zimmerman, Will 1 ; Davis, Eli 1 ; Culver, Sky-Lar 1 ; Felix, Justin 1 ; Deshazier, Jaylon 1 ; Huber, Will 1 ; Jablonski, Jake 2
SB: Tipton, Drew 2 ; Zimmerman, Will 1
CS: Zimmerman, Will 1
HBP: Huber, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Sinquefield, Dalton 1
HR: Goodwin, Sadler 1 ; Cerny, Logan 1
RBI: Goodwin, Sadler 1 ; Bartolero, Caleb 1 ; Cerny, Logan 3
SH: Mercer, Hunter 1
SF: Bartolero, Caleb 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Frederic, Drew 1 ; Sinquefield, Dalton 1 ; Smartt, Chase 1 ; Goodwin, Sadler 2 ; Cerny, Logan 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
3b/c
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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LHP
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