Troy Completes Sweep of North Alabama

Saturday, March 9

Troy, Ala.

1:00 PM

Troy University

8-6

North Alabama

2-11

North Alabama

Troy

3/9/2019 8:07:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (Game One)Box Score (Game Two)Photo Gallery (Game One)Photo Gallery (Game Two)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy baseball swept the doubleheader and the series over North Alabama with 3-1 and 6-2 wins on Saturday at Riddle-Pace Field.

The Trojans (7-6) picked up their first series sweep of the 2019 campaign with two solid wins in the twin bill – combining solid pitching performances with good hitting to topple the Lions (2-12).

Game One: Troy 3, UNA 1
Troy once again used strong pitching and timely hitting to down North Alabama in the first leg of the doubleheader to clinch the series. Grant Stewart (2-1) allowed an early unearned run but held the Lions off the board otherwise, fanning five through 6.1 innings of work.

Rush Hixon and Cory Gill took over on the mound after Stewart and kept up the good work – combining for three strikeouts in the final 2.2 innings of the ballgame. Hixon picked up his second hold of the season, while Gill earned his fourth save.

After giving up the unearned run in the top of the second, the Trojans offense responded with a run of their own when Logan Cerny drove in a run on a double down the left field line – Cerny finished the game 2-for-2 with a run scored. Another run was plated in the inning shortly after as Drew Frederic brought home Hunter Mercer on a sacrifice fly.

The scoring was capped in the fourth inning when Manning Early tripled to right center and brought Cerny around to score from first. Early finally broke out of an early skid with a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

Colin Chamblin (0-3) was unable to make it out of the second inning in his start for the Lions, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks.

Game Two: Troy 6, UNA 2
The Trojans wrapped up the series sweep with a 6-2 victory over the Lions in the night cap. Troy went 3-for-3 in strong starting pitching performances on the weekend, as Max Newton scattered three hits and fanned four in six solid innings on the mound – Newton (1-2) allowed just one unearned run in the contest.

Troy once again allowed an unearned run in the second inning but bounced back with one of its own in the bottom of the frame – this time on an RBI double from Dalton Sinquefield. The game remained tied at one until the fifth inning, when Sadler Goodwin drove home Drew Frederic on a double off the wall in right. Goodwin led all batters going 3-for-5 with the double and two RBI – he picked up another RBI in the eighth to give Troy some extra insurance.

Senior Chase Smartt and sophomore Rigsby Mosley both recorded two hits and an RBI in the game – Smartt's on a sacrifice fly and Mosley's on a single up the middle in the sixth. Goodwin, Smartt and Mosley led a Trojan-offensive attack that compiled 11 hits in the ballgame.

UNA drew within two as Davis Elliott tripled in a run in the top of the eighth inning, but Troy added two in the bottom and called on Cory Gill (5) in the ninth to thwart any sort of comeback attempt. Gill came on with the tying run in the on-deck circle with one out in the ninth and struck out the final two batters of the game to earn the save.

SOUND "SMARTT" WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Despite warmer weather this weekend, neither team hit a home run in the series – marking the first time a Troy team was held homerless for an entire three-game set since Coastal Carolina last April.

NOTABLE
• Troy pitching allowed just three runs in the series, the fewest since holding Southeast Missouri State to just three runs in March 2011. Of the three runs this weekend, only one was earned.

• Manning Early put an end to a 25-at-bat hitless streak with a single in the second inning of game. He then followed up with an RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth.

• With two RBI in the finale, Sadler Goodwin recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the season and the ninth of his two-year career at Troy.

UP NEXT
Troy will head out on a two-game, in-state road trip next week with games at UAB (Tuesday) and Jacksonville State (Wednesday). The Trojans and Blazers will square off at Regions Field at 6:30 p.m., while they will take on the Gamecocks at 6 p.m.