Longball Propels Troy to Series-Clinching Win Over Georgia Southern

Sunday, March 21

Troy, Ala.

1 p.m.

Troy University

10-9, 0

Georgia Southern

10-8, 0

Georgia Southern

Troy

Longball Propels Troy to Series-Clinching Win Over Georgia Southern

3/21/2021 6:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Four early home runs propelled Troy to its first Sun Belt Conference series win of the season Sunday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field. The Trojans, after falling in the series-opener Friday night, picked up their second straight win over the Eagles, 8-4.

Four of Troy's (10-9, 2-1 SBC) first five hits in the game were home runs, highlighted by a pair from Logan Cerny. The center fielder became the first Trojan since April 2019 to homer in consecutive at-bats. Drew Frederic and Dalton Sinquefield both tripled in the contest, tying the team school record for triples in a game. Frederic extended his career-best hit streak to 12 games while Sinquefield recorded his first three-hit game of the season.

Bay Witcher (3-1) looked good in six strong innings, inducing 12 ground outs and two fly outs to go along with one strikeout. He allowed four runs on nine hits before being relieved by Kyle Gamble after facing two batters in the seventh. Gamble and Marquez Oates each struck out one while Ryan Pettys notched his first-career save.

Cerny opened the scoring with his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. The Eagles would respond with two runs in the top of the second before Clay Stearns and William Sullivan each homered to in the bottom half of the inning.

Troy gained a five-run advantage with a four-spot in the third inning that proved to be the difference in the game. Frederic bounced a triple off the right-field monster prior to Cerny's second homer of the game, a two-run, opposite field shot. Rigsby Mosley singled through the right side and stole second before Sinquefield ripped an RBI-triple off the scoreboard. Jesse Hall then reached on a throwing error by the Eagle shortstop, scoring Sinquefield.

The Trojans added another run in the fifth when Caleb Bartolero and Sinquefield each singled to open the frame. Troy then showed solid fundamentals when Stearns laid down a two-strike sac bunt to advance the runners, followed by a Hall sac-fly to score Bartolero.

Georgia Southern (10-8, 1-2 SBC) cut the Troy lead to five with Noah Ledford's solo homer in the top of the sixth. The Eagles trimmed their deficit to 8-4 with another run in the seventh frame and threatened again in the eighth, but the Trojans turned their fourth double play of the afternoon to evade any damage.

Ben Johnson (1-1) was tagged with the loss for Georgia Southern after allowing six earned runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings of work.

Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"I'm really proud of our team for getting a series win today. We got off to a good start, scored early in the game and that lead held. I'm proud of our team for bouncing back after the loss Friday night to win Saturday and Sunday. It's an important next step for our team, and hopefully it's something that will build a little confidence going forward."

On Bay Witcher's Start
"Bay [Witcher] did a great job, we got six innings out of him. [Witcher] was terrific. Georgia Southern has a really good offensive team and they're hard to pitch to. Bay got a lot of soft contact and induced several double plays in the game with some good defense behind him."

Sound Smartt With Your Friends

Logan Cerny recorded his second multi-homer game of the year and became the first Trojan to homer in consecutive at-bats since Rigsby Mosley did against Georgia State in April 2019. Cerny finished the weekend 7-for-11 with a double, triple and two home runs.

Notable

Troy's two triples tied a school record for triples in a game. The last time the Trojans tallied two three-baggers in a game was in 2018 against Alabama State.
The Trojans registered their second four-homer game of the season and now have 20 on the year.
Drew Frederic extended his career-long hit streak to 12 games. The sixth-year senior has now reached base in 28 consecutive games dating back to last season, tied for the best stretch in his career.
Six of Troy's 11 hits on the afternoon went for extra bases.
Troy stole seven bases on nine attempts in the series win over Georgia Southern.
The Trojans picked up their second win of the season when being out hit by an opponent (2-7).
Dalton Sinquefield finished the game 3-for-4 for his third three-hit game and the 30^th multi-hit game of his career.
Seven of Clay Stearns' nine hits this season have gone for extra bases (3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR).
Troy improved to 15-9 all-time against Georgia Southern and 11-4 at Riddle-Pace Field.