Troy University Athletics
Sunday, March 28
Troy, Ala.
Noon
Troy University
13-10
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UCF
10-13
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Troy Claims Second-Straight Series Victory with Wild Win over UCF
3/28/2021 7:52:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. – Troy prevailed in a roller-coaster, eight-inning affair that included a two hour and 18 minute weather delay and a one hour fifth inning Sunday afternoon at Riddle-Pace Field. Behind a 16-hit output, the Trojans claimed their second consecutive series victory with a 14-12 win over the Knights.
Troy (13-10, 2-1 SBC) built an 11-1 lead before UCF (10-13) came roaring back to within 11-10, but a three-run fifth inning for the Trojans proved to be the difference. Both head coaches agreed on a 5:30 p.m. drop-dead time, which meant that Marquez Oates' strikeout in the eighth inning with the Knights' winning run at the plate sealed the victory for the Trojans.
Six Trojans logged multi-hit games, highlighted by a career-best 3-for-4 day at the plate from Donovan Whibbs, as nine Trojans hit safely in the winning effort. Clay Stearns homered as part of a 2-for-4 performance while Logan Cerny, Rigsby Mosley, Caleb Bartolero and Dalton Sinquefield all doubled in the contest.
Bay Witcher looked the best he has all season before the weather delay foiled his sixth start on the mound. The sophomore righty was locked in as he struck out three and allowed only one hit in two innings. Lance Johnson (1-0) was the pitcher of record for the Trojans after he went 2.2 innings and struck out four.
Witcher set the tone early with a pair of strikeouts as he sat the Knights down in order in the top of the first. Troy batted around the order in the bottom half of the inning, plating six runs on seven hits, highlighted by a pair of doubles from Cerny and Sinquefield.
Cerny walked and stole second to open the second inning before Mosley ripped a double off the wall in dead center field to give Troy a 7-0 advantage just before the weather delay. Out of the delay, Mosley scored on a Sinquefield groundout and Stearns went yard for the fourth time this season to give Troy a 9-0 lead.
The Trojans gained an 11-1 advantage until UCF climbed back into the ball game with a nine-run fifth inning to make it an 11-10 affair. Troy loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning and scrapped across three runs to extend its lead back to 14-10.
UCF added two more runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to 14-12 and sent the winning run to the plate in the eighth before Oates slammed the door shut to earn his second save of the season.
AJ Jones (2-2) hung the loss on the mound for UCF after allowing eight runs, six earned, on eight hits.
Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"I'm really proud of our team. It was a good series win against a good UCF team. We started early today to try and get ahead of the weather and when we restarted after the delay, the game was different. Wind was blowing in for the first couple of innings and then was blowing out after the weather came through. Give UCF credit, they were behind and came back to make it a really close game. We stayed the course, didn't relax, and were able to get a really important Sunday win."
Sound Smartt With Your Friends
Logan Cerny finished the week 7-for-15 (.467) with two doubles, three home runs, and seven RBIs.
Notable
It's officially rivalry week for the Troy Trojans as they venture to Mobile for their first Sun Belt road series against South Alabama. First pitch in the series-opener is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Troy (13-10, 2-1 SBC) built an 11-1 lead before UCF (10-13) came roaring back to within 11-10, but a three-run fifth inning for the Trojans proved to be the difference. Both head coaches agreed on a 5:30 p.m. drop-dead time, which meant that Marquez Oates' strikeout in the eighth inning with the Knights' winning run at the plate sealed the victory for the Trojans.
Six Trojans logged multi-hit games, highlighted by a career-best 3-for-4 day at the plate from Donovan Whibbs, as nine Trojans hit safely in the winning effort. Clay Stearns homered as part of a 2-for-4 performance while Logan Cerny, Rigsby Mosley, Caleb Bartolero and Dalton Sinquefield all doubled in the contest.
Bay Witcher looked the best he has all season before the weather delay foiled his sixth start on the mound. The sophomore righty was locked in as he struck out three and allowed only one hit in two innings. Lance Johnson (1-0) was the pitcher of record for the Trojans after he went 2.2 innings and struck out four.
Witcher set the tone early with a pair of strikeouts as he sat the Knights down in order in the top of the first. Troy batted around the order in the bottom half of the inning, plating six runs on seven hits, highlighted by a pair of doubles from Cerny and Sinquefield.
Cerny walked and stole second to open the second inning before Mosley ripped a double off the wall in dead center field to give Troy a 7-0 advantage just before the weather delay. Out of the delay, Mosley scored on a Sinquefield groundout and Stearns went yard for the fourth time this season to give Troy a 9-0 lead.
The Trojans gained an 11-1 advantage until UCF climbed back into the ball game with a nine-run fifth inning to make it an 11-10 affair. Troy loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning and scrapped across three runs to extend its lead back to 14-10.
UCF added two more runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to 14-12 and sent the winning run to the plate in the eighth before Oates slammed the door shut to earn his second save of the season.
AJ Jones (2-2) hung the loss on the mound for UCF after allowing eight runs, six earned, on eight hits.
Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"I'm really proud of our team. It was a good series win against a good UCF team. We started early today to try and get ahead of the weather and when we restarted after the delay, the game was different. Wind was blowing in for the first couple of innings and then was blowing out after the weather came through. Give UCF credit, they were behind and came back to make it a really close game. We stayed the course, didn't relax, and were able to get a really important Sunday win."
Sound Smartt With Your Friends
Logan Cerny finished the week 7-for-15 (.467) with two doubles, three home runs, and seven RBIs.
Notable
- The Trojans won their second consecutive series, despite dropping the Friday night game against both Georgia Southern and UCF.
- Troy is averaging 12.3 hits/game over its last seven games. The Trojans have logged double digit hits in five of their last six contests.
- Donovan Whibbs recorded a career high in hits with a 3-for-4 afternoon. The second baseman also batted in two runs.
- Bay Witcher struck out three and allowed one hit in two innings before the weather delay halted his outing.
- Frederic tied a school record by scoring his 190th career run. Frederic is also the NCAA Division I active career runs leader.
- Dalton Sinquefield recorded the 20th multi-RBI game of his career.
- Nic Nolan finished the series 2-for-2 with an RBI as a pinch hitter.
- Rigsby Mosley recorded two hits in all three games of the series against UCF, bringing his career multi-hit game total to 61.
- Jesse Hall registered his fourth multi-hit game of the season with a 2-for-5, two-RBI performance in the series finale.
- Eight of Clay Stearns' 11 hits this season have gone for extra bases (3 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR).
It's officially rivalry week for the Troy Trojans as they venture to Mobile for their first Sun Belt road series against South Alabama. First pitch in the series-opener is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Lance (1-0)
L: AJ Jones (2-2)
S: Oates, Marquez (2)
Batting:
2B: Jordan Rathbone 1 ; Josh Crouch 1 ; John Montes 1
HR: Tom Josten 1
RBI: Gephry Pena 4 ; Jordan Rathbone 3 ; Alex Freeland 1 ; Josh Crouch 1 ; Tom Josten 2 ; John Montes 1
SH: John Montes 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gephry Pena 1 ; Jordan Rathbone 1 ; Josh Crouch 1 ; Tom Josten 2 ; Andrew Brait 3 ; Pablo Ruiz 3 ; John Montes 1
HBP: Tom Josten 1
Batting:
2B: Cerny, Logan 1 ; Mosley, Rigsby 1 ; Bartolero, Caleb 1 ; Sinquefield, Dalton 1
HR: Stearns, Clay 1
RBI: Cerny, Logan 1 ; Mosley, Rigsby 1 ; Bartolero, Caleb 1 ; Sinquefield, Dalton 3 ; Stearns, Clay 1 ; Hall, Jesse 2 ; Nolan, Nic 1 ; Whibbs, Donovan 2
SH: Mosley, Rigsby 1
SF: Sinquefield, Dalton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Frederic, Drew 1 ; Cerny, Logan 3 ; Mosley, Rigsby 2 ; Bartolero, Caleb 3 ; Sinquefield, Dalton 2 ; Stearns, Clay 2 ; Hall, Jesse 1
SB: Cerny, Logan 1 ; Whibbs, Donovan 1
HBP: Frederic, Drew 1 ; Cerny, Logan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
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H
3
RBI
2
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
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