Gainous Shines in Friday Night Debut as Troy Blanks Georgia State

Friday, April 16

Atlanta, Ga.

5 p.m.

Troy University

16-16, 4-6

Georgia State

8-27, 4-6

Troy

Georgia State

Gainous Shines in Friday Night Debut as Troy Blanks Georgia State

4/16/2021 8:27:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

ATLANTA, Ga. – Garrett Gainous allowed just two hits in seven lockdown innings as Troy secured its first road shutout since 2018 Friday night at the GSU Baseball Complex. The Trojans controlled the game from start to finish in a 4-0 win over Georgia State.

Gainous (5-3) struck out five and walked just one in his longest outing of the season and his Friday night debut. Lance Johnson looked solid in two innings of relief work, finishing with two strikeouts, no walks and one hit allowed.

Strong defense behind Gainous was key as he forced nine fly outs and seven ground outs. The shutout was Troy's second of the season (9-0 vs. Jacksonville) and the sixth consecutive game the pitching staff has held the opposing team to four runs or less.

Logan Cerny and Caleb Bartolero each logged multi-hit performances in Troy's third-straight win. Clay Stearns and William Sullivan each doubled in the contest while Drew Frederic reached base for the 41^st consecutive game dating back to last season. Frederic, Cerny, Bartolero and Nic Nolan all notched an RBI in the win.

Troy (16-16, 4-6 SBC) started fast after Cerny singled and stole second in the opening frame before Bartolero delivered a two-out RBI-single to score the Trojans' first run. A two-run second inning, highlighted by an RBI-single off the bat of Frederic, gave Troy a 3-0 advantage.

Three-straight singles loaded the bases with no outs for Troy in the fifth, but the Trojans could only muster one run on a walk from the threat.

Freshman Cameron Jones (0-5) was tagged with the loss for the Panthers (8-27, 4-6 SBC) after surrendering all four runs scored in the game, three of which were earned.

Quotable – Head Coach Mark Smartt
"I'm really proud of the effort tonight. It's great to get a Friday night win, especially on the road. Garrett Gainous was fantastic. He moved up in the rotation and looked like a Friday night veteran, he had total command of the game. I was very impressed by that young man's Friday night debut. Lance Johnson was terrific to close it out. He beat up the strike zone and made them swing the bat. We scored four runs early; I thought it was important for us to get a lead and Garrett was terrific when we had it."

Sounds Smartt With Your Friends
Troy notched its first road shutout since its 7-0 win over Georgia Southern on May 6, 2018.

Notable

Garrett Gainous pitched a season-high seven innings in his Friday night debut. The true freshman allowed just two hits, struck out five and walked one in a scoreless outing.
Caleb Bartolero recorded his third-straight multi-hit game and now has a hit in five of the last six games. The preseason All-American catcher has started five of the last six games at first base.
Logan Cerny tallied his ninth multi-hit game of the season and the 27^th of his career.
Drew Frederic has now reached base in all 32 games this season and improved his on-base streak to 41 games dating back to last year.
Tonight marked Drew Frederic's 222^nd game as a Trojan, tying Chase Smartt's all-time program record.
Troy is 11-4 this season when scoring first.
The Trojans improve to 37-13 all-time and 16-9 in Atlanta against Georgia State.