Troy Baseball Preview: Pitchers

2/15/2022 10:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. - Baseball season is upon us, and before the Trojans take the field against Holy Cross on February 18, each day leading up to the first pitch, we will preview a different group that makes up the 2022 Troy Trojans. We'll begin our season preview by looking at the pitching staff.

"One of the biggest things that we needed to establish is an identity to our staff," head coach Skylar Meade said. "We feel that we are in a good spot with our group of arms right now. Garrett Gainous leads the way starting game ones for us, and Brady Fuller has earned the right to start game two. In addition, Marquez Oates and Grayson Stewart have been very consistent in the preseason with their ability to throw lots of strikes and be good in the late game spots."

Coming off a year as the Sun Belt Freshman of the year and a freshman All American. Garrett Ganious returns to fill the Friday night starter roll. Gainous, selected to the Perfect Game Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference team, finished the 2021 season 9-5 with a 4.66 ERA with 83 strikeouts and just 36 walks in 83 innings of work, tallying seven quality starts, all while holding opponents to a .248 batting average. His nine victories were the most in the conference by any pitcher and most in the country by a freshman starter, while his 83 strikeouts led league freshmen and ranked seventh overall in the conference. In addition, the Cairo, Ga., native sat down 29 batters looking, the second-most in the Sun Belt.

Gainous logged a shutout streak of 16.1 innings last season, the longest by a Trojan since Levi Thomas in 2020. He went 7.1 innings against Appalachian State, which was the longest of any Troy starting pitcher of the season.

Troy returns a wealth of experienced arms behind Gainous in guys like Bay Witcher, who returns for his junior year. In Witcher's sophomore stint, he made 14 appearances and 13 starts, where he finished with a 5-4 record posting a 4.17 era striking out 42 batters in 69 innings pitched, holding opposing batter to a .263 average.

Also returning is Matt Snell, Grayson Stewart, Mason Kenney, Kyle Gamble, Ryan Pettys, Beau Fletcher, Judson Hershiser, Mason Kenney, Noah Janney, and Marquez Oates.

After appearing in 23 games last season, Oates led the Trojan bullpen pitching in 33.2 innings. Oates finished with a 3-2 record with wins against UAB, Texas State, and Jacksonville St. He struck out 42 batters and only 11 walks. He held a 2.41 ERA to lead all Troy pitchers, and opponents only had a .176 batting average against him. Oates's eight saves were third in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Trojans also saw plenty of arms join the club as well. Logan Ross transfers from Southern Union State Community College, where he was an All-Conference pitcher his sophomore year. Ross started 14 games going 6-1 for Southern Union State pitching 73.1 innings with a earned run average of 2.58 and striking out 79.

True Freshman Brady Fuller takes the number two spot. The 6-3 212 lb. right handed pitcher comes from Auburn High School in Auburn, Alabama, where he went 9-2 with a .190 ERA leading the Tigers to a 7A State Championship.

Dillon Cook, Dawson Hamilton, and Keaton Fuller are newcomers who should immediately impact the program.

"We are going to rely on some new and young arms to get us through the course of the season, "Meade said. "However, we think that these guys are up to the challenge. We need to be an elite strike-throwing group to maximize ourselves and our success. Time will tell, but as of today, we are in a good spot."

Troy opens its season with a four-game series against Holy Cross on Friday, February 16, at 4 p.m. at Riddle Pace Field to kick off the Skylar Meade era.