Baseball Opens 2024 Slate This Weekend

TROY, Ala. – Coming off a 40-win season and berth in an NCAA Regional, Troy Baseball hits the diamond for the first time in 2024 this weekend with a four-game set against SIU-Edwardsville at Riddle-Pace Field. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, 11 a.m. for Saturday's doubleheader and 11 a.m. for Sunday's series finale.

"Thank goodness it is time to see someone else," third-year head coach Skylar Meade said. "Our guys are past the point of competing against each other and need another person, another team on the other side, and luckily, we are close to doing that. Our guys will be ready to go, and I'm excited to see what they do when the lights come on."

What: Troy (0-0) vs. SIU-Edwardsville (0-0)
Date: February 16 | February 17 (DH) | February 18
Time: 4 p.m. | 11 a.m. | 11 a.m.
Location: Troy, Ala.
Radio: Troy Sports Radio Network 94.7 FM (G1, G2, G4) | TroyTrojans.com (G3)
TV: ESPN+ (G1, G4)

PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – RHP Grayson Stewart (9-3, 3.65) vs. RHP Tyler DeLong (5-5, 4.25)
Saturday (G1) – LHP Logan Ross (4-1, 4.63) vs. RHP Alex Rodriguez (JUCO in 2023)
Saturday (G2) – RHP Jay Dill (1-1, 8.47) vs. LHP Garrett Helsel (3-1, 8.49)
Sunday – RHP Clete Hartzog (1-0, 8.53) vs. RHP Spencer Stearns (0-2, 10.80)

Troy enters the season with lofty expectations, both internally and externally, thanks in part to its success last season, a strong core of returning players, plus the nation's No. 17 incoming transfer class, according to DI Baseball.

Baseball America has the Trojans projected as a No. 2 seed in an NCAA Regional, DI Baseball has the Trojans playing in June, and the 11Point7 Podcast has slotted Troy to make the trip to Omaha for the first time in program history.

"Expectations are good; it means you have good players," Meade said. "I want us to have expectations every year and want our players to understand that's the program we want to be. We welcome the expectations but must respect that it means we have to elevate our work, camaraderie and attention to detail. Our guys are not caught up in it, but have an awareness of what's out there, but understand that the thing that matters is teams who are talked about in June and not January and February."

On the mound, Meade will turn to Grayson Stewart (9-3, 3.65) and Logan Ross (4-1, 4.63) to lead the charge. Stewart was named the Sun Belt Preseason Pitcher of the Year, while Ross ranked third in the league last year with a 3.32 ERA in conference games. Stewart will get the call on Opening Day and Ross takes the mound in Saturday's opener.

Troy has set the program record for strikeouts per nine innings each of the last two seasons and set the single-season strikeout record last season, with 636 strikeouts as a staff. In addition to Stewart and Ross returning in the rotation, the Trojans welcome back The Ringer to close out games in the ninth. Noah Manning was named a Preseason All-American after ranking 14^th nationally with 11 saves last year, thanks to statistically the nation's sharpest sinker (20 inches of horizontal run).

Offensively, the Trojans return three of their four starters up the middle, with Ethan Kavanagh at second, Tremayne Cobb Jr., at short and Kole Myers in center field. Also back is Shane Lewis in left field after he stroked a program-record 27 home runs last season.

Myers returns as one of just 10 players in the country who hit at least 13 home runs while swiping at least 20 bags in 2023. Kavanagh ranks first among returning players in the Sun Belt with a whiff rate of just 10.3 percent last season, while Cobb's average exit velocity is up almost four miles per hour from 2023.

The Trojans added to that core with a handful of four-year transfers who are expected to be in the Opening Day lineup with Aidan Gilroy (WKU) at third base, Blake Sutton (High Point) behind the dish and Will Butcher (Charlotte) manning first base.

"This year's team is going to see a lot broader stroke of guys who serve in leadership roles, especially as the season rolls on and the new guys solidify themselves," Meade said. "On the field, our identity is not going to change. We're going to be explosive on the mound and with the bat, and defensively, we'll be more buttoned up than last year. We've got a few more athletic guys this year and you'll see that in how we run the bases, it's an exciting element of our game that we're going to take to another level this year."

About SIU-Edwardsville
SIU-Edwardsville was picked to finish seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference heading into the 2024 season after finishing the 2023 season 26-28 overall and 9-15 in the conference under eighth-year head coach Sean Lyons, who was on the coaching staff at Eastern Illinois with Troy head coach Skylar Meade.

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Players Mentioned

Will Butcher

Tremayne Cobb Jr.

Jay Dill

Aidan Gilroy

Clete Hartzog

Ethan Kavanagh

Shane Lewis

Noah Manning

Kole Myers

Logan Ross

Grayson Stewart

Blake Sutton

Troy University Athletics