Troy Rallies Past SIU-Edwardsville on Opening Night; Cobb Delivers Walk-Off Hit

Friday, February 16

Troy, Ala.

4 p.m.

Troy University

1-0

SIUE

0-1

SIU-Edwardsville

Troy

Troy Rallies Past SIU-Edwardsville on Opening Night; Cobb Delivers Walk-Off Hit

2/16/2024 9:30:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Tremayne Cobb Jr. capped a 3-hit night with a walk-off single in the 10^th inning to solidify a Troy rally past SIU-Edwardsville, 9-8, on Opening Day at Riddle-Pace Field. Cobb either scored or drove in a run in the seventh, eighth and 10^th innings of the victory.

Shane Lewis led off the 10^th with a triple down the line in right field, and Cobb smacked a 2-1 offering from Lucas Spence back up the middle for the game-winner; Troy's (1-0) seventh straight victory in a season opener.

Tremayne Called Game 👊 pic.twitter.com/3BWvcVWHGt
— Troy Baseball ⚔️ (@TroyTrojansBSB) February 17, 2024

Down 8-4 heading to the stretch, Blake Sutton, a transfer from High Point, cut the deficit in half with a towering home run over Troy's new video board in right field after Cobb led off the frame with a double.

Ethan Kavanagh led off the eighth inning with a long single off the wall in right, and following a pair of strikeouts, Cobb lined a double down the line in left to score Kavanagh from first and pull Troy within one, 8-7.

Brady Fuller kept the Cougars (0-1) at bay with 1.1 scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to set up the Trojans' game-tying at-bat in the home half of the ninth.

Sutton drew a four-pitch walk from Spence, who took over on the mound after playing the first eight innings in center field. Peyton Watts took over for Sutton on the base paths and scored the tying run on a pinch-hit double off the bat of Brooks Bryan.

Noah Manning (1-0) needed just 11 pitches (nine of which were strikes) to record a pair of strikeouts in the SIUE half of the 10^th before Cobb's heroics in the bottom of the frame.

Troy took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI double from Will Butcher and a sac fly off the bat of Lewis. The Cougars answered right back with four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

Sutton and Kavanagh had a pair of base knocks in Troy's 14-hit outburst, while Sutton drove in a team-best three runs on the night. Kyle Ratliff hit a pair of home runs for the Cougars but left the game with an injury after celebrating his 2-run shot in the fifth inning.

Neither starter factored into the decision after Grayson Stewart allowed five runs in 4.1 innings for the Trojans and Tyle DeLong walked five and allowed a pair of runs in three innings for SIUE.

The teams return to the diamond on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.

Quotable – Head Coach Skylar Meade
"Our guys have said all the right things and presented themselves in practice the right way, and I'm sure there was a little bit of a burden to get through the first game. It was such a long offseason, and I'm not shocked this game was the way it was. That team (SIUE) was obviously going to compete. Sometimes you need a game like that, especially early in the year. Nothing is given to you and sometimes you're going to have to win games like this."

Notable
• Troy has won seven straight season openers dating back to a 6-2 loss to open the 2017 season. The Trojans have won 14 of their last 15 season openers.

• Catcher Blake Sutton's first hit as a Trojan was an RBI single to tie the game at 2-all in the third inning.

• Grayson Stewart went 4.1 innings on the mound in his 2024 debut, lasting 1.1 more innings than SIUE starter Tyler DeLong. Stewart outlasted his opponent in 14-of-16 starts last year, with Troy posting a 12-2 record in those games.

• Grayson Stewart threw just 81 pitches in his outing, which would have been his second-fewest pitches of the season last year (not counting the rain-shortened outing in the NCAA Regional). His lowest output was a 69-pitch effort against Georgia State. His 4.1 innings would also rank as the second shortest outing last year behind his 2.2 innings at Georgia State.

• Will Butcher's RBI double in the fourth inning was the 56^th extra-base hit of his career, the most of any player on Troy's roster.

• Tremayne Cobb Jr. recorded his 49^thand 50^th career extra-base hit with his leadoff double in the seventh inning and RBI double in the eighth; Cobb had four doubles last season for the Trojans.

• Tremayne Cobb Jr. recorded his 44^th career multi-hit game after going 3-for-4; it was his 10^th three-hit game and fifth of his Troy career.

• Blake Sutton hit his 20^th career home run with his 2-run blast in the seventh inning; he hit 13 last season at High Point and six the previous two years combined.

• Noah Manning improved to 4-3 during his career as a Trojan to go along with his 11 saves.

• Troy broke a trend from last season as the Trojans averaged 2.05 home runs and 1.9 hit batters in its 40 victories last season … Troy hit one home run and had one hit batter on Friday.